THE NOUN: CASE
Examine these sentences:-
1. John threw a stone.
2. The horse kicked the boy.
In sentence 1, the noun John is the Subject. It is the answer to the question. "Who threw a stone?"
The group of words threw a stone is the Predicate.
The Predicate contains the verb threw.
What did John throw? - A stone. Stone is the object which John threw. The noun stone is therefore called the Object.
In sentence 2, the noun horse is the Subjet. It is the answer to the question, "Who kicked the boy?"
The noun boy is the Object. It is the answer to the question, "Whom did the horse kick?"
When a noun (or pronoun) is used as the subject or a verb, it is said to be in the Nominative Case.
When a noun (or pronoun) is used as the object of a verb, it is said to be in the Objective (or Accusative) Case.
Note:- To find the Nominative, put Who? or What? before the verb.
To find the Accusative put, Whom? or What? before the verb and its subject.
A noun that comes after a preposition is also said to be the Accusative Case; as,
The book is on the desk.
The noun desk is in the Accusative Case, governed by the preposition on.
Read the following sentence:-
Hari broke the window. (Object)
The window was broken. (Subject)
It will be seen that Nouns in English have the same form for the Nominative and the Accusative.
The Nominative generally comes before the verb and the Accusative after the verb. Hence they are distinguished by the order of words, or by the sense.
Compare:-
1. Rama gave a ball.
2. Rama gave Hari a ball.
In each of these sentences, the noun ball is the Object gave.
In the second sentence, we are told that Hari was the person to whom Rama gave a ball.
The noun Hari is called the Indirect Object of the verb gave.
The noun ball, the ordinary Object, is called the Direct Object,
It will be noticed that the position of the Indirect Object is immediately after the verb and before the Direct Object.
Note:-
Rama gave Hari a ball = Rama gave a ball to Hari.
Will you do me a favor? = Will you do a favor to me?
I bought Rama a ball = I bought a ball for Rama.
Fetch the boy a book = Fetch a book for the boy.
She made Ruth a new dress = She made a new dress for Ruth.
Get me a taxi = Get a taxi for me.
We see that the Indirect Object of a verb denotes the person to whom something is given, or for whom something is done.
Examine the sentence:-
This is Ram's umbrella.
Ram's umbrella = the umbrella belonging to Rama.
The form of the noun Rama is changed to Rama's to show ownership or possession. The Noun Rama's is therefore said to be the Possessive (or Genitive) Case.
The Possessive answers the question, 'Whose?'
Whose umbrella? - Rama's/
The possessive case does not always denote possession. It is used to denote authorship, origin, kind, etc, as,
Shakespeare's plays = the plays written by Shakespeare.
A mother's love = the love felt by a mother.
The President's speech = the speech delivered by the President.
Mr. Aggrawal's house = the house where Mr. Aggrawal lives.
Ashok's school = the school where Ashok goes.
A children's playground = a playground for children.
A week's holiday = a holiday that lasts a week.
Formation of the Possessive Case
When the noun is Singular, the Possessive Case is formed by adding 's tot the noun: as,
The boy's book
The king's crown.
Note:- The letter s is omitted in a few words where too many hissing sounds would come together; as
For conscience' sake.
For goodness' sake.
For Jesus' sake.
Moses' laws.
When the noun is plural and ends in s, the Possessive Case is formed by adding only an apostrophe; as,
Boys' school, Girls' school, Horses' tails.
When the noun is plural but does not end in s, the Possessive sign is formed by adding 's as,
Men's club.
Children's books.
When a noun or title consists of several words, the Possessive sign is attached only to the last word; as,
The King of Bhutan's visit,
The Prime Minister of Mauritius's speech.
When two nouns are closely connected, the Possessive is put to the latter only; as,
That is Tagore the poet's house.
Also when two nouns are closely connected, the possessive is put to the latter; as,
Karim and Salim's bakery.
William and Mary's reign.
Each of two or more connected nouns implying separate possession must take the possessive sign; as,
Raja Rao's and R.K. Narayan's novels.
Goldsmith's and Cowper's poems.
Use of the Possessive Case
The Possessive Case is now used chiefly with the names of living things; as,
The Governor's bodyguard.
The lion's mane.
So we must say:
The log of the table [not, the table's leg].
The cover of the book [not, the book's cover].
The roof of the house [not, the house's roof].
But the Possessive is used with the names of personified objects; as,
India's heroes
Nature's laws
Fortune's favorite
At duty's call
At death's door
The Possessive is also used with nouns denoting time, space, or weight; as,
a day's march
a week's holiday
in a year's time
a stone's throw
a foot's length
a pound's weight
The following phrases are also in common use:-
at his finger's ends
for money's sake
to his heart's content
at his wit's end
a boat's crew
The possessive of a proper name or of a noun denoting trade, profession, or relationship may be used to denote a building of a place of business {church, house, school, college, shop, hospital, theatre, etc.} as,
She has gone to the baker's (baker's shop)
Tonight I am dining at my uncle's (uncle's house)
Can you tell me the way to St Paul's (St. Paul's church)
When you are in doubt whether to use a noun in the possessive case or with the preposition of,, remember that as a general rule the possessive case is used to denote possession or ownership. Thus it is better to say 'the defeat of the enemy' than 'the enemy's defeat, even though no doubt as to the meaning would arise.
Sometimes, however, a noun in the possessive case has a different meaning from a noun used with the preposition of; as,
'The Prime Minister's reception in Delhi' means a reception held by the Prime Minister in Delhi.
'The reception of the Prime Minister in Delhi' means the manner in which the people welcomed him when he entered Delhi.
The phrase 'the love of a father' may mean either 'a father's love of his child' or 'a child's love of his father'.
Nouns In Apposition
Read the following sentence:-
Rama, our captain, made fifty runs.
We see that Rama and our captains are one and the same person.
The noun captain follows the noun Rama simply to explain which Rama is referred to.
When one noun follows another to describe it, the noun which follows is said to be in apposition to the noun which comes before it.
[Apposition means placing near.]
A noun in apposition is in the same case as the noun which it explains.
In the above sentence, the noun captain is in apposition to the noun Rama and is in the Nominative Case (because Rama is in the Nominative Case.)
