ENGLISH
REFERENCE

relevant to sb/sth

prep. phr..
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford

prep. phr.. connected to what is happening or being talked about. You use this to say that something is useful or important for a specific situation.

prep. phr.. indicating a logical or practical connection to the matter at hand; having significant bearing on or importance to a subject or person.


SIMPLE

The new rules are relevant to all students.

CONTEXTUAL

Please only include information in your report that is directly relevant to the project goals.

COMPLEX

The witness provided several details that were not strictly relevant to the case, leading the judge to intervene.

Usage

the adjective 'relevant' is almost always followed by the preposition 'to' when connecting it to an object.

Teaching tip

encourage students to use this instead of 'about' or 'connected to' when writing formal essays or business emails to sound more professional.

Pitfall

The data is relevant with our research.The data is relevant to our research.the adjective 'relevant' collocations with the preposition 'to', not 'with' or 'for'.

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