Argue Against vs. Argue With

How to use "argue against" and "argue with" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

You argue with a person:

argued with the plan

argued with him about the plan

You argue against an opinion, approach, tactic, etc.:

argued against him about the plan
argued with the plan

argued against the plan

Related Resources

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage

List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version

© 2006, 2008, and 2019 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.