Lecture 1

Lecture 1: Subjects That Are Way Far Away From Their Verbs

Now that you’re writing at an advanced level, your sentences are probably becoming longer and more complicated. This is definitely a good thing, but it can make subject-verb agreement more challenging. Let’s look again at one of our examples from the Warm-up section of this unit:

Example A: The Internet, which many people simply refer to as “the Net,” has its beginnings at the United States Department of Defense.

In this sentence our subject (INTERNET) is separated from its verb (HAS) by an adjective (relative) clause: “which many people simply refer to as “the Net.” Because the subject and verb of the independent clause of this sentence are so far apart, it can be hard to see whether or not they agree in number. Knowing this, you must remember that when you go back and edit your writing (and I know you always edit your writing before giving it to a professor, supervisor, or customer), it’s extremely important that you check for subject-verb agreement. In order to do this, you must first be able to find the subject and the verb of the sentence. Let’s practice finding the subject and verb of some rather sophisticated sentences whose subjects and verbs are far away from each other.

Example B: The name of the man credited with the invention of the World Wide Web is Tim Berners-Lee.

Can you find the subject and the verb in this sentence? There’s an awful lot separating them, including a prepositional phrase and a reduced adjective clause. First, try to identify the verb. Students usually find that to be an easier task. Hopefully, you can see that the word IS is the main verb of the sentence. That’s a singular, third person verb, so we’re looking for a singular, third-person subject. What is the subject? Think about it this way: what “is Tim Berners-Lee?” Here’s a hint: look before the verb; that’s usually where you find the subject, but not always, of course. Which noun that comes before the verb makes the most sense in this blank:

__________ is Tim Berners-Lee.

a. The name is Tim Berners-Lee.
b. The man is Tim Berners-Lee.
c. The invention is Tim Berners-Lee.
d. The World Wide Web is Tim Berners-Lee.

Hopefully, you immediately discarded letters C and D as illogical and, therefore, incorrect. That leaves us with options A and B. The answer to my question (what is the subject of this sentence?) is A (NAME). NAME is the subject of the sentence, and to understand why B is incorrect let’s dissect the sentence. That will allow us to look at what kind of stuff is separating our subject and verb.

The name Main subject of the sentence (singular)
of the man Prepositional phrase (preposition = OF; object = THE MAN); important note: the object of a prepositional phrase is never the subject of a sentence or clause
credited with the invention of the World Wide Web Reduced adjective clause (full adjective clause = “who is credited with the invention of the World Wide Web”)
is Main verb of the sentence (singular)
Tim Berners-Lee. The rest of the sentence; at this point we’re not particularly interested in this information because we’ve already found our subject and our verb

You will need to learn to disregard the grammatical forms that can separate a subject and verb when checking for subject-verb agreement in your sentences. Let’s look at another very common subject structure to see if you can find the subject and verb in the sentence:

Example C: One of the most important inventions of the 20^th century was the Internet.

OK, I think you know what I’m going to ask you to do now, so get to it: find that subject and that verb. As usual, the verb is pretty easy: WAS. Now, what “was the Internet?” Many students might guess INVENTIONS, so let’s dissect this sentence like we did the other one and see why INVENTIONS is not the subject of this sentence:

One Main subject of the sentence (singular)
of the most important inventions Prepositional phrase (preposition = OF; basic object = INVENTIONS); remember: the object of a prepositional phrase is never the subject of a sentence or clause
of the 20^th century Prepositional phrase (preposition = OF; basic object = CENTURY)
was Main verb of the sentence (singular)
the Internet. The rest of the sentence

Students write sentences starting with “One of …” all the time, so it’s extremely important to understand that in a sentence like this, your subject is ONE, this is a singular subject, and you, therefore, need a singular verb to go with it. INVENTIONS cannot be the subject even though it might seem like a logical subject to you. After all, the Internet was an invention. However, the word INVENTIONS is the object of a prepositional phrase, and as I’ve said already and can’t say enough:

The object of a prepositional phrase is NEVER the subject of a sentence or clause!

OK, we’re going to look at a few more examples and then we’ll do some practice.

Example D: The Internet, as well as the World Wide Web, has revolutionized the way many companies do business.

I know you know the drill by now, so I assume you’ve already found the verb in this sentence. It’s HAS REVOLUTIONIZED, right? Hopefully, you identified THE INTERNET as the subject too. Let’s talk about that phrase that comes between our subject and our verb, though: “as well as the World Wide Web.” You see that phrase “as well as … ” a lot in academic writing in English, and you’ll soon find yourself using it if you aren’t already, so be sure you know how to use it correctly. Whatever noun you use with the phrase “as well as” should not affect your subject-verb agreement. The basic subject of the sentence is still the noun that comes before that phrase. There are several other phrases that operate this way. Look at these examples and pay close attention to what their subjects and verbs are:

Phrase

Example

…, like + N, …

… , unlike + N, …
The Web, like W3 and WWW, is an alternative way to refer to the World Wide Web.
…, together with + N, … Tim Berners-Lee, together with a colleague, built a prototype system for the concept of hypertext.
…, along with + N, … The Internet, along with the World Wide Web, has revolutionized the way many companies do business.
…, accompanied by + N, … In 2002 Tim Berners-Lee, accompanied by Lawrence Roberts, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, received the Principe de Asturius award for Scientific and Technical Research.
N = noun

As you can see, all sorts of things can separate a subject from its verb. Here we’ve just looked at the most common grammatical forms that can cause this separation. As a writer, you need to be able to overlook these grammatical forms, though, to find the basic subjects and verbs in your sentences. Only then can you be sure that your sentence employs correct subject-verb agreement.

Are you ready to practice? Great! On the next screen, you will click on the letter of the sentence (A or B) that shows correct subject-verb agreement.