Case (grammar)

“ In grammar, the “cases” are the various forms in the declension of a noun, adjective or pronoun, the Latin word being a translation of the Greek πτῶσις, falling, applied by Aristotle to the variations from the simple form of the word, whether noun, verb or adjective (of which the adverb would be a πτῶσις) . Later grammarians confined the term to nouns, and included the nominative. In law, “case” is the common term for a cause or suit brought before a court of justice. ”

“ The objective case expresses the object of an action or of a relation. It generally follows a transitive verb, a participle, or a preposition.
A noun is in the objective case when it is the object of something. At present I shall explain this case only as the object of an action; but when we shall have advanced as far as to the preposition, I will also illustrate it as the object of a relation.
An active verb is transitive when the action passes over from the subject or nominative to an object; as, Richard strikes John. ”

“ This gloss therefore I wholly disapprove, judging the position more tenable, to deny, if we consequently must, that either a phrase or a participle, as such, can consistently govern the possessive case. For whatever word or term gives rise to the direct relation of property, and is rightly made to govern the possessive case, ought in reason to be a noun—ought to be the name of some substance, quality, state, action, passion, being, or thing. ”

“ THIRD METHOD OF ANALYSIS. Sentences may be partially analyzed by a resolution into their SUBJECTS and their PREDICATES, a method which some late grammarians have borrowed from the logicians; the grammatical subject with its adjuncts, being taken for the logical subject; and the finite verb, which some call the grammatical predicate [330] being, with its subsequent case and the adjuncts of both, denominated the predicate, or the logical predicate. Thus:—
EXAMPLE ANALYZED. "Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment, that we are always impatient of the present. ”

“ In the sentence, "It is certainly as easy to be a scholar, as a gamester," what is the case of scholar and gamester, and why? 95. Are there any verbs that sometimes connect like cases, and sometimes govern the objective? 96. What faults are there in the rules given by Lowth, Murray, Smith, and others, for the construction of like cases? 97. Can a preposition ever govern any thing else than a noun or a pronoun? 98. Is every thing that a preposition governs, necessarily supposed to have cases, and to be in the objective? ”

“ In the English language, the distinction of the objective case is observable only in the pronouns. Cases being nothing but inflections, where inflections do not exist, there can be no grammatical distinction of cases, for the terms inflection and case are perfectly synonymous and convertible. As the English noun has only one change of termination, so no other case is here adopted. The objective case is noticed in the pronouns; and in parsing nouns it is easy to distinguish subjects from objects. ”

“ Every objective is governed by some verb or participle, according to Rule 5th, or by some preposition, according to Rule 7th; except such as are put in apposition with others, according to Rule 3d, or after an infinitive or a participle not transitive, according to Rule 6th: as, "Mistaking one for the other, they took him, a sturdy fellow, called Red Billy, to be me." Here is every construction which the objective case can have ”

“ Absolute, when, and in what case, a noun or a pron. is put --Absol., case, defect of the common rule for
--in how many ways the nom. case is put --nom. case put, with part., to what often equivalent; what part. frequently understood after nouns put --case, its existence denied by what authors --words put, punct. of, Abstract numbers, synt. of the phraseology used in speaking of, ("Twice two IS four," or "Twice two ARE four")
Absurd or incompatible expressions, to be avoided
Absurdities of expression, Crit. ”

“ And those who have acquitted themselves best in the trial, will often be disposed to think they have most notably failed, for the very reason that they have been too busy with the grammar of each sentence, as it came, to have been able, as they construed on, to enter into the facts or the feelings, which, unknown to themselves, they were bringing out of it. ”

“ CASE. A few years ago the term CASE was applied to persons and things; “what a CASE he is,” i.e., what a curious person; “a rum CASE that,” or “you are a CASE,” both synonymous with the phrase “odd fish,” common half-a-century ago. Among young ladies at boarding schools a CASE means a love affair.
CASK, fashionable slang for a brougham, or other private carriage.—Household Words, No. 183.
CASSAM, cheese—not CAFFAN, which Egan, in his edition of Grose, has ridiculously inserted.—Ancient cant. Latin, CASEUS.
CASTING UP ONE’S ACCOUNTS, vomiting.—Old.
CASTOR, a hat. ”

“ The parts of which a compound sentence consists, are called Members or Clauses. In every compound sentence there are either several subjects and one attribute, or several attributes and one subject, or both several subjects and several attributes; that is, there are either several nominatives applied to the same verb, or several verbs applied to the same nominative, or both. Every verb marks a judgment or attribute, and every attribute must have a subject. There must, therefore, be in every sentence or period, as many propositions as there are verbs of a finite mode. ”

“ While no doubt the grammatical and logical scope of a proviso is confined to the subjectmatter of the principal clause, we cannot forget that in practice no such limit is observed, and when, as here, we are dealing with an addition made in new circumstances to a form of words adopted many years before, the general purpose is a more important aid to the meaning than any rule which grammar or formal logic may lay down. ”

“ All agree as to the Nominative that it is simply the name of the thing. If we admit that a distinct case is constituted by any accident or modification which changes the relation which that bears to the actors or action of the sentence, we must agree to the six cases at least; because, for example, to a thing, and from a thing are very different accidents to the thing. ”

“ A compound subject or predicate consists of two or more simple subjects or predicates, joined, when necessary, by conjunctions.
Either the subject or the predicate, or both, may be compound.
The Parts of Speech
9. In accordance with their use in the sentence, words are divided into eight classes called parts of speech,—namely, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
(1) A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
(2) A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. It designates a person, place, or thing without naming it. ”

“ So attentive is Slang speech to financial matters, that there are seven terms for bad, or “bogus” coin (as our friends, the Americans, call it) : a CASE is a counterfeit five-shilling piece; HALF A CASE represents half that sum ”

“ This modifies the previous statement, which may now stand thus:—for a change of case there must be a change of form existing or presumed.
§ 211. The number of our cases and the extent of language over which they spread.—In the English language there is undoubtedly a nominative case. This occurs in substantives, adjectives, and pronouns (father, good, he) equally. It is found in both numbers.
§ 212. Accusative.—Some call this the objective case. The words him and them (whatever they may have been [157] originally) are now (to a certain extent) true accusatives. ”

“ How then, can any word, in truth, or in thought, be known to qualify the action, as distinct from the object or agent? And if it does not in fact, how can we explain words to children, or to our own minds, so as to understand what is not true?
Hence all words of this character are adjectives, describing one thing by its relation or likeness to another, and as such, admit of comparison; as, a likely man, a very likely [242] man, a likelier, and the likeliest man. "He is the most likely pedlar I ever knew." "He is more liable to be deceived." "A lively little fellow." "He is worthless." ”

“ Compound.
A phrase is a combination of words without a predicate and can illustrate, but cannot express an idea, as, Spring returning, the swallow comes.
A clause is a phrase developed, and contains a predicate, as, When spring returns, we may expect the swallow.
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.
It has now been seen that the simplest sentence we can frame must necessarily consist of at least two words—the subject, which must be a noun or its equivalent; and the predicate, which must be a verb. But a sentence consisting of only two words is in its barest and most rudimentary form. ”

“ If we analyse a judgment, every word in which it is expressed, whether it is a noun or a verb or a preposition or a conjunction, conveys a distinct meaning, indicates a term or a relation, each of which can be made a distinct object to the mind, and all of which are combined in the single meaning the judgment expresses. It is in this complexity that the possibility of error lies, and the possibility increases as the complexity increases. ”

“ Different forms of expression are employed in later enactments, but all which are applicable to the case before the court are, except as to time, substantially to the same effect. 13 id. 214, sect. 14. ”

“ Being made for the most numerous cases, or for those of most ordinary occurrence, they point out the manner in which it will be least perilous to act, where time or means do not exist for analysing the actual circumstances of the case, or where we cannot trust our judgment in estimating them. ”

“ This part of the sentence and the other part, A youth makes friends, containing each a subject and a predicate, we call +Clauses+.
The adjective clause that is discreet, performing the office of a single word, we call a +Dependent Clause+; A youth makes friends, not performing such office, we call an +Independent Clause+.
The whole sentence, composed of an independent and a dependent clause, we call a +Complex Sentence+.
A dependent clause that does the work of an adjective is called an
+Adjective Clause+.
Analysis.
1. They that touch pitch will be defiled. ”

“ Presenting one side of a case, addressing chiefly those who are already adherents of that side, putting a colour on the events it reports,—it serves up to the reader ideas, perhaps only mere phrases or catchwords, which confirm him in his prepossessions, and by its daily iteration makes him take them for truths. ”

“ Each adjective clause is connected to insects by which. And connects the co-ordinate clauses. The second diagram shows that the clause while he tarried modifies both predicates of the independent clauses. While modifies had passed, had escaped, and tarried, as illustrated by the short lines under the first two verbs and the line over tarried. The office of while as connective is shown by the dotted lines. The third diagram illustrates the analysis of a complex sentence containing a compound noun clause.
1. Sin has a great many tools, but a lie is a handle which fits them all. ”

“ A practical test as to whether an abstract term, in any given case, is being used as a singular or common term, is to try whether the indefinite article or the sign of the plural can be attached to it. ”

“ Cases are not unfrequent in which a circumstance, at first casually incorporated into the connotation of a word which originally had no reference to it, in time wholly supersedes the original meaning, and becomes not merely a part of the connotation, but the whole of it. ”

“ The “Practical Grammar,” by S. W. Clark, A.M., published by A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, gives the following rule: {p78}
“A phrase or sentence used as the subject of a verb, requires a comma between it and the verb.”
Of course the examples under the rule exhibit a corresponding difference.
“To be totally indifferent to praise or censure is a real defect in character.”—Wilson.
“To do good to others, constitutes an important object of existence.”—Clark. ”

“ If the sentence is complex, containing an adjective clause, proceed the same as in the analysis of simple sentences, analyzing the clause last.
7. When the clause is given as an adjunct of some noun, state whether it is restrictive or unrestrictive, and give its introductory word.
8. If any subject or predicate is partially compound, state that fact before analyzing it.
Always proceed logically. In analyzing the sentence, “The city editor laid a clipping from the morning paper on the desk,” do not say that from the morning paper is a phrase modifying clipping. ”

“ Thus, “The man acts as if he were crazy” is equivalent to “The man acts as [he would act] if he were crazy.” But it is not necessary to supply the ellipsis in analyzing.↑
47 In analyzing, the direct quotation may be regarded as the object of the verb of saying, etc. (or the subject, if that verb is passive) ; and if it forms a complete sentence, this may be analyzed as if it stood by itself. It is not proper to regard the direct quotation as a subordinate clause.↑
48 See pp. 102–105, 127–132.↑
49 Instead of compound complex, the term complex compound is often used. ”