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I want to say that something will happen regardless of whether something else happens. However, in my particular situation, using regardless of sounds awkward.

Some arrangements work better than others, regardless of the number of detectors used.

Is regardless to a suitable replacement in this situation? Or is my first sentence fine? Are there any alternative ways of phrasing this?

Some arrangements work better than others, regardless to the number of detectors used.

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    I had to re-read the sentence four times to figure out what you thought sounded awkward.
    – user28567
    May 12, 2014 at 16:57

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"Regardless to" doesn't really work, I think—I understand the meaning, but regardless doesn't normally collocate with to, so it sounds odd. To my ears, there's nothing wrong with the first sentence. If you really want to avoid that doubled of, you could try this phrasing:

Some arrangements work better than others, no matter how many detectors are used.

Note that this is a bit less formal than your original.

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  • Thanks. I think I will just stick with "Regardless of" then. I think it was the fact that I said "of the number" which thew me off. I can accept "regardless of the fact", but "regardless of the number" sounded weird to me.
    – Blue7
    May 12, 2014 at 17:32
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"Regardless to" is the one that sounds awkward because it's utterly ungrammatical.

However, "regardless of", aside from being grammatically correct, sounds quite appropriate to my ear.

Some arrangements work better than others, regardless of the number of detectors used.

Here's an equally formal alternative you might want to consider:

Some arrangements work better than others, whatever the number of detectors used.

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I think regardless-of sounds right to most people, largely due to its common usage.

Fair enough; but when I think about it a little, regardless OF sounds a bit off, however familiar.

If you take 'regard' as a synonym for 'consideration,' then think of the phrase 'show some consideration,' [in relation to a person] then that phrase would, to my ear, sound better followed by 'to' than by 'of.' Thus:

They showed no consideration to me.

sounds better than:

They showed no consideration of me.

So, perhaps

They showed no regard to me.

is preferable to:

They showed no regard of me.

So, regardless-to is, maybe, better than regardless-of.

You might also say 'without regard to' rather than 'without regard of'.

All academic, though. Nigh on impossible to change such ingrained linguistic habits.

Just my twopenneth :)

Andy

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  • Regardless of the fact.... is a logical argument, not an address to a person; the social niceties that language affords us do not come into play here. Besides there's a long history of regard using of, even among persons, probably because regard itself is a logical concept, not a person.
    – FeliniusRex - gone
    Feb 23, 2021 at 21:57

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