 If grounding cannot be easily analyzed with the help of rigid or generic dependence, then we might instead suggest that if grounding were to be understood as a type of ontological dependence, it would be some sort of explanatory dependence. The idea that whatever does the grounding also somehow explains what is being grounded is a crucial part of the notion’s appeal. Relations of ontological dependence often seem to have a similar type of explanatory role, but the link to explanation may appear weaker: even though the existence of water depends on the existence of hydrogen and oxygen, it does not seem to be the case that the existence of hydrogen and oxygen explain the existence of water. Rather, what explains the existence of water is the ability of hydrogen and oxygen atoms to form molecules (even though this is rather simplified). So there are at least some difficulties in accounting for all relations of ontological dependence in terms of grounding relations.