“war on” or “war against” and “ ”war for"
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
- we have waged a war against smog.
- we have waged a war on smog.
If I want to figuratively convey the message we have started to tackle air pollution, smog in particular, which preposition should I choose?
Another question: if the war is fought to ensure we can always see blue skies, can I say we have staged a war for blue skies?
prepositions
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
- we have waged a war against smog.
- we have waged a war on smog.
If I want to figuratively convey the message we have started to tackle air pollution, smog in particular, which preposition should I choose?
Another question: if the war is fought to ensure we can always see blue skies, can I say we have staged a war for blue skies?
prepositions
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
- we have waged a war against smog.
- we have waged a war on smog.
If I want to figuratively convey the message we have started to tackle air pollution, smog in particular, which preposition should I choose?
Another question: if the war is fought to ensure we can always see blue skies, can I say we have staged a war for blue skies?
prepositions
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
- we have waged a war against smog.
- we have waged a war on smog.
If I want to figuratively convey the message we have started to tackle air pollution, smog in particular, which preposition should I choose?
Another question: if the war is fought to ensure we can always see blue skies, can I say we have staged a war for blue skies?
prepositions
prepositions
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
edited 41 mins ago
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
asked 1 hour ago
Mike Philip
16712
16712
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
If you check on Google Books Ngram Viewer, you will see that the expressions war on and war against are just about equally popular.
In my experience, war on is used typically for popular campaigns such as war on waste, war on plastic and war on drugs. In each of these war is being used as a metaphor for a campaign linked to ecology, pollution or health concerns.
War against is used mainly for actual wars in which one nation, tribe or group fights against another.
Sometimes the distinction is blurred. For example, one can choose whether a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes is a war on or a war against the pests.
As far as smog is concerned, you can wage a war on the causes but hardly on smog itself (except as a popular catch-phrase) and certainly not against it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_as_metaphor
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Both preposition are used:
Google Books war against drugs vs war on drugs.
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f189731%2fwar-on-or-war-against-and-war-for%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
If you check on Google Books Ngram Viewer, you will see that the expressions war on and war against are just about equally popular.
In my experience, war on is used typically for popular campaigns such as war on waste, war on plastic and war on drugs. In each of these war is being used as a metaphor for a campaign linked to ecology, pollution or health concerns.
War against is used mainly for actual wars in which one nation, tribe or group fights against another.
Sometimes the distinction is blurred. For example, one can choose whether a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes is a war on or a war against the pests.
As far as smog is concerned, you can wage a war on the causes but hardly on smog itself (except as a popular catch-phrase) and certainly not against it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_as_metaphor
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
If you check on Google Books Ngram Viewer, you will see that the expressions war on and war against are just about equally popular.
In my experience, war on is used typically for popular campaigns such as war on waste, war on plastic and war on drugs. In each of these war is being used as a metaphor for a campaign linked to ecology, pollution or health concerns.
War against is used mainly for actual wars in which one nation, tribe or group fights against another.
Sometimes the distinction is blurred. For example, one can choose whether a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes is a war on or a war against the pests.
As far as smog is concerned, you can wage a war on the causes but hardly on smog itself (except as a popular catch-phrase) and certainly not against it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_as_metaphor
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
If you check on Google Books Ngram Viewer, you will see that the expressions war on and war against are just about equally popular.
In my experience, war on is used typically for popular campaigns such as war on waste, war on plastic and war on drugs. In each of these war is being used as a metaphor for a campaign linked to ecology, pollution or health concerns.
War against is used mainly for actual wars in which one nation, tribe or group fights against another.
Sometimes the distinction is blurred. For example, one can choose whether a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes is a war on or a war against the pests.
As far as smog is concerned, you can wage a war on the causes but hardly on smog itself (except as a popular catch-phrase) and certainly not against it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_as_metaphor
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
If you check on Google Books Ngram Viewer, you will see that the expressions war on and war against are just about equally popular.
In my experience, war on is used typically for popular campaigns such as war on waste, war on plastic and war on drugs. In each of these war is being used as a metaphor for a campaign linked to ecology, pollution or health concerns.
War against is used mainly for actual wars in which one nation, tribe or group fights against another.
Sometimes the distinction is blurred. For example, one can choose whether a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes is a war on or a war against the pests.
As far as smog is concerned, you can wage a war on the causes but hardly on smog itself (except as a popular catch-phrase) and certainly not against it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_as_metaphor
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
answered 47 mins ago
Ronald Sole
8,5411816
8,5411816
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
add a comment |
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
Well explained! Oh I have another question: if the war are fought to get blue skies, can I say we fight a war for blue skies?
– Mike Philip
42 mins ago
1
1
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
Yes, it's both grammatical and idiomatic, using war to mean a campaign.
– Ronald Sole
40 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Both preposition are used:
Google Books war against drugs vs war on drugs.
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Both preposition are used:
Google Books war against drugs vs war on drugs.
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
Both preposition are used:
Google Books war against drugs vs war on drugs.
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
Both preposition are used:
Google Books war against drugs vs war on drugs.
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
answered 50 mins ago
user070221
4,2671729
4,2671729
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f189731%2fwar-on-or-war-against-and-war-for%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
