Unfamiliar With: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “be unfamiliar with” when a person lacks knowledge or experience of a subject, system, term, or activity.
Key details
Confusion Familyusage-construction
Rule Familyadjective complement
Termsunfamiliar with
Further guidance
Construction
Use “be unfamiliar with” when a person lacks knowledge or experience of a subject, system, term, or activity.
Style Boundary
Cambridge also uses “unfamiliar to” when something is not known to a person; the two complements can express different perspectives rather than simple interchangeability.
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.
Absent From: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Accountable For: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Acquainted With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Addicted To: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adept At: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Adjacent To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
