There are three cases of nouns
- 1. Subjective or Nominative case
- 2. Objective or Accusative case
- 3. Possessive or Genitive case
- 4. Ram gave book to Shyam.
In the above two examples- ‘Ram’ and ‘Cow’ are subjects of verbs ‘gave’ and ‘kicked’ respectively and ‘book’ and ‘girl’ are objects of verbs ‘gave’ and kicked respectively.
Possessive case-------- when a noun is changed to show ownership or possession. It is said to be in the possessive case. Note-I Generally we use (s) in case of living being and ‘of’ is used in the case of lifeless object e.g ---> Ram’s book, Mohan’s house. The legs of the chair, the wood of the table etc.
Ways to form the Possessive Case--->
A noun used to express ownership or relationship indicates possession.
The possessive case is formed in two ways:
(a) Noun + ‘s:
- This is Shyam’s pen.
- These are the children’s book.
- (b) of + noun:
- The leg of this table is small.
- This is the horn of a scooter.
- (a) Noun + ‘s:
(i) The possessive form of singular nouns is formed by adding an apostrophe – s (‘s):
For example,
- The house of Robert = Robert’s house
- The book of the pupil = the pupil’s book
- The mouth of the horse = the horse’s mouth
- Note: the letter ‘s’ is omitted in a few words where too many hissing sounds would come together.
For example,
- For conscience’ sake; for goodness’ sake
- For justice’ sake;
- for diocese’ jurisdiction etc.
- (ii)A simple apostrophe (‘) is used with plural nouns ending in ‘s’. For example:
- The books of the pupils = the pupils’ books the words of the teachers = the teachers’ words
- (iii)If the plural nouns don’t end in ‘s’ we add’s.
For example,
- I) Mens work, women’s club, children’s stories etc.
- (iI) Withclassical names ending in ‘s’ we add only the apostrophe.
- (II) With other names ending in ‘s’ we may add ‘s or the apostrophe alone.
For example,
- Mr Thomas’s house or Mr Thomas’ house.
- Each of two or more connected nouns implying separate possession must take the possessive sign.
For example,
- I have bought Kiran’s and jyoti’s shoes.
- Chetan Bhagat’s and R K Narayan’s Novels.
- Here separate possession is indicated.
- (vii)Also when two nouns are closely connected, the possessive is put to the latter,
For example,
- Ram and Shyam’s shop.
- Manoj and Sanjay’s publication house.
- Here joint possession is indicated.
- When two nouns are in opposition, the possessive sign is put to the latter only.
For example,
- Mohan the professor’s son, is very intelligent. That is tagore the poet’s house.
- Penicillin, Flemming’s discovery, has saved the lives of many people.
Rule 1
A proper noun becomes a common noun when it is used in the plural form, or when an article is placed before it.
For example,
look at the sentences given below:
- There are five Gandhi’s in our college.
- Vinay Kumar is the Milton of our college.
Rule 2
- Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter at the beginning.
For example,
- The committee consists of five members.
- The family living next door has come from Chennai.
- Note that if we refer to the members of the committee or family separately, the collective noun) remains singular in form.
For example,
- The committees have taken their seats.
- Here the word ‘committee’ refers to the ‘members’ of the committee, who have taken their seats.