Pit against
The word I selected to review today is pit against; it’s a phrasal verb and it means to make someone or something compete or fight against someone or something else. I said that this Super Bowl pits the Patriots against the Eagles. During the game, the two teams play against each other, so the game pits one team against another; they have to compete against each other for the title.
There are a couple of ways to use this outside of sports. Imagine there is a proposal for a new shopping center in your town. Some people in the town want the shopping center; other people don’t want it because of the additional traffic. The proposal can pit neighbors against each other—it’s controversial, so some neighbors will compete to allow the shopping center, other neighbors will compete to disallow it.
If you’re shopping for a new car, you might want to pit two car dealerships against each other so that you get a better price. In this example, you force the two dealers to compete with each other. You tell each one that the other is offering you a good price, and you hope they compete against each other to give you the best possible bargain. So, in that case, you’re pitting one against the other.
So remember, pit against is a phrasal verb that means you put two people or things in competition with one another.
That’s it for today’s Plain English. Don’t forget to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday, February 4. It starts around 6:00 New York time, so see if you can catch a little bit on TV where you live. If you do, send me a note on Facebook or Twitter with your thoughts on the game or your favorite commercial – I’m PlainEnglishPod on both Facebook and Twitter. See you on Monday when we’ll talk about the debate in Mexico about legalizing marijuana
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