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one of the meanings of "acceptably" from oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com:
(1) ​acceptably - in a way that somebody agrees is of a good enough standard or allowed

The two consecutive verbs "agrees" and "is" are confusing me.

Does (1) mean?:
(2) ​acceptably - in a way that somebody agrees and that is of a good enough standard or allowed
If it does, then why is there not a comma between "agrees" and "is" in (1)?
If not, then why is it grammatically correct to place the verbs “agrees” and “is” next to each other?

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  • Your #2 in a way that somebody agrees and that is of a good enough standard or allowed isn't valid. If we remove and and the syntactically optional clause that follows it, we're just left with in a way that somebody agrees. But that verb agrees needs to be followed by something specifying what someone agrees (is true). You're trying to separate Speak in a way that I agree is sensible into two separate assertions #1 Speak in a way that I agree with and #2 Speak in a way that I think is sensible. But you can't really unravel a construction like that.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 19:27
  • @FumbleFingers If we insert "with" in (2), will it become grammatical: "in a way that somebody agrees with and that is of a good enough standard or allowed" ? Thanks.
    – Loviii
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 20:46
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    Yes - including with would make it syntactically valid. But that gives us a more complex "two-part" assertion that doesn't mean exactly the same as the (perfectly good) original. After all, it's perfectly possible for someone to agree that what I'm saying is of a good enough standard and/or is allowed even if they don't actually agree with what I'm saying. As famously epitomised in I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It. Whatever - you can't improve the original here.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 21:05
  • Alice and Bob are doing something [that] Charlie agrees is worthwhile.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 21:10

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agrees can be complemented by a finite clause.

He agrees the offer was high enough.

a manner (or a way) can be defined by a relative clause:

in a manner | way that ....

and when agrees is the verb in the relative clause defining manner

in a manner that someone agrees...

the subject of the finite clause complementing agrees appears tacitly in the subject slot of the relative clause:

in a manner that someone agrees a manner is good enough...

So you end up with "agrees is" but note that there is a syntactic break (pause) between the two verbs.

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  • In other words, it’s comparable to “She dresses in a way she thinks looks good.” This is essentially equivalent in meaning to “She thinks the way she dresses looks good” and “She thinks she dresses in a way that looks good.”
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 21:09
  • He agrees the offer was high enough is a whole sentence, but it can be "inverted" to give the noun phrase the offer [that] he agrees was high enough. That's syntactically similar to OP's example, which also isn't a sentence - in a way that somebody agrees is of a good enough standard or allowed is just an adverbial phrase.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 21:23

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