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I often see the following exchange on Internet forums:

A: (some proposition)

B: Agreed.

Why "agreed", not "agree"? Is it a contracted form of "have agreed" or the past simple? Is the form "agree" (I agree with you) acceptable too?

Community
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Michael Login
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1 Answers1

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If you look up agreed in the Cambridge Dictionary, you will see that it is an adjective meaning accepted. If a person says an adjective on its own, it can mean something like "I am.." or "It is...". The omission of these words is an example of conversational deletion.

Doctor: How are you feeling?
Patient: [I am] Hungry!

Parent: How are you getting on with your homework?
Child: [It is] Done.

In this case, agreed on its own means "It is accepted".

agree is the verb form. If you use a verb on its own, it is an imperative: telling somebody to do something. So, if you simply say agree, you are telling the other person to agree with you.

JavaLatte
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    Wouldn't it just be it is agreed [upon] rather than substituting in "accepted"? I think accepted has a different meaning. – Element115 Mar 03 '18 at 07:54
  • @Element115 Think Of It More Like "It Is agreed [upon] between the two of us that 'X' is the case." – Timinycricket Mar 03 '18 at 08:07
  • @Element115: I was thinking of the meaning to consider something or someone as satisfactory. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/accept. Upon is not required: check the definitions I provided, – JavaLatte Mar 03 '18 at 08:49
  • "Rarely seen such an completed answer! Let's give it more up votes, shall we?" "Agreed" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdLE-QqcBY – RayLuo Mar 09 '23 at 20:33