With

With is a preposition.

With meaning ‘in the same place as’

With means ‘in the same place as someone or something’ or ‘accompanying’:

• She arrived with her boyfriend.
• I don’t like tea with milk.
• There was a free phone with the car.

With: reactions and feelings

With often follows adjectives which refer to reactions and feelings:

• Are you happy with your music lessons?
• The teacher got angry with them because they were behaving badly.
• I’m delighted with this new jacket.

With meaning ‘using’

We use with to refer to what we use to do something:

• They opened the package with a knife.
• I’ll tie it with some tape to keep it closed.
• He cleaned the table with a cloth he found in the kitchen.

With meaning ‘having’

We use with to mean ‘having’ or ‘possessing’:

• It’s the house with the really big gates.
• She woke with terrible toothache.
• The Commonwealth Institute used to be a building with a very unusual roof in Kensington.

With meaning ‘because of’

Spoken English:

We use with to mean ‘because of’ or ‘as a result of’. This is especially common in speaking:

• With all this work, I’d better stay in tonight.
• I couldn’t sleep with the noise of the traffic.

With: other uses

With is used with the following words:

• She made contact with Marina after ten years.

• Not: She made contact Marina after ten years. or She made contact to Marina after ten years.

• He always helped Xavier with the cooking.

• Not: He always helped Xavier the cooking. or He always helped Xavier by the cooking.

• The company provide us with a car and a uniform.

• Not: The company provide us a car and a uniform.

• My parents were strict with me when I was a child.

• Not: My parents were strict to me when I was a child.

• They agree/disagree with bullfighting. (They approve/disapprove of it)

• Not: They agree/disagree to bullfighting.

• She’s really good with computers.

• Not: She’s really good in computers.

• Communicating with new customers is important in my job.

• Not: Communicating to new customers is important in my job.

• We had some difficulties with the production of the manual.

• Not: We had some difficulties to produce the manual.

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With often follows adjectives to describe feelings:

• I was disappointed with the food.
• Not: I was disappointed the food.
• I’m so bored with this small town.
• Not: I’m so bored about this small town.

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But note that with is not used with married:

• Brian is married to Helen, isn’t he?
• Not: Brian is married with Helen, isn’t he?