Idioms

[ooisuankim]

(A) In Manhattan's SC, Guide 8 3rd ed at page 181:

"Agree" is correctly used in the sentence "They agree that electrons exist". Is this the only situation where "agree" is correctly used?

Does the following depict correct and idiomatic usages of "agree"?

1. "Agree to" - e.g. "I agree to abide by the constitution"

2. "Agree with" - e.g. "I agree with your suggestion"


(B) In the same book at page 187, "consider" is correctly used in the sentence "I consider illegal the law passed last week by the new regime". Is the following correct: "I consider the law passed last week by the new regime to be illegal"


(C) In the same book at page 195, "less than" is correctly used in the sentence "Our utilities add up to less than 10% of our income".

1. Am I right to conclude that "lesser than" is unidiomatic?

2. What would be considered an appropriately idiomatic sentence if I wish to use the idiom "to a lesser extent"?

3. The idiom "lower than" is wrong, and appears to be wrong as well in Q77 11th Ed OG. Does this mean "lower than" is always unidiomatic? If in the negative, when would it be appropriate to use "lower than"?


(D) I noticed that the idiom "the fact that" is always a wrong answer choice in sentence correction questions. Can I be safe to conclude that this idiom is wordy and is more than likely to be incorrect? In your experience, has there been any answer choices thus far which states "the fact that" to be correct?


(E) Has there been official answers in Sentence correction questions whereby "With" is correctly used to begin a sentence?


Thanks in advance to the instructors views and opinions.

[StaceyKoprince]

(A) yes, your other examples are correct

(B) no, your suggested example is incorrect. The problem is the addition of the words "to be." You'd have to say "I consider the law passed last week by the new regime illegal." Both that and the "I consider illegal the law..." construction are awkward, but putting "illegal" at the end also potentially makes it more difficult to understand the meaning.

(C) yes, "lesser than" is not correct. Correct usage of "to a lesser extent" might be something like "The housing crisis did cause bankruptcies but to a lesser extent than was expected."

(D) "the fact that" is often wrong, but not always. I have seen those words in correct OG answers. I wouldn't automatically eliminate choices with "the fact that" but I would see whether I have any better options in other choices. However, I would not deal with this issue, which is just a preference, before I dealt with actual grammar rules elsewhere in the sentence.

(E) I can't think of one off of the top of my head, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a correct sentence beginning with "with."