Contact Verbs People Fight Nouns Play Reactions Refer

We use against to refer to negative, hostile or opposing reactions to situations, beliefs, people, events, etc.

We often use against to talk about physical contact between two or more things:

She was leaning against the wall reading a book. (there was contact between her and the wall)

The bed was against the wardrobe. (there was contact between the bed and the wardrobe)

We often use against with verbs and nouns connected with sport and competitions, such as compete/competition, final, game, match, play, semi-final:

Japan competed against Germany in the semi-final.

England’s match against Jamaica was cancelled.

We use about, not against, to refer to taking action to solve problems:

A:

Did you enjoy last night?

B:

We enjoyed the food but the people at the table next to us were so loud that we couldn’t hear each other. We asked the waiter to do something about it but he said that he couldn’t.

Not: We asked the waiter to do something against it

To make contrasts we use phrases such as contrary to, in contrast to and compared with, not against:

My opinion is contrary to yours.

Not: My opinion is against yours.

We don’t use against to talk about medication:

Have you got something for a headache?

Not: … something against a headache

• We use against, not with, in sport when two teams or individuals compete:

All my family play tennis and sometimes we play against each other in competitions.

Not: … we play with each other …