Case
A case is
the relation of a noun or a pronoun to other words in a sentence or the form
that shows such a relation.
In modern
English, a noun does not change its form in any of the cases other than the
possessive case. A pronoun, however, changes its form in the possessive and the
objective case.
There are four cases in English:
1. Nominative or Subjective
Case
2. Objective Case or Accusative
or Dative Case
3. Possessive Case or Genitive
Case
4. Vocative Case
1. Nominative or Subjective Case:
A noun or pronoun is said to be in Nominative
case when it is the subject of a verb. For example:
(a) The Police arrested the suspect.
(b)
They will teach you a lesson.
(c) John crossed the road.
Nominative and Subjective are not identical
terms. When the action is done by a simple noun or pronoun, it is said to be a
Nominative. When the subject consists of a number of words or phrases or
clause, it is said to be Subjective.
2. Objective Case or Accusative or Dative Case:
A noun or pronoun is said to be in Objective
case when it is the object to a verb or a preposition. For example:
(a) The Police arrested the suspect.
(b) They will teach you a lesson.
(c) John crossed the road.
The objective case is divided into the
Accusative and the Dative. If the noun or pronoun is the direct object, it is
said to be in the Accusative Case. If the noun or pronoun is the indirect object,
it is said to be in the Dative Case. For example: You gave me a gift. (me) is a direct object, hence it is
accusative. (the gift) is an indirect object, hence it is Dative.
3. Possessive Case or Genitive Case:
It is used to show possession. It is generally
formed by adding an apostrophe and (s), (‘s) to the noun. For example:
(a) This is Mary’s book.
(b)
Yours
faithfully
(c) Birds ‘nests are very light in weight.
In the following cases, the (s) after the
apostrophe is omitted:
a. (s) is omitted after
the plurals ending in (s). For example: girls’ hostel, birds’ nests, etc.
b. (s) is omitted when
the last syllable of a singular noun ends with (s) or (ce) and the noun is
followed by (sake). For example: Goodness’ sake, justice’s sake, conscience’
sake, etc.
Absolute
or the Elliptical Possessive:
Nouns that denote office, school, church,
house, shop, etc. may be omitted after the possessive case of Nouns, but not
after the possessive case of pronouns. For example:
(a) They went to Shyam’s. (Shyam’s school)
(b) She has gone to St. john”s. (St. john’s Church)
(c) This is my pen; where is yours.
Double
Possessive:
When possession is expressed one out of many,
we use both the forms – (‘s) and (of). For example:
(a) This news of John’s = news that John brings.
(b) A picture of queen’s = (one of many in her possession)
(c) A book of
Danem’s = refers to only one of many Danem has)
4. Vocative Case:
It is used to indicate when a person is being
addressed directly. It is identical to the subjective case. However, words in
the vocative case should be offset from the remainder of the sentence with
comma(s). For example:
(a) Boys,
attend to what I say.
(b) You,
get off from here.