Learn English – “Irrelevant for” vs. “irrelevant to”

adjectivesprepositionsword-choice

Reading some of the comments on StackExhange, I came across

this is irrelevant for this question

Shouldn't it be "irrelevant to this question"? Searching on Google I found both are used in various academic texts.

Best Answer

I prefer irrelevant to, but certainly accept irrelevant for:

  • Noun phrase: This is irrelevant to (for) the matter at hand
  • Gerund: This is irrelevant to (for) resolving the matter at hand
  • Personal pronoun: This is irrelevant to (for) me

However, when the complement is preposed, I prefer for over to:

  • Noun phrase: For/?to the matter at hand, this is irrelevant
  • Gerund: For/??to resolving the matter at hand, this is irrelevant
  • Personal pronoun: For/to me, this is irrelevant

—though note that to me in the last sentence means to my mind (To me, this is irrelevant doesn't seem to mean what This is irrelevant to me does)

Related Topic