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I see in many of the "corporate emails" I receive the expression: "in regard to".
Sometimes, it is also written "in regards to".

First, to be sure:

  • "in regards to" (with an extra 's') is incorrect, right?
  • "in" or "with regard to": are they strictly equivalent?

Then, the expression sounds a bit too wordy to me.
Is there any simpler alternative?
If yes, is there any context when that simpler alternative should not been used? (i.e. when "in regard to" is actually more appropriate)

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  • I came here with this exact question and none of the answers actually answered your first question. I want to know if "in regards to" is incorrect. By Google searching, I know that it is MORE common than "in regard to", the common use might be incorrect. I might make a new question for this since I can't really ask for any attention to be paid to this old question.
    – user12178
    Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 16:16

2 Answers 2

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I think only very pedantic people would consider "in regards to" to be actually incorrect.

I don't see any difference in meaning between "in" or "with regard to". This is just another example where preposition meaning is so vague that variants make little or no difference.

You haven't given specific examples of the use you are thinking of, but "In regard to x" should always be replaceable by "Regarding x", which in most contexts will probably sound as good or better.

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    "Regarding" is good. I just found drgrammar.org/faqs/#45: does that mean "in regards to" is correct if the speaker is considering not just one issue, but many?
    – VonC
    Commented Aug 9, 2010 at 7:19
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    No, I think that's just wrong. You have to watch out, people love to make up "just so stories" about grammar. This arises in part from the very common misapprehension that all points of grammar make some kind of rational sense, when in fact a lot of the details are purely conventional. For instance, you can still say "In regard to the strawberries..." The plural there is just another (probably incoming) variant. If you don't want pedantic people to be irritated with you, then by all means don't use it.
    – Alan Hogue
    Commented Aug 9, 2010 at 7:39
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    Regarding is good. Orwell's rule no. 3: "If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out."
    – markdrayton
    Commented Aug 9, 2010 at 11:18
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"in regards to" (with an extra 's') is incorrect, right?

I believe that "in regards to" is probably a confusion of "in regard to" and "best regards".

"in" or "with regard to": are they strictly equivalent?

Hum, I think they probably are but wouldn't be surprised if there was a counterexample.

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