Various Useful Meanings & Uses Of Preposition ‘With’ (1st part)

Preposition plays an important and essential role in proper and correct English learning. In ‘Learning English Daily’ section, we have so far discussed various uses of several prepositions like in, at, on, upon, by etc. In today’s session, we will have a discussion on various useful meanings & uses of the preposition ‘with’.
Various useful uses & meanings of the preposition ‘with’ have been discussed below :

a. With as a preposition means ‘in the company or presence of somebody/something.’ See the examples given below :
1. Who else is going to the PM’s dinner party tonight with you? (in the company of who one else)
2. My daughter with several of her friends is going to have a picnic at Cox’s Bazar next month. (in the company of friends).
3. I live in Dhaka with my parents. (in the presence of parents).
4. We would like to eat fried rice with vegetables and two can of drinks.

b. With has a meaning ‘having or carrying something’. Look at the sentences below :
1. Look at the girl over there with (= who has) white hair. (meaning the girl who has red hair)
2. I usually prefer jackets with hoods (the ones those have jackets).
3. Everyone with smiles on face always is liked by all. (meanings carrying or having smiles)
4. Always try to live with good mood.
5. He’s been in bed for 5 days with flu.
6. The man standing there with a suitcase is my maternal uncle. (means carrying a suitcase)

c. With also means ‘using something’. See the sentences below :
1. Have you cut the bread with that knife? (means using the knife). I just can’t believe that.
2. A mob beat up the thief with a wooden stick.
3. We need to treat the medicine with acid first before being applied on human sample.

d. With as a preposition is used to say what fills, covers etc. something or what covers what. Look at the examples :
1. The bottle is filled with water.
2. The bag was stuffed with dirty clothes.
3. Please fill the sack with sand.

e. With as a preposition is used to mean ‘concerning, about, in the case of’. See the sentences below :
1. Please be careful with motorcyclists while driving in capital city. (meaning careful about motorcyclists)
2. I think Rahul Gandhi is absolutely unpleased with the results of Indian general election.
3. Don’t get angry with colleagues even in extreme situation.
4. With these workers, the problem is they are less efficient compared to others.

f. As a preposition, with is applied to mean ‘employed by, using the services of something. Look at the examples :
1. My father worked with a freelancing agency for 2 years after retirement from Govt. service.
2. I work with a media house now.
3. I usually fly abroad with Biman Bangladesh Airlines. (here with means using the services of the airlines).
4. My boss usually bank with HSBC.
5. I have a corporate account with Bank Asia Ltd.

g. With also means ‘despite something. See the sentences :
1. With all faults, parents usually pardon their children.
2. With all negatives, I still love my girlfriend.

So keep browsing your favorite education and information focus platform https://campusplanet.net/ for other related lessons on prepositions. Keep practicing this lesson to get a good command over the uses of the preposition ‘with.  Good Luck!