Posted by Oden · November 20, 2010 · 2 replies
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All the experts were agreed on one point.
- All the experts were agreed on one point.
- All the experts agreed on one point.
Do these examples have the same meaning?
Please take a look at definitions 1 and 2 here:
Definition and pronunciation of agree | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary
They don't help me find out the difference between the examples.
The meaning is exactly the same.
- All the experts were agreed on one point. "agreed" = adjective, meaning "in agreement". You could also say : All the experts were in agreement on one point.
It's a strange use of the adjective because normally we expect a participle adjective to have passive meaning -as in eg They were tired/surprised/bored/interested etc where the meaning is Something tired/surprised/bored/interested them. But with "agreed" the meaning is active, making it a direct parallel with the verb in ...
- All the experts agreed on one point. "agreed" = past verb
I've been trying to think of another example where a participle adjective has an active meaning like this, but can't off-hand. Anybody?
Thank you, Sue.
