Provide with

[Brahman]

Dear sir,

According the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the word "provide" has the following ranges of possible collocations:

provide something for somebody; provide somebody with something; provide something to somebody

Do the following sentence conform to any of the above patterns of collocation? Is there a need for "with" after "me"

1. Once again, I should like to thank you for all the generous help that you have, since 1994 (if I am not wrong), been providing learners like me.

2. Once again, I should like to thank you for all the generous help that you have, since 1994 (if I am not wrong), been providing learners like me with.


Thank you very much

[Alan]

#1 (a ditransitive construction - i.e. a non-prepositional equivalent of 'provide smth. TO smb.') would be acceptable AmE usage, while #2 (including 'with') would be more typical of BrE usage.