Grammar and Disagreements
2023-10-20
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1Consider almost any social or political issue.
2It could be local or international.
3Some people have one idea about the issue, and other people have other ideas about the issue.
4In other words, people disagree with each other.
5In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will explore disagreements.
6We will learn about the verb, disagree, and the noun form, disagreement.
7We will learn some important ideas about how to use the terms.
8Let's start with some history.
9When we explore individual words, we often look at their histories.
10Words - like people - grow and change over time.
11By learning a little about these changes, we can make words more memorable and meaningful to us.
12So, let's take a look at the verb "disagree."
13Disagree first appeared in English over 500 years ago.
14The Online Etymology Dictionary tell us that disagree first meant "refuse assent to."
15It came from an Old French word desagreer, a word that we can break into two parts.
16Des- meant "not, opposite of" and agreer meant "to please; satisfy."
17In English, you might think of these two parts as dis- and agree.
18With time, disagree took on new meanings.
19About 450 years ago, it took on the meaning of differing in opinion, or expressing differing views, the Online Etymology Dictionary tells us.
20Some time later, we have the birth of the noun form disagreement.
21We have followed disagree from its beginning.
22But how do we explain its modern usage?
23One important idea is that we generally use disagree without an object.
24So, for example, you might say a simple, complete sentence such as this:
25I disagree.
26Or you might say this:
27The two sides disagree.
28But what about more complex sentences, you might ask?
29Internet data sources can give us some important information about how to do that.
30Google's Ngram Viewer contains data from many written materials.
31We can do a careful study of exact words.
32What Google's Ngram Viewer tells us is that by far the most commonly used word after the verb disagree is the word "with."
33After the word "with," we generally have a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase.
34So, for example, you might hear or read a sentence that involves a pronoun after "with," as in:
35I disagree with you.
36You might hear or read a sentence that has a noun after "with," as in:
37He disagrees with Tom.
38Or you might hear or read a sentence that has a noun phrase after "with," as in:
39They disagree with these ideas.
40Or
41We disagree with the prime minister's policies.
42What about the noun disagreement, you might ask?
43Google's Ngram Viewer tells us that once again, the word "with" is commonly used after the noun disagreement.
44So, you might hear or read the following:
45He had a disagreement with his friend.
46And what words might we use before the noun disagreement?
47Google's Ngram Viewer tells us we are more likely to hear or read the short word "a," as in "a disagreement," So, you might hear a person say:
48They had a disagreement.
49You may have noticed a difference between how we explored disagree and disagreement.
50We explored words that commonly come before and after disagreement, but we only explored a word that comes after the verb disagree.
51We did not explore the most common word that comes before disagree.
52Aside from pronouns, can you guess what the most common word is before the verb disagree?
53Here is a hint: think about one short word that we often use before a verb in English.
54Write us your answer in the comments section on our website or in an email to learningenglish@voanews.com
55I'm John Russell.
1Consider almost any social or political issue. It could be local or international. 2Some people have one idea about the issue, and other people have other ideas about the issue. In other words, people disagree with each other. 3In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will explore disagreements. We will learn about the verb, disagree, and the noun form, disagreement. We will learn some important ideas about how to use the terms. 4Let's start with some history. 5History 6When we explore individual words, we often look at their histories. Words - like people - grow and change over time. By learning a little about these changes, we can make words more memorable and meaningful to us. 7So, let's take a look at the verb "disagree." 8Disagree first appeared in English over 500 years ago. The Online Etymology Dictionary tell us that disagree first meant "refuse assent to." It came from an Old French word desagreer, a word that we can break into two parts. Des- meant "not, opposite of" and agreer meant "to please; satisfy." In English, you might think of these two parts as dis- and agree. 9With time, disagree took on new meanings. About 450 years ago, it took on the meaning of differing in opinion, or expressing differing views, the Online Etymology Dictionary tells us. 10Some time later, we have the birth of the noun form disagreement. 11Usage 12We have followed disagree from its beginning. But how do we explain its modern usage? 13One important idea is that we generally use disagree without an object. So, for example, you might say a simple, complete sentence such as this: 14I disagree. 15Or you might say this: 16The two sides disagree. 17But what about more complex sentences, you might ask? Internet data sources can give us some important information about how to do that. 18Google's Ngram Viewer contains data from many written materials. We can do a careful study of exact words. 19What Google's Ngram Viewer tells us is that by far the most commonly used word after the verb disagree is the word "with." After the word "with," we generally have a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase. 20So, for example, you might hear or read a sentence that involves a pronoun after "with," as in: 21I disagree with you. 22You might hear or read a sentence that has a noun after "with," as in: 23He disagrees with Tom. 24Or you might hear or read a sentence that has a noun phrase after "with," as in: 25They disagree with these ideas. 26Or 27We disagree with the prime minister's policies. 28What about the noun disagreement, you might ask? 29Google's Ngram Viewer tells us that once again, the word "with" is commonly used after the noun disagreement. So, you might hear or read the following: 30He had a disagreement with his friend. 31And what words might we use before the noun disagreement? Google's Ngram Viewer tells us we are more likely to hear or read the short word "a," as in "a disagreement," So, you might hear a person say: 32They had a disagreement. 33Quiz 34You may have noticed a difference between how we explored disagree and disagreement. We explored words that commonly come before and after disagreement, but we only explored a word that comes after the verb disagree. We did not explore the most common word that comes before disagree. Aside from pronouns, can you guess what the most common word is before the verb disagree? 35Here is a hint: think about one short word that we often use before a verb in English. 36Write us your answer in the comments section on our website or in an email to learningenglish@voanews.com 37I'm John Russell. 38John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 39_____________________________________________ 40Words in This Story 41assent - n. to agree to or approve of something (such as an idea or suggestion)