Noun Cases:

Cases in noun tell about the position and role of a noun in a sentence. It is another important topic in noun. There are Five noun cases in all. Let us discuss them in detail

1.NOMINATIVE or SUBJECTIVE CASE:

When a noun acts as the subject of a verb in a sentence, it is said to be in the nominative or subjective case. To find noun in nominative case make a question with What? or Who? before the verb.

Question with What is made if noun is a thing. If noun is a person than Who is used to make a question.

Examples:

Meena is dancing.

(Who is dancing? The answer to this question is Meena. So, noun Meena is subject in this sentence for verb dancing. Meena does the verb of dancing. Thus, it is in the nominative case.)

Sachin was talking to his friends.

(Who is talking? The answer to this question is Sachin. So, noun Sachin is subject in this sentence for verb talking. Sachin does the verb of talking. Thus, it is in the nominative case.)

2.ACCUSATIVE or OBJECTIVE CASE:

When a noun acts as the object of a verb in a sentence, it is said to be in accusative or objective case. It experiences the verb done by the subject. To find noun in accusative case make a question with What or Whom after the verb and its subject.

A noun that comes after a preposition is also in the accusative case and it is known as the object of preposition.

Question with What is made if the noun is a thing. If the noun is a person than Whom is used to make a question.

Examples:

She called Meena .

(She called whom? The answer to this question is Meena. So, noun Meena is an object in this sentence for the verb called. Meena experiences the verb called. Thus, it is in the accusative case.)

Sachin is driving the car.

(Sachin is driving what? The answer to this question is Car. So, noun Car is an object in this sentence for verb driving. Car experiences the verb of driving. Thus, it is in the accusative case.)

She is talking to John.

(She is talking whom? This question has no answer.

But for the question, She is talking to whom? The answer is John. So here noun John is the object of the preposition to and not of verb talking. Thus it is in Accusative case)

3.DATIVE CASE:

When a noun acts as an indirect object (the noun which experiences the verb second to the direct object is said to be the indirect object. It usually comes just after the verb.)of a verb in a sentence it is said to be in the dative case. Indirect objects are those to whom or for whom the verb is done.

Examples:

I brought my friend a book.

(here verb brought is experienced by both book and friend. The subject first holds the book and then gives it to his friend. So, noun book experiences the verb first and thus is the direct object. The noun friend experiences the verb second and so it is the indirect object.)

The teacher gave the winner a surprise award.

(here verb gave is experienced by both award and winner. But The award is the noun that is been given by the subject and it is the first receiver of the verb thus is the direct object. The noun winner experiences the verb after the direct object award and so it is the indirect object.)

Should I tell Richard about our plan?

(here the subject will tell the plan to Richard. So, the verb tell is first experienced by plan and then by Richard. Thus, the plan is a direct object and Richard is an indirect object.)

4.POSSESSIVE CASE:

Possessive case shows the possession, ownership, or authority of a noun. That is this case shows a relationship between two nouns or between a noun and a pronoun. The possessive case is made by adding an apostrophe and an s to the noun or we use the preposition of to show this relationship.

Remember either apostrophe and an s or preposition of is used to make the possessive case of living beings or personified objects. But to make the possessive case of a non-living thing we use only preposition of.

Example:

Edward’s book – Book of Edward
Cat’s ball – Ball of cat
London’s queen – Queen of London
Uncle’s magazine – Magazine of uncle
Shakespeare’s play – Play of Shakespeare or Play written by Shakespeare
Window of car (Car’s window – INCORRECT)
Roof of the bungalow (Bungalow’s roof – INCORRECT)

For words that already have letter s at their end, to make their possessive case we add only apostrophe without ‘s’.

Examples:

Possessive with OF	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Population of Paris	Paris’s population	Paris’ population
Toys of kids	Kids’s toys	Kids’ toys
Hostel of girls	Girls’s hostel	Girls’ hostel
House of Jonas	Jonas’s house	Jonas’ house

5.VOCATIVE CASE or NOMINATIVE OF ADDRESS:

When a noun is addressed or called out in a sentence than that noun is said to be in the vocative case. This usually happens when you take the name of the listener while talking. Vocative case sets the identity of the spoken party or listener.

It is important to separate the vocative noun from the rest of the sentence with the help of a comma. Or else the meaning of the sentence changes completely.

Examples:

I don’t know, Samantha. (here’ I don’t know is a complete sentence where the speaker show lack of knowledge about something. Noun Samantha separated by a comma show that the speaker is talking to or addressing Samantha and thus it is a vocative noun here)

I don’t know Samantha. (here we cannot see any separator comma and so it is a complete sentence. This sentence means that the speaker does not know Samantha. So, Samantha here experiences the verb and hence is in the objective case.)

Mr. Mehta, your boss is waiting for you in the office. (this sentence has two parts separated by a comma. In one part the speaker is addressing Mr. Mehta and in the other part, a message is conveyed to him. Thus Mr. Mehta is in the vocative case.)
I know your phone number, John. (this sentence has two parts separated by a comma. In one part the speaker is addressing John and in the other part, a message is conveyed to him. Thus, John is in the vocative case)