An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises

by George Lyman Kittredge; Frank Edgar Farley

The possessive case is often called the genitive.

The nominative and the objective case of a noun are always alike in form. In some pronouns, however, there is a difference (as,—I, me; he, him).

Declension of Nouns

87. The inflection of a substantive is called its declension. To decline a noun is to give its case-forms in order, first in the singular number and then in the plural. Thus,—

Singular
Nominative	boy	horse	fly	chimney	calf	lass	man	deer
Possessive	boy’s	horse’s	fly’s	chimney’s	calf’s	lass’s	man’s	deer’s
Objective	boy	horse	fly	chimney	calf	lass	man	deer
Plural
Nominative	boys	horses	flies	chimneys	calves	lasses	men	deer
Possessive	boys’	horses’	flies’	chimneys’	calves’	lasses’	men’s	deer’s
Objective	boys	horses	flies	chimneys	calves	lasses	men	deer

Nominative Case

88. The nominative case is used in the following constructions: (1) the subject, (2) the predicate nominative, (3) the vocative, (or nominative of direct address), (4) the exclamatory nominative, (5) appositive with a nominative, (6) the nominative absolute.

1. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case.

• Water freezes.
• Charles climbed the mountain.
• The boy’s face glowed with health and exercise.
• A thousand men were killed in this battle.

In the third example, face is the simple subject; the complete subject is the boy’s face. In the fourth, men is the simple subject; the complete subject is a thousand men. Both face and men are in the nominative case; face is in the singular number; men in the plural.