Annoyed With: Standard Pattern
Annoyed With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than turning one attested complement into a universal prohibition.
Use “annoyed with” when identifying a person, group, or other target toward whom annoyance is directed.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Context | Use | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| annoyance is directed at a person | annoyed with + person | Use “with” before the person who is the target of the annoyance. |
| annoyance is directed at a group or identifiable target | annoyed with + group/target | The same pattern can name a broader target. |
| you are naming the cause, event, or situation instead of the target | check another documented complement pattern | Do not force “with” into every sentence containing “annoyed.” |
Quick tests
Decision test
Are you identifying the person, group, or target toward whom the annoyance is directed?
If yes: Use “annoyed with.”
If no: If you are naming what caused the annoyance rather than who it is directed at, another complement may be more natural.
Caveat: Cambridge documents multiple complement patterns with “annoyed”; this page isolates the “with” target pattern rather than declaring the others wrong.
Examples
She was annoyed with me for changing the plan.
“With” introduces the person who is the target of the annoyance.
The customers were annoyed with the company.
A group or organization can be the target after “with.”
He sounded annoyed with his teammates.
The people toward whom the feeling is directed follow “with.”
Further guidance
Construction
Use “annoyed with” when identifying a person, group, or other target toward whom annoyance is directed.
Style Boundary
Cambridge documents other annoyed patterns, including annoyed at/about and clause or infinitive complements; this guide owns only the directly evidenced “annoyed with” construction.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- ANNOYED | English meaning — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct Cambridge dictionary evidence for annoyed with and other documented annoyed complement patterns.