Noun Cases

English ( Master) Nouns

Noun Cases

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,