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Grammar of "all are agreed"?

English Language & Usage Asked by gwideman on April 15, 2021

The oft-used phrase "all are agreed" doesn’t make grammatical sense to me.

It means "all agree" or "all agreed", or even "all are agreeing", with "all" being the subject.

"All are agreed" instead appears to make "all" the object, with some unspoken subject, as might be the case with "all are accredited" or "all are married". So what would be the subject here?

Or is the phrase just an idiosyncratic idiom? And if so, I wonder how it came about?

(Of course, it could mean "all are engaged in being greedy" I suppose 🙂 )

One Answer

To be agreed is an idiomatic expression, often followed by the preposition “on” or the conjunction “that”:

if people are agreed, they have discussed something and agree about what to do:

be agreed on

  • All parties are now agreed on the plan.

be agreed that

  • We’re all agreed that we cannot spend what we have not earned.

(Longman Dictionary)

Answered by user 66974 on April 15, 2021

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