My English professor suggested yesterday that the expression "with respect to", despite being frequently used is simply wrong. He said that one should rather use "in respect of", which in turn is not very common. Can a native speaker confirm this? I have seen this expression so often, even in scientific texts, that I quite simply cannot believe that this is incorrect English.
Learn English – Is “with respect to” wrong
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Best Answer
Have a look at points 8 & 9 here.
While the expression "with respect to" does exist, and is synonymous with "in respect of" ('concerning or in relation to'), it also has a slightlу different, pragmatic, usage: with respect to can be a means of making a text cohesive and coherent (giving reference to something already mentioned or introducing a new subject).
Both in respect of and with respect to are generally used as complex prepositions in formal texts (here is an example of the former).
You can google more using inverted commas and adding 'bbc' to get a reliable source.