<p>I thought against was unnecessary because the word "protest" is already against something. But, collegeboard (Online) question of the day says it is the correct expression...But then, collegeboard BB says, "against" is wrong.</p>
<p>Can you please post the exact questions?</p>
<p>Without knowing the questions, I suspect that you have been confused by the difference forms of “protest.” When used as a noun, “protest” can be succeeded by the preposition “against”; when used as a verb, however, “protest” alone suffices. For example:</p>
<p>“I protested the war.”<br>
“I led a protest against the war.”</p>
<p>you da man ^</p>
<p>Originally a <protest on=“”> conventional painting, the Pre-Raphaelite movement exerted great influence on the art of its time. No error</protest></p>
<ol>
<li><p>Writing about people whose circumstances were deplorable, Dickens used the novel to protest social conditions.</p></li>
<li><p>Given her strong sense of social justice, Burns vehemently protested against her party’s failure to support a tax increase. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Why does #1 just have “protest”
Does against indicate a person or a thing?</p>
<p>well, i don´t know the exact answer, i am not even native english speaking. however, if the two examples u brought are correct, then u can draw an explanation from them.
to protest has two different meanings.
first: just like the first example says, “to protest” can mean the act of protesting (like marching in a demonstration), used probs most in political connotation,
second: however, when looking at the second example, here “to protest” has a slightly different meaning: here it means that someone is (verbally) protesting against one act, like raising her voice and not accepting a decision, a dictum, whatever…
does this make any sense to you?? we have the same thing in german, as i just discovered, but here it is the same idiom, so there is only a difference in meaning, not in grammar ^^</p>