word choice - What is the difference between "information on", "information of", "information about"


"Information on something", "information of something", "information about something" — these three usages all sound having the same meaning for me. Are there any differences?



Answer



"On" has the meaning of 'covering' here, as in :



Dealing with the subject of, about, or concerning something.



"Information on something" would be information that is really in-depth, and quite into details. i.e. A study on history, or A book on biomedicine.


"information about something" has the implication that it is information that is a kind of summary about a subject i.e. A brochure will contain "information about something", but you can't really say "A brochure on mechanics." You would use "A brochure about mechanics."


"information of something" used in this way basically means the same as "information about something", but I would using "information of something" for the reason that it could be misunderstood to mean "Information belonging to something".


It would be much better to use "information about something" in this case.


Hope that helps!


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