- I spoke few words with reference to this book, 'honesty is the best policy'.
- I spoke few words with regard to this book, 'honesty is the best policy'.
- I spoke few words concerning this book, 'honesty is the best policy'.
- I spoke few words apropos of this book, 'honesty is the best policy'.
Notes for the examples mentioned above:
-
When I say with reference to this book, I mean that the book itself says that honesty is the best policy. [I put a reference here]
-
When I say with regard to this book, I have said about the book that honesty is the best policy. Concerning and apropos of also mean the same as with regard to.
The Oxford English Living Dictionaries defines it in the following way, that shows that apropos of, with reference to, and concerning have the same meaning:
- with reference to; concerning
I know that there is distinction in preposition choice, as in:
- with reference to . . .
- with regard to . . .
- concerning [zero preposition].
- apropos of . . .
If anyone of you say that with reference to means the same as rest of the prepositions, then please, is it grammatical to use these prepositions in the same sense? Or, if you think that there is difference in the usage, formality and informality, then please make me understand about that.
Besides, is there any connection of 'as concerns' and 'in respect of' with the four prepositions mentioned above.
Best Answer
These words are generally interchangeable and are all formal, according to BBC, though there are some subtle differences you should take note of.
with reference to is, as described by the BBC article linked above:
When it comes to with/in regard to, one person states that:
This claim doesn't have any proof to back it up, so I have my doubts, especially when examples prove the contrary.
One thing that does have proof backing it up, however, is as regards. The word means exactly the same as all four words you mentioned, with a minuscule difference, as pointed out by BBC:
concerning should be used with utmost caution, since according to Grammarist.com:
For apropos, The Guardian style guide has this to say about it:
Though I do feel apropos should be avoided just because of how pretentious it sounds.