Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
relate (v.)
has two main clusters of meaning: as a transitive verb it means “to tell a story” or “to demonstrate a relationship between one thing and another”: She related the story of her good fortune. I tried to relate her actions to her words. As an intransitive verb relate has a set of meanings stemming from psychology and having to do with establishing relationships or understanding with one’s surroundings or with people nearby, as in He simply can’t relate and doesn’t understand why or I’m confused, and I’m having difficulty relating. The intransitive verb can also combine with to and with, as in I just can’t relate to [with] her and her values. The uncombined intransitive uses are jargon, probably best limited to Conversational and Informal contexts (compare COPE), and even the combined uses still sometimes draw purists’ criticism when put to general use instead of being restricted to technical use in psychology. Nevertheless, some Edited English is now beginning to consider them more widely appropriate, and most dictionaries now label them Standard.
