Noun Case

Published by - April 7, 2017 -

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10 Noun Cases

Nominative Oblique Genitive
Dative Genitive
Voc
Vocative		 Nom
Nominative		 Acc
Accusative		 Dat
Dative		 Loc
Locative		 Ins
Instrumental		 Lat
Lative		 Abl
Ablative		 Gen
Genitive
SA. S. DO. IO. IO. IO. IO. IO. Possessive
Ø PN. IO. DO. DO. DO. DO. DO. Descriptor
Ø Ø Ø at
in
on.
off.
to
by
for
with
within
into
toward
until
unto
upon
through		 at
in
on
off
by
with
within
near
upon
over
under
above
below
inside
through		 in
on
by
with
through		 at
in
on
off
to
by
into
onto
toward
upon		 from of
from
about
Simple
Address
 Subject
–
Predicate
Nominative
–
Subject
Gerund
–
Modifier
 Direct
Object
–
Indirect
Object
–
Predicate
Gerund
–
Modifier
 Abstract
Involvement
Intent
Purpose
Result
Service
Gift
Relation
Concept
Indirect Object
Direct Object
Infinitive
Modifier
 Time
Space
 Means
Method
Manner
Agent
 Movement
toward
 Movement
away
 Possession
Origin
Approximation
Topic
Relation
Substance
Contents
Experiencer
Trigger
Location
Direct Object
Subject
Modifier

 

S. – Subject

PN. – Predicate Nominative

DO. – Direct Object

IO. – Indirect Object

SA. – Simple Address

 

 

Three cases do not use prepositions: Nominative, Accusative, and Vocative.

Accusative: Direct Object can also apply to a could-be “Locative” Case candidate when not having a preposition; viz “place”, whether “temporal place” or “place in space”, AKA “time & space”. This applies to “pronouns used as modifiers of time & space”…

  • Go/get home.
  • Do it tomorrow.
  • Come here.

(tomorrow/yesterday = pronoun, Cambridge CGEL)

These pronouns could be treated as modifiers/adverbs, but are easy to understand as pronouns with the Accusative or Nominative cases when used without prepositions.

Dative: Direct Object

  • Throw to me.

Genitive: Direct Object

  • Talk about John.
  • Argue about friendship.

Dative/Genitive: Comparison

  • See the forest for the trees. (Dative)
  • Know how to tell truth from lie and good from bad. (Genitive)

Three English cases (for pronouns): Nominative, Oblique, Genitive

English Cases (Pronouns, by spelling)
Nominative Oblique Genitive
I
We
He
She
They		 me
us
him
her
them		 my/mine
our/ours
his/his
her/hers
their/theirs

 

Three annexed cases: Ablative (Genitive); Locative & Instrumental (Dative)

Genitive (annexed)
Ablative Genitive
from Movement away I came from town.
They flew in from Alaska.
Look away from the sun.
Get back from the stove.		 Origin It’s [a gift] from me.
Is that from the fridge?
They’re from Europe.
Learn from your father.

 

Dative (annexed)
Lative Dative
to
into
for
toward
until
unto
upon
on.		 Movement toward
Indirect-Object
Direct-Object		 I came to town.
They flew into Alaska.
Look toward/unto the sun.
We will work until/unto dawn.
Place it upon the stove.
Give it to me.
Move on.		 Abstract
Indirect-Object
Direct-Object
Involvement
Intent
Purpose
Concept
in
within		 Explain it to us.
Sing for them.
Talk with me.
Don’t speak for me.
This is to/for you.
He stole for food.
You can in theory.
Work within reason.
In all fairness…

 

Dative (annexed)
Locative Instrumental
with
in
on
upon
by
within		 Time
Space
at, near, by,
about, around,
during, within,
inside, etc.		 She walked with her cousin.
Can you finish in one hour?
I read in my office on the
floor by the window.
They sat upon chairs.
He paced about the room.
Stay within the boundaries.		 Means
Method
Manner
Agent		 Mom writes with a pen.
They drove with care.
He spoke in anger.
We talked on the phone.
She went by bus.
Solve by asking.
It was written by her.

 

Note: “about” has many uses, but is always vaguely approximate.

about
Genitive
Modifier (adj./adv.)		 Genitive
Location		 Genitive
Direct Object
about [measure] (v.) about [location] (v.) of/about [topic/object]
about [midnight]
about [6 o’clock]
about [7 feet]
about [sea level]
about [eye level]
about [90%]
about [all I can take]		 (run) about
(drive) about
(fly) about
(turn) about.
(BE) about.
out and about
around and about		 (talk) about
(write) about
(speak) about
(think) about
(learn) about
(inform) about
(advise) about
approximately
around
roughly
close to
near		 around.
in and around
nearby
all over
in the vicinity of		 concerning
relating to
pertaining to
of/on
in connection to/with
It was about noon.
He is about 6 feet tall.
We flew about level
with the mountain.
They are about on time.		 Don’t run about the house.
That bird has been flying
about the sky all day!
The ship turned about.
They are out and about.		 We talked about yesterday.
He informed us about the concert.
She spoke about medicine.
I will learn more about HTML.
You should think about that.

 

Other Genitive Usage

Genitive: Experiencer —

  • That was thoughtful of you.
  • It was worthy of him to do such a good deed.

…because of you and of him have the person “experiencing” the predicate adjective.

Genitive: Trigger —

  • He died from poison.
  • She failed from lack of sleep.

…because poison was the “trigger” of his death and lack or lack of sleep “triggered” her failure.

Genitive: Possession —

  • the car of you AKA your car
  • the house of him AKA his house

Genitive: Substance —

  • an airplane made of paper
  • the bridge that was built from wood
  • a house of cards

Genitive: Contents —

  • a cup of coffee
  • a book about English

Genitive: Subject —

  • Mine is over there.
  • Your book was interesting.

Further Reading:
Wikipedia: Grammatical Case #Indo-European eight cases | #English
Syntax of natural language, Ch 8: Case theory, by Beatrice Santorini & Anthony Kroch