Qualities of NounPerson, Number, Gender

and Case

Person, Number, Gender and Case

Person is the distinction of nouns to denote the speaker, the person or thing spoken to, or the person or thing spoken of

I have … 1st person = speaker

Professor, you can … 2nd person = spoken to

Gary was a … 3rd person = spoken about

Person

Gender

Gender is the distinction of nouns with regard to their status

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Number

Number is that property of a noun by which it expresses one, or more than one

Nouns have two numbers, the Singular and the Plural

Singular denotes one

Plural denotes more than one

Case

Case is the state or condition of a noun with respect to the other words in a sentence

English has three cases, the Nominative, Possessive and Objective

A noun is in the Nominative case when:

It is used as the subject the sentence Ex. Kelly runs track for our school.

When used as a subject complement Ex. Katie is a sweet girl.

When used in direct address Ex. Please grab me a pen, Joe.

When used as an appositive that describes the subject Ex. Advent, the liturgical season before Christmas, is special.

The Possessive case connects possession or ownership with a noun

e.g. sun’s rays, Anna’s car, women’s shoes

The Objective case is used when:

the noun is used as the direct object ex. Matthew helps John

the noun is used as the indirect object ex. Paul read me a book.

the noun is used as the object of a preposition, ex. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island

the noun is used as an appositive that describes the direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition

Ex. Matthew helps John, my best friend, with his batting.

Ex. Paul read me, an ingenious sage, a book.

Ex. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, the best city ever.