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Speaker 1: I agree sounds simple, right, But depending on what you're

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agreeing with, or who you're agreeing with, or what you're

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agreeing to, the grammar can change a bit. So let's

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make it easy.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you, Jan, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight fourteen. I agree.

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The verb agree is an interesting word because it can

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be used with a variety of prepositions, each one with

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its own usage. So for today's podcast English Lesson, let's

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have a look at how we use this vocabulary. And

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let's start with the most basic way we use agree.

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It's when someone says something and you have the same

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opinion as them. Just say I agree, like your friend says,

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oh this place has the best pizza in town, and

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you say, I agree. Your friend says the rolling stone

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still sounds great after all these years, and you say

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I agree. No preposition, they are just I agree, nice

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and simple. But what if you want to agree with

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someone or agree with their opinion? Then we say agree

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with like I agree with Tom the new boss is

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kind of a jerk, or I agree with Tom's opinion

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about the new boss. Or maybe you're talking to your

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sister and she gives you some advice. You can say

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I agree with my sister, or I agree with her

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investment idea. Again, when you have the same opinion as

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another person or a thing that they said, you use

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agree with. Now here's a quick grammar note, and this

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one's important. Agree is a stative verb that means that

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we don't usually use it in the progressive form. So

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you can say I agree with Jenny, but not I

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am agreeing with Jenny. Just say I agree with her. Cool. Cool.

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Now here's a surprising use of agree with that a

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lot of English learners may not know. Sometimes we say

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agree with to talk about things like food, drinks, or

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habits that do or don't feel good in your body,

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like spicy food, like that curry doesn't agree with my stomach.

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Here's another one. I tried smoking once, but it just

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doesn't agree with me. So in this case, agree with

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means something is not good for you physically. It's not

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that you don't like it, but it's more like it

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doesn't suit your body. Spicy food doesn't agree with my stomach.

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Now let's talk about agree too. You use agree too

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when someone makes a suggestion or a request and you

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say yes, like after talking with my doctor, I agreed

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to quit smoking. I agreed to quit. Agreed to is

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usually followed by a verb like Jack and his wife

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agreed to go to a marriage counselor they agreed to

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do that. You agree to do something. Next up, what

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about when two or more people are making a decision together.

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In cases like that, we say agree on. We use

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agree on when people decide something as a group, and

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it's usually followed by a noun or a gerrand, like

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everyone at the meeting agreed on working a four day week.

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They all agreed on it. Here's another one. We agreed

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on the idea that the new marketing manager suggested. So

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if people are discussing and reaching a decision, use agree on.

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Remember the subject of agree on is two or more people.

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We agreed on it, they agreed on it, And finally,

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we've got agree that. We use agree that when we're

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talking about a decision or opinion, and it's followed by

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a subject and a verb like we all agreed that

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it's too risky to open a second office in Tokyo

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or I agreed that our new coworker wasn't working out,

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but I didn't agree that he get fired. I think

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he just needs more training. So there you go. Agree

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is a small word, but there are a lot of

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ways to use it. And keep in mind, the best

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way to remember English like this and any other word

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or phrase in English, is to take that word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true for you or

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true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Hey,

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did you know you can get more practice using your

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English when you join my podcast Learner's study Group. There

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you can make new friends, join us for live group

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lessons every week where we practice these podcasts lessons together.

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Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio

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download for every Happy English podcast in the past and

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in the future. And on top of that, each episode

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has exercises where you can practice this English point with

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speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just

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visit my Happy English dot com and choose podcast lesson

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eight fourteen. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy,

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Happy English.