‘Start’ or ‘start with’?

A common mistake among Dutch users of English is to use start with rather than start. There is a difference in English between to start something and to start with something:

   To start something = To begin an activity

The orchestra will start the concert at 7.30pm.
We’ll start our pub crawl at The King’s Head.

   To start with something = To do the first in a series of activities

We’ll start with you, John, and then move on to Peter.
Let’s start with a couple of beers, and then have a bite to eat.

©2014 Baxter Publishing, Hilversum, The Netherlands