in relation to/with

ripsi   Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:20 pm GMT
Is there any difference between in relation to & in relation with?
Robin Michael   Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:28 pm GMT
'relation' is a word with different meanings.

Typically when you are talking about 'your relations' you are talking about your Uncles and Aunts. So, in answering your question, the context in which the word appears is important.

Is there any difference between in relation to & in relation with?
Ripsi   Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:43 pm GMT
Would you please explain in which context "to" is right and in which one "with"?

Is it right to use "to" before "persons" and "with" before "things"?!

like speak with/to
familiar with/to
Poligob   Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:42 am GMT
First of all, "in relation to" is much more common, so when in doubt, use it ("to" is used with things as well as people -- "the drawing depicted the on/off button in relation to the other controls, so that it would be easy to find").

Yahoo Search Results

"in relation to" 205,000,00
"in relation with" 2,630,000

Maybe somebody else can think of a rule to explain when "in relation with" is better, but I can't think of any. You might be able to use "in relation to" all the time and rarely if ever get into trouble.
AR   Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:04 am GMT
"relation to" is usually used when trying to relate two topics (usually: "in relation to"). "relation with" is also used here, but less frequently.
e.g.
"In relation to the announcement, I would like to note that ..."
"I would like to talk about the quality of your work in relation to the latest project


"relation with" is usually used socially - talking about a person's social relation to another person.
e.g.
"Our relations with the organization improved over the past year."
"I must say that my relation with my mother could be vastly improved."

There are exceptions of course, but it's a good place to start.
AR   Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:13 am GMT
Familiar works in a similar way:

"I'm familiar with the ideology" (X familiar with Y: Y is the topic, usually)
"These are things that are familiar to me." (X familiar to Y: X is the topic, and Y is the person)

Speak to/with is really different:

USUALLY (with exceptions of course) "speak to" doesn't have to entail the person spoken to to listen:
"I spoke to her but she wasn't listening"

"Speak with" usually means the person spoken to is listening and participating in the conversation:
"I spoke with her but she wasn't listening" -> sounds weird.

But if you want to express something along the lines of:
"I really need to meet up with my boss and talk to him about a few things." you could use either:

"I really need to speak to my boss."
"I really need to speak with my boss."

Although in the second case you still get the idea that there will be more of a willing conversation.