I want to talk to someone and make sure something is done. How to express this meaning using the word confirm? I'm not sure whether it should be confirm to sb or confirm with sb. Is there another way to say it?
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1Please make an effort to find an answer or some clues and let us know what you found.– KrisJun 18, 2015 at 6:53
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2 Answers
With is correct:
I'd like to confirm with you that you will finish the report by Thursday.
You can also request confirmation:
Please confirm that you'll finish the report by then.
I need your confirmation that you'll do it on time.
With this sense, you can also confirm something for someone:
Let me look at my calendar to confirm that for you.
That is, to act on their request for confirmation.
answered Feb 16, 2011 at 7:49
I think there are three distinct meanings for "confirm":
"get confirmation from"
"give confirmation to"
"mutually reach a firm agreement from some more vague state"
I think all of them can use "with" (which can therefore sometimes be ambiguous). The second can also use "to".
answered Feb 16, 2011 at 11:29
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Regarding the first one, can you tell me which one is more correct or just correct: "I will confirm this by Tom", "I will confirm this with Tom".– TarikJun 1, 2015 at 17:37
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I would not say "confirm ... by", and if I heard it I would think the speaker was not a native English speaker. Jun 1, 2015 at 23:10
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@ColinFine Is it correct to use from after confirm, e.g., I wanted to confirm it from experts? Aug 25, 2020 at 4:29
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@user343802: that is clear, but not idiomatic. Normally I would say "with experts", and rely on the meaning of "expert" to select the first of my three meanings. If I wanted to avoid that ambiguity, I would say "get confirmation from experts". Aug 25, 2020 at 9:07
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