Declension of Nouns
Declension of Nouns :
Cases of Nouns :
Case distinguishes the relation of a noun or pronoun to other words. Nouns have three cases, NOMINATIVE, POSSESSIVE and OBJECTIVE.
The Nominative Case is that in which a noun is THE SUBJECT OF A VERB.
The girl reads.
The Possessive Case is that which DENOTES OWNERSHIP OR POSSESSION.
This is Mary's book.
The Objective Case is that in which THE NOUN IS THE OBJECT OF SOME VERB OR PREPOSITION.
Mary wrote a letter.
William went into the street.
At this point, it may be well for the teacher to explain SO much of the nature of the verb.
How to find the Nominative Case?
The subject of the verb may be found by putting WHO or WHAT before the verb and asking the question.
Example:
A man bought a hat.
Who bought? Answer is Man. Therefore, MAN is the subject of the verb BOUGHT and is in the nominative case.
Exercises :
Name the subject of each verb in the following sentences.
A butcher killed a calf.
John hurt William.
William hurt John.
A horse kicked a man.
A man kicked a horse.
Idleness produces poverty.
Poverty produces idleness.
How to find the Objective Case?
The object of a verb or of a preposition may be found by putting WHOM or WHAT after the verb or the preposition and asking the question.
Examples :
William hurt his sister.
Hurt whom ?
Answer is Sister.
Therefore, SISTER is the object of the verb HURT.
William went into the street.
Into what?
Answer is STREET.
Therefore, STREET is the object of the preposition INTO.
Exercises :
Name the object of each verb and preposition in the following sentences.
John lost his book in the street.
Mary studied her lesson from the book.
William gave a ball to John.
The horse kicked the man.
The butcher killed the calf.
Lucy found a dollar on the floor.
Name the object of each of the propositions in the following sentence.
William placed his hat on the table in the parlor at the time of recess when the boys were at dinner.
Name all the nouns in the following sentences and tell in regard to each
(1) Whether it is common or proper
(2) Its gender
(8) its number
(4) Its person
(5) Its case
John’s dog caught a rabbit in the meadow.
Samuel has a pencil in the pocket of his vest.
Elizabeth saw a man in the field.
The boys found a nest on a tree in the woods.
Harry and his cousin caught a large fish in the lake.
Mary's brother lost his knife in the road.
Charles rode in his brother’s carriage.
The boys caught, a squirrel in the hedge.
John's friend left his books in the car.
Name (or write) five sentences containing a noun in the nominative case, five in the possessive case, five in the objective case in which the noun is the object of a verb, five in which the noun is the object of a preposition.
Forms of The Cases
The Nominative and Objective cases are alike in form.
The Possessive Singular is formed from the nominative singular, by adding an apostrophe and S.
The Possessive Plural is formed from the nominative plural by adding an apostrophe only when the plural ends in S and by adding both the apostrophe and s when the plural does not end in S.
Exercise :
Write (or spell) the following nouns in the possessive case, singular : dog. man. baby, boy, James, Thomas, Jane.
Write (or spell) the following nouns in the possessive case plural : attorney, lawyer, mother, beauty, ox, monarch, dandy, dray.
Note : To decline a word is to give it various cases and numbers.
Declension of Nouns
Nouns …..Possessive Nouns
Friend…..friend's
Man…..man’s
Church……church’s
Lady…..lady’s
Jones…..Jones’s
Objective…..Nom
friend…..Friends
Man…..Men
Church……Churches
Lady…..Ladies
Jones……Joneses
Possessive Nouns…..Nouns
friends'……friends
men's…….men
churches'…..churches
Indies'……ladies
Joneses'……Joneses
Etymological Parsing
Note : Parsing consists in stating the grammatical properties and relations of words and the rules of syntax which properly belong to them. The parsing of a word cannot be complete until the rules of syntax relating to it are understood and applied. But a considerable part of parsing consists in stating the grammatical properties of a word by itself as shown by etymology and without reference to the other words in the sentence. The stating of these properties in regular order is called Etymological Parsing. Parsing Exercise.
Parse John and LETTER in the sentence : John wrote a letter.
Model : John is a proper noun, masculine gender, singular number, third person, nominative case, subject of the verb wrote.
Note : The figures in the model are not to be recited. They are inserted to show the order in which the several properties of the word are to be given. These five items must be given and given in this order in parsing every noun. The scholar in learning, and the teacher in hearing the recitation, by following tire order of the figures may know that nothing is omitted.
LETTER is a common noun, neuter gender, singular number, third person, objective case, object of the verb WROTE.
Parse MARY’S in the sentence - Mary’s book.
MARY’S is a proper noun, feminine gender, singular number, third person, possessive case.
Parse JOHN in the sentence - Mary gave her book to John.
JOHN is a proper noun, masculine gender, singular number, third person, objective case, object of the preposition TO.
Parse all the nouns in the following sentences.
Mary’s dress.
John's knife.
Mary lost a book in the street.
John's dog caught a rabbit in the woods.
Mary’s kitten ran down the stairs.
The boys caught a fish in the lake.
John caught a squirrel in a trap.
Lucy's sister found a dollar on the floor.
Henry’s cousin killed a snake in the meadow.
Mary's book was found by John in the street.
Note : The teacher should furnish examples until the pupil is familiar with the parsing of nouns.
Declension of Nouns :
Elementary English Grammar Index
Related Links : Declension of Nouns