Why the nominative and subjective are lumped as just a single case

Here’s a basic grammar question that baffled an adequately English-savvy friend of mine: Why are the nominative case and subjective case lumped as just a single case in English? Plus the objective case and possessive case, shouldn’t there be four cases in all?

To answer my friend’s question, I came up with this simplified layperson’s definition of case: it is the form a noun or pronoun takes to indicate its functional relationship to other words in a sentence or clause. In modern English, there are indeed only three cases—the nominative or subjective, classified as just a single case, when the noun or pronoun acts as the subject of a sentence or clause; the objective case, when the noun or pronoun receives the action of the verb or is the object of a preposition; and the possessive case, when the noun or pronoun shows possession of something.

Now let’s find out why the nominative and subjective are considered as just one case and practically synonymous.

A telltale sign that a noun or pronoun is in the nominative case is when it’s functioning as the subject of a verb in a sentence or clause. It’s not necessarily the doer of the action of that verb, for that’s true only when the sentence or clause is in the active voice.

In the active-voice sentence “The committee planned the Pope’s itinerary,” for instance, the subject “committee” is the doer of the action of the verb “planned”; as such, that subject is in the nominative case. But see what happens when that sentence is rendered in the passive voice: “The Pope’s itinerary was planned by the committee.” Here, the doer of the action of the verb—“the committee”—is no longer the subject of the sentence; instead, the receiver of that action—“the Pope’s itinerary”—has become the subject of the sentence.

Thus, whether a sentence or clause is in the active or passive voice, the noun or pronoun that serves as its subject will always be in the nominative case. So when is a noun or pronoun in the subjective case instead?

By definition, a noun or pronoun is in the subjective case when it is in the subject position of a sentence or clause. As such, it’s either (a) a subject that “did” or is “doing” something, as in “The police cordoned Rizal Park,” or (b) a subject not doing something but only being described in a certain way, as in “The police is ready for the Pope’s visit.”

With “police” as subject of the sentence either way, it clearly also meets the criterion for nouns in the nominative case. Indeed, whether in the nominative case or subjective case, a noun or pronoun always functions as the subject of a sentence or clause. It is precisely for this reason that the two cases are virtually synonymous and folded into just a single case.

However, we must keep firmly in mind that only when the subject of a sentence is specifically a noun will there be no grammatical difference between its nominative and subjective forms. This is because nouns in modern English don’t inflect or change form at all in both the nominative and subjective cases and in the objective case as well.

In contrast, the pronouns—particularly the personal pronouns—typically inflect for different grammatical cases. Consider this sentence with a nominative subject: “The committee members approved the security plan.” That subject can be routinely replaced with the nominative pronoun “they”: “They approved the security plan.”

But see what happens when that sentence is rendered in the passive voice: “The security plan was approved by them.” The nominative pronoun “they” has inflected or changed into the objective pronoun “them.”

We will explore the inflections of the various personal pronouns for the various cases in the next essay below. (January 10, 2015)

This article first appeared in the weekly column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times, January 10, 2015, © 2015 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

RELATED READING:

How the English personal pronouns inflect for case

Last week, I explained why the nominative and subjective cases are lumped as just a single case in modern English, then pointed out that nouns don’t inflect or change form at all in these two cases and in the objective case as well. Indeed, only in the possessive do nouns inflect by taking the suffix apostrophe-“s”, as in “The Pope’s visit required unprecedented security measures.” That’s all.

Not so with the pronouns, however. Many of them inflect for case depending on person (first, second, or third), number (singular or plural), and gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). And nowhere are the inflections more pronounced—and more bewildering to English learners—than in the personal pronouns, which typically change form to show whether they are serving as subject of a clause, as object of a verb, or as object of a preposition.

Let’s start with the singular first-person pronoun. Its form is “I” in the nominative or subjective case, as in “I watched the crowd” and “I am impressed.” In the objective case, it inflects to “me” as direct object, as in “She chose me”; as indirect object, as in “She gave me hope”; and as object of the preposition, as in “She dedicated the book to me.” Then in the possessive case, it inflects to “mine,” as in “That car is mine.”

Now see what happens to the first-person pronoun in plural form. It inflects to “we” in the nominative or subjective case, as in “We watched the parade” and “We were stunned by the massive crowd.” In the objective case, it inflects to “us” as direct object, as in “The Pope blessed us”; as indirect object, as in “He gave us his benediction”; and as object of the preposition, as in “He commiserated with us.” Then in the possessive case, it inflects to “ours,” as in “The court ruled that the farm is now ours.”

The second-person pronoun is unique in that it doesn’t inflect at all in the nominative or subjective case and in the objective case as well. It takes the form “you” for both singular and plural, as in the nominative “You came just when we needed you” and in the subjective “You are generous.” It’s also “you” in the objective case, whether as direct object, as in “We wish you well”; indirect object, as in “They owe you a big favor”; or object of the preposition, as in “Tonight she’ll send the invitation to you.” Only in the possessive case does it inflect—to “yours,” as in “That car is fully paid so it’s now yours.”

For English learners, the third-person pronoun proves most difficult because it inflects in all three grammatical cases not only for number but also for gender. The nominative or subjective singular forms are the masculine “he,” the feminine “she,” and the neuter “it,” as in “He/She joined the entourage,” “He/She is a believer,” and “As to your contribution, it is enough.” The objective case singular forms are the masculine “him,” the feminine “her,” and the neuter “it,” as in “They brought him/her/it to Rizal Park.” The possessive singular forms are the masculine “his” and the feminine “hers,” as in “The controversial mansion turned out to be his/hers.” The neuter “its” only works as a possessive adjective, as in “As to that appliance, convenience is its major advantage.”

The plural forms of the third-person pronoun are easier to learn because they don’t inflect as much for case. In the nominative or subjective case, the third-person pronoun inflects to “they,” as in “They reconciled just now” and “They are part of the entourage.” In the objective case, it inflects to “them,” as in “We welcomed them despite our differences.” Then in the possessive case, it inflects to “theirs,” as in “That decision was theirs, not ours.” (January 17, 2015)

This article first appeared in the weekly column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times, January 17, 2015, © 2015 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.