Learn English – An Agreement, In/Under Which

grammarmeaningprepositionsusage

I have a question about the usage of the prepositions "in" and "under". Suppose the context is John giving $1000 to Jane as part of some agreement:

  1. They signed an agreement in which John gave Jane $1000.
  2. They signed an agreement under which John gave Jane $1000.

Both versions using "in" and "under" are likely standard English found in newspaper articles, and in general probably loosely mean the same thing to most people. But is there any minor differences in meaning between "in" and "under"?

Best Answer

You can be in or under an agreement, so both are valid. Under has an implication that it's a written or legal agreement (similar to something being "under contract").

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