"agree sth." vs. "agree on sth."

[Torsten]

Hi, what is the difference between agree + on/upon + object vs. agree + object?

I saw a sentence like this:

... and we agree the new prices.

Shouldn't it read

... and we agreed on/upon the new prices?

Thanks in advance,

Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Conchita]

It seems that the verb 'agree' can also be transitive. The sentence We agreed the new prices is British use and means the same as We agreed on the new prices, which is far more common.

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

My opinion is similar to Conchita's: "agree something" is probably mainly British and "agree on something" is more common.

But I question whether you can say "agree the new prices". If you say "the", wouldn't that usually indicate that the prices had already been previously determined (by someone else)? In that case you'd have to say "We agreed to the new prices".

But "agree new prices" or "agree on new prices" AND "agree a new price" or "agree on a new price" would be OK.

I also think "agree something" would be used mainly to talk about things such as a treaty, a contract, a policy, etc. In other words, something fairly formal or businesslike.

"We agreed a new five-year contract." (*BE)
BUT:
"My husband and I finally agreed on a name for the baby."

One last comment (my gut feeling ):

The sentence "We agreed a new five-year contract." would be mainly a British usage. Americans would probably be more likely to say "We negotiated a new five-year contract." (i.e., the word "agree" might not be used at all.)

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English