Nominative case definition: The nominative case is an English grammatical case that is used for a noun or pronoun when it is the subject of a verb.
What is the Nominative Case?
The nominative case is a grammatical case for nouns and pronouns. The case is used when a noun or a pronoun is used as the subject of a verb.
Nominative Case Examples:
- Sharon ate pie.
- Sharon=noun subject in nominative case
- We walked home.
- We=pronoun subject in nominative case
- Jake and Krista bought dessert.
- Jake and Krista=noun subjects in nominative case
Nominative Case Pronouns
Here is a list of nominative case pronouns in English. Nominative pronouns are also called subject pronouns. They are, as their name indicates, pronouns that are used as the subject of a sentence.
List of Nominative Case Pronouns:
- I
- You
- He
- She
- We
- They
Intro to Cases
English grammatical cases express the relationship of a noun or pronoun to other words in a sentence. There are four main cases in English.
Nominative Case
The nominative case refers to the case used for a noun or pronoun when it is the subject of a verb.
- We made our dinner.
- Subject/Nominative case: We
- Verb: made
In this example, the nominative pronoun we is the subject of the sentence.
Genitive Case
The genitive case refers to the case used for a noun, pronoun, or adjective to show ownership or a noun.
- We made our dinner.
- Possessive pronoun/Genitive case: our
- Possessed noun: dinner
Accusative Case
The accusative case refers to the case used for a noun or pronoun that is a direct object of a verb.
- We made our dinner.
- Verb: made
- Direct object: dinner
Dative Case
The dative case refers to the case used for a noun or pronoun that is an indirect object.
- We made dinner for them.
- Verb: made
- Direct object: dinner
- Indirect object in the dative case: them
Nominative Case vs. Accusative Case
The nominative case is the case used to express subjects completing an action. The nominative case is used for nouns and pronouns.
The accusative case is also used for nouns and pronouns. However, in the accusative case, the nouns and pronouns are recipients of the action the subject completes. In other words, the nouns and pronouns are objects of the verb.
To find the direct object in the accusative case, ask “What?” after the verb.
Examples:
- They answered the question.
- “They” is the subject in the nominative case.
- “answered” is the action the subject is completing
- Find direct object in accusative case: They answered WHAT?
- “question” is the object in the accusative case
- Patricia sewed a quilt.
- “Patricia” is the subject in the nominative case.
- “sewed” is the action the subject is completing
- Find direct object in accusative case: Patricia sewed WHAT?
- “quilt” is the object in the accusative case
Only Pronouns Change Form
In English, only pronouns change from the nominative to the accusative case. That is, nouns are the same when used in the nominative or the accusative cases. Pronouns, however, change their form.
Examples showing nouns do not change in accusative/nominative cases:
- noun: masterpiece
- Nominative: The masterpiece was marvelous.
- Accusative: Van Gogh created a masterpiece.
- Noun: dog
- Nominative: The dog barked.
- Accusative: We adopted a dog.
Examples showing pronouns change in nominative/accusative cases:
- I/me
- Nominative: I drafted a poem.
- Accusative: Jerry called me.
- you/you (singular and plural)
- Nominative: You created art.
- Accusative: Tim bothered you.
- he/she/it > him/her/it
- Nominative: She danced well.
- Accusative: Tony likes her.
- we/us
- Nominative: We love New York City.
- Accusative: Mary saw us.
- they/them
- Nominative: They entered the castle.
- Accusative: Olivia married them.
Summary
Define nominative case: the definition of nominative case is the case from the subject of a clause.
In summary, the nominative case:
- is used for nouns and pronouns
- is used for the subjects of verbs
- is also called subjective case
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