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I came across a sentence, which used with instead of of, and it goes like this:

"You may lose the contest due to the weight disadvantage with your dogs".

Can you explain the case here, is the usage of "with" here right, or can I use "of" to replace "With", and which one sounds more natural in your native speakers' ears! Thank you so much in advance!

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  • With means accompanying; of means belonging to or associated. In either case the sentence means that a weight disadvantage will obtain with this choice of dogs. They both sound fine to me. (The prepositions, not the dogs)
    – deadrat
    Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 5:44
  • No, it doesn't seem right. But I'm not sure what the sentence is trying to say in general so it is hard to say what might be better. ... Oh I see what it's trying to say now. How 'bout: You may lose the contest due to the weight disadvantage your dogs will have [against their opponents]
    – Jim
    Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 5:44

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"Of" may show a common Quality of that dog...part of it...which it have all times. "problem with you"..."disadvantage" is temporary... It may Change...

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Using "of" gives a nuance or emphasis that the weight problem belongs to your dogs. However, "you" are competing in the contest, so using "with" is appropriate in this sentence: "You have a problem with X" is normal structure. You can have a problem WITH your car, but in this sentence your problem is WITH or "related to" your dogs' weight.

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