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Warm-Up

Do you know who Tim Berners-Lee is?
Can you find a subject in a sentence or clause and make sure it agrees with its verb?

Perhaps these two questions have nothing in common, but hopefully, by the time you finish this unit, you’ll be able to answer a resounding, “Yes!” to both of them. 

In English, as in most languages, it is important to make verbs agree with their subjects. This may sound easier than it is, though, because many non-native English speakers actually have a very difficult time just finding the subject of the sentence or clause, much less making sure it agrees in number with its subject. Take a look at these sentences: 

Example 1: The Internet is “an interconnected system of networks that connects computers around the world via the TCP/IP protocol.” (Source: www.dictionary.com)

Example 2: The Internet, which many people simply refer to as “the Net,” has its beginnings at the United States Department of Defense.

Example 3: Neither “web pages” nor “the Internet” was part of the average person’s vocabulary before 1995.

Example 4: The Internet, which is a system, is not the same thing as the World Wide Web, which is a service, but many people mistakenly use the terms interchangeably.

These sentences give you an idea of the complicated grammatical environments that we will be looking at in this unit. Actually, Example 1 is the most straightforward sentence in terms of subject-verb agreement. Our subject is INTERNET and the verb IS comes immediately after it. It doesn’t get much easier than this. INTERNET is a singular noun, and IS is a singular verb, so the subject and verb of this sentence agree.

In Example 2, however, the same subject (INTERNET) is followed by an adjective clause, leaving it way far away from its verb HAS. When subjects and verbs get separated by things like clauses and phrases, it’s harder to make sure they agree.

In Example 3 we actually have two subjects: WEB PAGES and INTERNET. Should we treat them as a plural subject? I guess not since the verb (WAS) is singular. One of the subjects is plural (WEB PAGES) and one is singular (INTERNET), so why do we have a singular verb? In this unit you’ll find out the answer to that question.

In Example 4 we’re actually interested in subject-verb agreement within the adjective clause, “which is a system.” How do you find the subject of an adjective clause and make sure its verb agrees with it? With patience and a little time you will learn the answer to this question too.

I hope I’ve piqued your interest in the topics of the Internet and subject-verb agreement. Over the next hour you’re going to learn a lot about them both!

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