[Grammar] agree with someone doing something?

[Heidi]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me if this pattern- agree with someone doing something- correct? For example, do we say 'I don't think your father will agree with you spending money like that.?

Thank you!

 

[Route21]

Hi Heidi

As a NES, but not a teacher, I would have no problem with the wording written in bold, however, I would have probably replaced "will agree" with "would agree"., after "I don't think....". That having been said, you would probably hear "will" used even in normal NES conversation in this context.

Regards
R21

 

[Heidi]

Thank you, Route21.

How about 'I don't think your father would agree with your spending money like that'? Do you think it's correct or natural to your ears?

 

[Route21]

You may well hear a NES say:

"I don't think your father would agree with your spending money like that", but I'm not sure that it is strictly grammatically correct - perhaps one of the teachers on the forum could advise.

Personally, I could rationalise it by considering it in terms of a contraction of something like: ".. your [habit of] spending money like that".

Hope this helps
R21

 

[Raymott]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me if this pattern- agree with someone doing something- correct? For example, do we say 'I don't think your father will agree with you spending money like that.?

Thank you!

I wouldn't use "with". A better choice is "to", in my opinion.
"I don't think your father will agree to your spending money like that."
You can use 'you' or 'your'.

I detect a difference between:
1. "You father won't agree with your decision to spend that money."
2. "You father won't agree to your decision to spend that money."
The first means he has a different opinion of the wisdom of spending the money. The second means he is likely to veto your decision.

 

[Heidi]

Thank you, Raymott. And thank you, Route21.

After looking it up in dictionaries, I've finally got (I guess) what Raymott meant.(Is this sentence's tense correct?)

'Agree' in #1 means 'to have the same opinion as someone else', in #2, it means 'to say yes'. Do you agree with me, Raymott?

 

[Raymott]

Thank you, Raymott. And thank you, Route21.

After looking it up in dictionaries, I've finally got (I guess) what Raymott meant.(Is this sentence's tense correct?)

'Agree' in #1 means 'to have the same opinion as someone else', in #2, it means 'to say yes'. Do you agree with me, Raymott?

Yes, I do.