Meanings of With

Meanings:

I agree with Fred
I agree with the approach
I signed the document with a pen
I approached the tiger with care
I approached the tiger with care
He brought it with him

I agree with Fred

An objectgroup is formed as the subject of the relation.

A more formal way of saying it makes the object group explicit:

Fred and I agree

This structure works for all relations where the relation forms a subject group of people of equal importance –

Collaborate with
Confer with
Conspire with
Communicate with
Talk with
Discuss with

I agree with the approach

Agree is a clausal verb – it controls the relation in the same way the discourse controls the sentence. For the moment, it will be limited to relational control.

I signed the document with a pen

In this case, the pen did the writing, so a ToUse can be interposed between the writer and the writing. In general, an implement is used to do the work.

A more formal specification

I used the pen to sign the document.

The use of the pen caused the document to be signed.

I approached the tiger with care

Care didn’t approach – I did. Its structure is clearer when a little more wordy –

I used care when approaching.

The two relations are contemporaneous, with one causing the other. Discourse control moves from controlling ToApproach to controlling ToUse, with the ToUse controlling ToApproach.

We also have to handle the inverse case.

I approached the tiger without care

I did not use care, but I did approach the tiger. ToUse is set false, but still sets ToApproach true, as

I did not use this to do that.

He brought it with him

An objectgroup is formed as the object of the relation.