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.
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3 Answers
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)
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3I'm fairly certain that you quite easily could've resisted, actually.– user11550Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 12:50
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Thanks! I appreciate your time. We should probably correct spelling mistakes this way.– NoahCommented Jun 23, 2012 at 12:57
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@Noah Now that you've removed them, my comment doesn't make sense. Ah well, better that it's corrected, though. Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 14:06
Although, mostly, "irrelevant to" is the correct phrase, it is sometimes used interchangeably with "irrelevant for". I couldn't find many examples where "irrelevant for" has been used (and in these examples, "irrelevant for" can be conveniently replaced by "irrelevant to").
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1Would you mind sharing the source of two images you posted? Commented May 18, 2021 at 6:54
This is my own interpretation.
I would use "for" when there is intentionality, something depends on this thing being relevant to the issue in question. For example, "Here the specific conditions are irrelevant for the kind of problem the puzzle is meant to pose." But it wouldn't make much sense to say that "His music has become irrelevant for the present young audiences."
