Case of Noun

Case of Nouns

 

The case of a noun tells us about the position of that noun in a sentence.

 

  

Nominative Case

1)   Sheena opened the window.

2)   Peacock is a beautiful bird.

3)   The jar is full of honey.

 In these sentences, Sheena, peacock and jug are the subjects of the verbs, therefore they are in nominative case.

 

 A noun is said to be in the Nominative case if it is the subject of a verb.

 

 Objective case

1)   Mother has cooked the food.

2)   I am going to stadium. 

3)   That vendor sells mangoes.

 

In these sentences, food, stadium and table are the objects of the verbs and are, therefore in the objective case.

 

A noun that is the object of a verb or a preposition is in the objective case. 

 

The objective case is used for nouns that function as objects. There are three types of objects:

 

(1) Direct Object (Accusative Case)

a.    A dog bit Bablu.

b.   He loves cake.

c.    Send the letter now.

Accusative case shows the direct object of a verb.

You can find direct object by finding the verb and asking “what?” or “whom?”

 

(2) Indirect Object (Dative Case)

a.    The teacher gave the students question papers.

b.   My father brought my little sister a new bicycle.

c.    Get Sumi a dress.

      A noun is said to be in dative case if it is the indirect object of the verb. Indirect object of a verb is the recipient of the direct object.

 

☛  There should not be a preposition before the indirect object because in that case it will be the object of that preposition.

 

(3) Object of a preposition  

a.    Pink teddy is on the table.

b.   It is from Vellore.

c.    The boys were punished by the teacher.

     The object of a preposition is the noun governed by a preposition.

 

Possessive case or Genitive Case

1)   I like my father's pen.

2)   Meenu has broken Anita's toy.

3)   I went in my uncle's car.

 

In the sentences, father’s, Anita's and uncle’s denote the possessor or owner of something and are, therefore in possessive case.

 

A noun that denotes the possessor or owner of anything is said to be in the possessive case.

☛

•   The possessive case of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe (‘s) to it. E.g. Father’s pen, boy’s knee
•     The possessive case of a plural noun not ending in ‘s’ is formed by adding (‘s) at the end. E.g. Men’s work, children’s queue
•     The possessive case of a plural noun ending in ‘s’  is formed by adding apostrophe only. E.g. boys’, teachers’, girls’
•    The possessive case of lifeless objects- To indicate the possession of inanimate objects, give preference to “of” phrase not the apostrophe form. E.g. The doors of the room are far much better than room’s door which allots room with human qualities.

 

Vocative Case

1)   Mr. Sharma, clients are waiting for you in the main hall.

2)   Well, doctor, what’s your conclusion?

3)   Madam, here is the diary for you.

A noun is said to be vocative case if it is used to call (or address or get attention) of a person or persons.

Names that are being addressed directly are said to be in vocative case. When somebody is spoken to directly, his or her name must be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

 

Exercise

Determine the case of the underlined words.

1) Teacher is writing with a pencil.

a)   Nominative case

b)   Objective case (✓)

c)    Possessive case

d)   Vocative case

2) This is my sister’s book.

a)   Nominative case

b)   Objective case

c)    Possessive case (✓)

d)   Vocative case

3) I know your sister, John.

a)   Nominative case

b)   Objective case

c)    Possessive case

d)   Vocative case (✓)

4) I’ll see you the next Friday, Amita.

a)   Vocative case (✓)

b)   Nominative case

c)    Possessive case

d)   Objective case

5) Leena was excited.

a)   Vocative case

b)   Possessive case

c)    Objective case

d)   Nominative case (✓)

6) We gave a bone to our dog.

a)   Vocative case

b)   Possessive case

c)    Dative case (✓)

d)   Nominative case

7) The woman saw the cat.

a)   Vocative case

b)   Nominative case (✓)

c)    Possessive case

d)   Objective case

8) Goldie likes chocolate cake.

a)   Vocative case

b)   Possessive case

c)    Nominative case (✓)

d)   Objective case

 

9) She does not like ice cream.

a)   Vocative case

b)   Possessive case

c)    Accusative case (✓)

d)   Nominative case

10) Send the boss the email from L&T.

a)   Objective case

b)   Dative case (✓)

c)    Nominative case

d)   Vocative case

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