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Is It Grammatically Correct to Say as per?
Many wonder whether the as in as per is superfluous. Wouldn’t the phrase “per your instructions” mean much the same thing as “as per your instructions?” In that case, would it be incorrect to insert the extra word?
The fact is that both per and as per have existed in English in the sense “according to” for a very long time–since the 15th and 16th centuries, respectively. The choice of which to use (or avoid) is entirely a matter of taste. The more ponderous as per is often found in business and legal prose, or in writing that attempts to adopt a formal tone. It is not incorrect to use, but some find it overly legalistic and counsel avoiding it for that reason. On the other hand, it has been used to good effect in facetious mock-business-English (“as per the President’s shiny new Environmental Policy Act”). As in so many matters of diction, the tonal needs of a particular passage should guide your choice.
Examples of as per in a Sentence
Ian Thomas, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2025
The autonomous technology allows the drones to make decisions in a split second and maneuver as per the changing needs.
—Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2025
Still, the radiant point of the Draconids is highest in the evening hours, which is why they’re best seen at nightfall, as per EarthSky.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
Also on Thursday, suspicious drones were spotted over the Bundeswehr site in Sanitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and a day later there was a similar incident over the Navy Command in Rostock, as per Der Tagesspiegel.
—Robert Birsel, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for as per
Cite this Entry
“As per.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/as%20per. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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