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The function of the noun determines its case. Sign up for Advanced English
Grammar to learn more about nouns (indefinite, definite) or other parts of
speech. Then follow along with this article to learn more about the three cases
of nouns: subjective, objective and possessive.
Now, lets take a look at the cases of nouns separately with examples of each.
Mary drove to the store. Mary is a subjective noun; she is the one that drove.
Elvis sang for many years. Elvis was the one doing the singing; Elvis is the
subjective noun.
Now, compare those two examples with the following two examples of how
they may be used as a predicate noun:
The teacher was the speaker. The speaker is renaming who the teacher was
and it is linked by was.
Direct Objects: Direct objects receive action in a sentence. They can typically
be found by looking at the verb in the sentence and asking what? or
sometimes whom? As an example:
Show her the book now. (Show whom the book? Her. Her is the direct object.)
My brother licked a lizard. (Licked what? A lizard. Lizard is the direct object.)
Indirect Objects: Indirect objects receive the direct object and can be
identified by locating the direct object first and then asking who received that
direct object. Sounds confusing? It wont be after youve had a bit of practice
locating the indirect object. Lets look at a few examples:
Mark threw his father the football. Here, the verb is throw. Throw what? The
football, which is the direct object. Threw the football to whom? He threw it to
his father, which would be the recipient of the direct object (the football) and,
therefore, the indirect object.
Barbara gave her sister a dollar. To whom did she give the dollar, which is
your direct object? To her sister. So, her sister is the recipient, or the indirect
object, based on the rules above.
We used one example above that could have been written by using an object of
the preposition. Look at this:
Mark threw the football to his father. In this instance, due to the use of the
preposition to, father becomes the object of a preposition.
Marys backpack was red. Marys is the possessive noun showing ownership of
the backpack.
Geralds shirt was blue with white stripes. Geralds is the possessive noun.
To practice more usage of nouns, along with verbs and pronouns, sign up
for The Elements of English Grammar, which offers practice sessions
and over 430 minutes of video instruction.