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)Yoursfaithfully
(c) Birds ‘nests are very light in weight.
In the following cases, the (s) after the apostrophe is omitted:
a. (s) is omitted a
fter 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.