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IN English language nouns have only two cases: possessive case (Possessive Case), in which nouns take a special ending and general case (Common Case), in which nouns do not have any endings.

Common case is the form in which the noun is given in the dictionary.

Majority meaning Russian case forms expressed in English in the general case form with or without a preposition:

In English, nouns in general case can be used in the functions of subject and direct object (always without a preposition), indirect and prepositional objects, circumstances (usually with a preposition), definitions (both with and without a preposition).

Possessive nouns in the only one number is formed by adding the ending to a noun 's:

Possessive nouns in plural number is formed by adding only one apostrophe:

If the plural of a noun is formed not by adding the ending /s/, but by changing the form, then the possessive case is formed in the same way as for the singular, i.e. adding the ending / 's/:

A noun in the possessive case has only one function - definitions (individual characteristics defined word):

The possessive construction can be represented with a preposition of:

the boy' s room = the room of the boy

3. Possessive case of animate and inanimate nouns:

Basically, only the possessive case has the form animate noun meaning Living being, to which any object, quality or attribute belongs:

Rare cases of using the possessive case with inanimate nouns are limited to the meaning of a specific subject:

the car 's roof - car roof(specific, specific car)

4. Cases of using the possessive case for inanimate nouns:

• Nouns denoting time and distance:
  
• Nouns denoting countries, cities and ships, as well as words: world, country, city, ship:
  
• Some adverbs of time:
  
• The word being defined has other determiners - the indefinite article or demonstrative pronouns:
  
• Phrases that do not contain a noun:
  
• To name an establishment, shop or house (of someone):
  

Two nouns in the possessive case do not usually follow one another. In such cases, the pretext is used of:

In the following video clip, children show the belonging of objects to each other, and the teacher pronounces a sentence using nouns in the possessive case:

English Joke

A young man hired by a supermarket reported for his first day of work. The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, gave him a broom and said, “Your first job will be to sweep out the store.”
“But I’m a college graduate,” the young man replied indignantly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. “I didn’t know that,” said the manager. “Here, give me the broom - I’ll show you how.”

English has two cases: common and possessive. Let's look at each one separately.

Common case - Common case

Nouns in the general case are used in the functions of the subject (and correspond in Russian to a noun in the nominative case), the nominal part of a compound predicate, complement, and adverbial case.

The general case form alone, without the help of additional means, cannot convey the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. Such additional means in English are the order of words in a sentence and prepositions: of - corresponds to the genitive case, to - to the dative case, by, with - to the instrumental case, of, about - to the prepositional case with the prepositions “about” and “about”.

For example:

The dean spoke of our faculty.
Dean (the dean - Nominative case) spoke about our faculty.

Students greeted the dean.
The students greeted the dean (accusative case).

The lecture of the dean was listened to with great attention.
The dean's lecture (genitive case) was listened to with great attention.

A very interesting story was told by the dean.
A very interesting story was told by the dean (the instrumental case).

He missed many lectures and had to explain the reason to the dean.
He missed many lectures and must explain the reason to the dean ( dative).

She told me many interesting things about our new dean.
She told me a lot of interesting things about our new dean (prepositional case).

Possessive case - Possessive case

Nouns in the possessive case denote the ownership of an object or concept, answering the question whose? - whose?, or relation to another subject, answering the questions what? - which one?, how much? - How many? etc. The possessive case is used in the function of definition and stands before the word being defined.

My sister's room... My sister's room...

The possessive case is formed:

Using an apostrophe (") and the letter s ("s) for singular nouns and for plural nouns that do not end in -s:

the boy's room - the boy's room, Tom's book - Tom's book, the men's hats - men's hats, women's work - women's work.

Only use an apostrophe (") for plural nouns ending in -s:

the boys" room - the boys' room, the students answers - the students' answers.

In the form of the possessive case we use:

Mainly nouns denoting animate objects:

my teacher's pen - my teacher's pen. Tom's friends - Tom's friends.

Nouns meaning:

time - with words such as minute, hour, day, week, night, month, year, expressing the meaning “during”, “per period”, etc. (unlike cases when this case is not used - see point 2 of the next paragraph):

today's newspapers - today's newspapers, an hour's absence - absence for an hour, a week's holiday - a week's vacation, a year's journey - a journey that lasts a year;

distance:

a mile s distance - a distance of a mile, two kilometres" walk - a path of two kilometers;

price:

ten dollars worth of chocolate - 10 dollars worth of chocolate;

names of stars and planets:

the Sun's rays - the sun's rays, the Moon's light - moonlight, the Earth's resources - the resources of the Earth;

names of countries, cities, etc.:

the United States" participation - participation of the United States, Moscow s squares - Moscow squares, this Liverpool"s Cathedral - this Liverpool Cathedral;

moving mechanisms or machine parts (in the language of technical literature):

the plane's propellers - airplane propellers.

Notes

Relationships expressed using the possessive case can be conveyed by a construction with the preposition of:

France's economy - the economy of France - the economy of France.

In cases where the belonging of something to something is expressed (that is, belonging to an inanimate object), then, as a rule, a construction with the preposition of is used:

the walls of the town - the walls of the city, the legs of the table - table legs.

Possessive nouns can be used without a subsequent location noun. In this case, the possessive case has a local meaning.

For example: at my sister's - in my sister's house, at the baker's - in the bakery.

The possessive case is not used:

If of two, usually inanimate, nouns, the first acts as a definition with a pronounced meaning “characteristic, ordinary, used for something,” etc. and the combination is considered as a single, holistic concept:

a street lamp is a street lamp, and a newspaper article is a newspaper article.

With words that express time and act as definitions:

summer holidays - summer holidays, November fogs - November fogs, birthday party - evening on the occasion of a birthday (time is expressed through age).

With names of cities, regions, proper names, etc., when they are constituent element names:

the Gomel University - Gomel University, “The Vitebsk Worker” - “Vitebsk Worker” (newspaper), the Pushkin Museum - Pushkin Museum.

With the names of items of clothing, equipment with shades of the meaning described in paragraph I:

a football ground - a football ground, a coffee cup - a coffee cup.

What is case? This is a category in grammar that shows the relationship of a noun with other words in a sentence. Today we are talking about what role the possessive case of nouns plays and how it is formed in the English language.

History of the language

Case is an integral “attribute” of a noun. In ancient times, Old English was rich in cases. It included nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and instrumental cases. However, its descendant, modern English, cannot boast such a number. In his “arsenal” there are only two cases - common (Common case) and possessive (Possessive case).

Meaning

It is not difficult to guess the meaning of the possessive case. The name speaks for itself: “to attract” – to belong. In other words, it reflects the belonging of any object, quality or characteristic to another object:

• The boy’s ball - The boy’s ball (the boy owns the ball);
• The doctor’s pen - The doctor’s pen (the pen belongs to the doctor);
• The driver’s car - The driver’s car (the car belongs to the driver).

It should be noted that only animate nouns have the possessive case form in English (boy, doctor, driver). If we are talking about the belonging of one object to another inanimate object, then the construction with the preposition of (the door of the car) is used.

Education

As you can see from the examples above, possessive nouns in English are formed using an apostrophe (‘) and an ending (-s). The rule is simple and clear, but not without its peculiarities and nuances. These are detailed in the following table:

Inanimate nouns denoting distance and time can take the possessive case (six months’ trip, a night’s walk). Exceptions also include combinations consisting of the names of cities, countries, the words Earth (Earth), world (world), nature (nature), ship (ship): world’s end - end of the world, nature’s protection - protection of nature.

There are 6 cases in Russian, and only 2 in English. Does this mean that they do not need to be studied? Of course not. Without knowing the rules for forming cases and expressing case relations, you will not be able to freely operate with vocabulary and construct grammatically correct and understandable phrases. So let's consider cases more details.

What are the cases in English?

• General case, which is divided into subjective and objective:
  • Subjective case, which is also called nominal. It indicates that the part of speech in a sentence functions as the subject. This is true for both nouns and pronouns.
  • Objective case or Used to designate a noun or pronoun as the recipient of an action. For nouns this is not very relevant, but in the case of personal pronouns oblique case significantly affects the form of the word.
• Possessive or Possessive It is used to express the ownership of some objects or subjects by others.

Below we will look at the cases in more detail.

Important! Only nouns in the possessive case change their form in speech and writing. It is formed by adding the ending to the word - s. In other cases, nouns do not change their form. This is why it is often said that English is the easiest language to learn. However, with pronouns the situation is different. Their form changes depending on the case, and it is most convenient to trace these changes using the example of personal pronouns,

Common case of nouns

In the common case, if a noun is used without a preposition, its function in the sentence depends on where it appears. This is achieved due to the analytical nature of the language, when instead of endings, changing the place of a word in a sentence and adding prepositions is used to express case relations. This is one of the reasons why English is considered the most in simple language for studying. As such, there are no complex rules for changing words by case; moreover, the lack of designation of grammatical genders in writing greatly simplifies the matter.

Nouns without prepositions and their translation

If a noun comes before the predicate in an affirmative sentence or before an auxiliary verb in an interrogative sentence, then in the sentence it acts as the subject and is translated in the nominative case.

If a noun comes after a predicate in a function, then it is translated in the accusative case.

If between the direct object and the predicate there is a noun without a preposition as an object, then it is translated into the accusative case.

Nouns with prepositions and their translation

To make it easier to understand prepositions and case relations, we put them in a table. The table shows the cases of pronouns and nouns, the prepositions with which they are indicated in English, and examples with translation.

Possessive

Nouns in the possessive case always denote ownership and come before the noun that they define. Only animate nouns are used in the possessive case. Inanimate nouns are used in this case only in some cases.

How is the possessive case formed? For animate nouns

For animate nouns that are in singular. h., the possessive case is formed using the ending ‘s, which is added to the word:

the Queen’s crown - the queen’s crown, the dog’s bone - dog bone, Mike’s dad - Mike’s dad

If an animate noun ends in -s, then either simply ‘ or -‘s is added to it:

Jhones’s friend = Jhones’ friend - Jones’ friend

With the plural, everything is simpler. If you need to put a noun in the plural. in the possessive case, only an apostrophe is added - ‘. Phonetically, no changes occur. For example:

boys’ toys – boys’ toys

If the noun forms the plural. according to other rules, that for them the possessive case is formed in the same way as in the first case - by adding the ending – ‘s:

Child’s cat – children’s cat – children’s cat

goose's feather - geese's feather - geese feathers

What inanimate nouns are used in the possessive case?

Below we will consider in table form which groups inanimate nouns used in the possessive case:

Pronoun cases: what you need to know

Pronouns have the same cases as nouns. However, if nouns undergo minor changes when expressing case relations, then pronouns can completely change their form. This is best seen in the example of personal pronouns in the plural, which almost completely change their form. Interrogative and relative pronouns also change, but remain recognizable and their use is intuitive.