Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanka  Hi,
could you please tell me whether there is a difference between inform on sth, inform of sth and inform about sth.? (and as I am asking about 3 items, should I say "whetehr there is a difference among" ...?)
Thank you very much.
Hanka |
inform on
sbd: to inform
on is to give incriminating information to the authorities about someone:
Only two people knew, and it must have been you that told the police - Benny would never inform on his brother.
inform
of [maybe
on too*, my mind's gone numb! let's hope someone else answers] and inform
about are sometimes interchangeable, but not always:
I was not informed of the late running of the bus
= (I think)
I was not informed about the late running of the bus
Another possibility would be
I was not informed as to the late running of the bus
Use
of when the object is specified,
about when it's not.
Head Office must be informed of the burglary.
But
Head Office must be informed about any breach of security.
b
*PS
Yes. This is OK too:
Your job is to inform the committee on the state of the roads in the area. About would be OK too;
of would imply a
bad state:
It was your job to inform the committee of the state of that road; there might have been an accident. This is not easy, as you will have noticed. Over to someone else...