<p>It is now generally agreed that the rings of the planet Saturn are composed of several billion small ice particles. </p>
<p>Answer: No Error
My Question: How is “agreed that” correct? I thought the proper preposition for agreed were “on/with/to”</p>
<p>You can say “It is generally agreed on that…” but it isn’t necessary to add the word to make the sentence correct.</p>
<p>Do you agree that</p>
<p>“We agreed that 2+2=4.”</p>
<p>is correct?</p>
<p>Do you agree that </p>
<p>“We agreed on 2+2=4.”</p>
<p>is incorrect?</p>
<p>Then we agree on grammar, eh? So we agree that this answer is correct. And it’s nice to agree with you on this. I don’t enjoy agreeing to disagree. </p>
<p>As you can see, these prepositions all work. This is all good and fun, but under what circumstances do you use each one?</p>
<p>These rules may have exceptions, but not many:</p>
<p>“That” is used when talking about concrete, specific areas of agreement, with all the agreers, so to speak, utilizing the verb. Furthermore, the specific area of agreement (the clause following “that”) must have a verb of some sort in it, acting on a broader topic, to specify the area of agreement. </p>
<p>“On” is used when talking about broad fields, or non-specific areas of agreement, e.g., “We generally agree on politics.” If you said, “We generally agree that politics,” you’d obviously have an error on your hand. You need to specify what specific thing politics does or is that causes the agreement, for example, “We generally agree that politics is a useful endeavor.”</p>
<p>“With” is used when only one group of the people agreeing is utilizing the verb. When you and Tom agree, you agree with Tom. It says nothing about the topic; it only specifies the other entity that is agreed with. “I agree with science,” for example, is not an exception. The entity, science, is being agreed with. But on what? You expand the sentence: “I agree with science on the topic of evolution, or more specifically I agree that homo sapiens are members of the superfamily Hominoidea.”</p>
<p>“To” is used in a different way altogether. It is used to talk about courses of action that have been agreed upon, e.g., “The Boston Celtics agreed to fail pathetically this season.” It links the group that agrees to a shared course of action.</p>
<p>Now, let’s examine your sentence.</p>
<p>"It is now generally agreed that the rings of the planet Saturn are composed of several billion small ice particles. "</p>
<p>You can’t agree with the rings of Saturn. </p>
<p>You can’t agree to “rings of the planet Saturn” unless it’s a new dance with which I’m unacquainted. I’ve never rings of the planet Saturn before. </p>
<p>You can agree on “the rings of Saturn,” but we’re supplied with extra info and a verb which guarantees that you have to agree that.</p>
<p>
LOL… Your explanations are quite interesting…</p>
<p>Wow, thanks JimboSteve!! I completely understood your explanation :)</p>