Mary is speaking/talking with OR to sb?

cftranslate · Post by **cftranslate** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:24 pm

Thanks

Metamorfose · Post by **Metamorfose** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:21 pm

Both 'with'and 'to' are correct, I read that 'with' is more an American thing? Can anyone correct or confirm it?

José

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 12:03 am

Heh I use "to" more :p.

Tara B · Post by **Tara B** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:51 pm

Both correct, but "with" sounds a little more formal to me. (So does "speaking" for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised to find them together more often than not.)

Can anyone verify?

Metamorfose · Post by **Metamorfose** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:26 am

Someone told me that 'with' is more used in America because of the Spanish language influence, but again, I fail to give anything concrete on this, sorry

José

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:28 am

I can verify that I agree, at least.

It'll be nice to see a new regular female voice, Tara, if you keep up your post rate! Even if I did insinuate you were a wild lefty!

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:45 pm

Both are correct, but "speaking to" implies mainly a one-way process, perhaps giving information to somebody or even public speaking; "speaking with" implies more of an equal two-way conversation.

As far as I know, the choice is more down to which distinction you want to make rather than which side of the pond you are from.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 1:58 am

I thought about that Andrew, but it seemed to me that 'to' does not, in fact, refer to a more one way process.

Could you give an example?

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 9:45 am

I thought about that Andrew, but it seemed to me that 'to' does not, in fact, refer to a more one way process.

Could you give an example?

Speaking with
A Where's Fred?
B He's speaking with the boss.
A What are they talking about?
B Oh, Fred mentioned that the boss wanted to discuss Fred's speach to the Royal Horticultural Society.
...
Speaking to
A Where's Fred?
B He's speaking to the Royal Horticultural Society.
A Where is he?
B In the lecture theatre, where else?
...
A Where's Fred?
B He's speaking to the boss about how the speach went.

This may be a bit of a false dichotomy, though. We could have used either "to" or "with" in the last two examples, although the forms given would probably be more likely.

Actually, "He's giving a speach to the Royal Horticultural Society," is probably more likely than "He's speaking to the Royal Horticultural Society."

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Mary is speaking/talking with OR to sb?

Mary is speaking/talking with OR to sb?

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