10 动词短语agree to与agree with的用法特点

问：我在学习中碰到几个问题，恳请解答：（一）齐声乔等编写的《英语常用词用法词典》（商务版）在解释agree to与agree with的区别时说，应该注意在用agree to时，主语不仅是表示看法和对方一致，而且意味着承担进行所述的动作。并举有一例：

（1）The students have agreed to the new shock method.

但是我看到的例句却是类似于下面的：

（2）I never did agree to Lizzie marrying him.

（3）Please agree to this arrangement.

（4）At the committee last Saturday the following proposal was agreed to by those present.

不知以上所述对否？

（二）在许国璋主编的《英语》（第一册），Lesson24的课文里有这样一句话：

（5）But here the teacher and her pupils were doing just that, although the Russians had spies everywhere in Warsaw.

请问在一句话里同时出现了but和although，是印刷错误呢，还是另有原因？

（三）介词for，to和with都有“对于……”；“对于……来说”的意思，我也找到了一些例子。例如：

（6）For us, there is no ground for pessimism.

（7）He has a talent for mathematics.

（8）To us, this is a great honour.

（9）With us, literature and art are for the people.

（10）You’re very patient with me.

就这个意思来说，for、to和with在哪些情况下可以互换使用，哪些又是固定用法？有无规律可循？

答：（一）动词短语agree to意为：“表示同意或接受（意见；建议、计划、安排等）”（say yes; say that one is willing; to say yes to an idea, plan, suggestion, etc.）。例如：

（11）Is he going to agree to our suggestion？

而agree with则意为：“表示赞同”（be in harmony with sb.; have or form a similar opinion（as sb.）。例如：

（12）I agree with your father; it’s a foolish risk.

我们知道agree to（sth.）和agree with（sb./sth.）两者的区别不仅在于它们的后接宾语不同，而且它们的语义与内涵也有所不同。例如：

（13）Sometimes we may agree to something that we do not actually agree with.

Agree to在表示同意或接受后，有愿意协作的含义；而agree with在表示赞同（成）后，并没有愿意协作的意思（相对而言）。例如：

（14）I told him about my plan and he at once agreed to it.（=said he thought it was good and that he would use it）

（15）I fully agree to the plan you put forward at the meeting.

（16）Do you agree with him about that matter？

（17）I’m agreeing with you now, but I may change my mind later.

其次，agree to通常是指并非或不一定是出于主观意愿的“同意，接受；认可”，尤指不愿意或通过讨（争）论之后的同意（to make a decision with sb. after a discussion with them; to accept an idea, opinion, etc., esp. after unwillingness or argument），而agree with 则通常指出于主观意愿的“赞同，赞成”，比较下面的例句：

（18）He was forced to agree to the proposals though he did not like them.

（19）The director had to agree to the proposals though he didn’t agree with them.

（20）I hope you will agree with me that our teacher’s advice is excellent.

应该注意，agree to也可用被动式，而agree with通常则不用。例如：

（21）The terms have now been agreed to.

综上所述，你的疑问或许可以解决了。

（二）在句中用了although或though就不可再用but；即，不说Although…, but…；但句（5）的“but…, although…”用法却与“although…,…”或“…, but…”不同。这里的but是对上文的转折，而although可看作是一种添补之辞，原句是对的。其意为：（……俄国沙皇不允许波兰儿童学习本国的历史，甚至不许他们学习本民族语言。）然而，在这间教室里，教师和她的学生们却正在做着俄国人禁止他们做的事，尽管华沙到处都有俄国的密探。又如：

（22）But this she feverishly refused to do, although Jim’s wife begged her to stay.

（三）常言道，“没有介词就没有英语，没有动词就没有汉语”，而英语介词的千变万化更是错综复杂，不可小觑。一般来说，for意为：“对于；对于……而言”（with regard to（sb./sth.）；considering what can be expected from（sb./sth.）），多表示客观性，而to则多表示主观性。例如：

（23）The weather is quite warm for November.

（24）It does not matter to me where you go.

再比较：

（25）It was a useful lesson for him.（指说话人（客观地）认为对他有好处）

若把句子的for改为to，则表示本人主观的体会了。最后with作“对于……（来说）”（in regard to, in the case of（sb./sth.）解，通常多表示关系、情况或范围。例如：

（26）With Italians it’s pronunciation is the problem.

（27）The proposals will not go down well with the trade unions.

（28）It’s a habit with some people.