People are so crazy that they have been burning the midnight oil in order to crack the government exam. We have already covered Noun rules for competitive exams part – 1. This is the second part with some rules about Noun cases.
Additional noun rules in English grammar
As we all know that grammar is a treasure box of some chapters and a lot of rules. We always have to follow them in order to make grammatically accurate sentences. Although there are a lot of rules, not all of them as equally important from the exam’s point of view. Hence I have selected a handful of rules. Here is a list of certain rules. If you don’t know about noun definition and examples, you can learn about them in previous parts of nouns.
Do you know about noun cases?
Noun cases tell us about the position and manner of a certain word being used in a sentence.
There are many cases of a noun that you may have come across in your learning English.
What is a noun case?
A case is the use of different forms of nouns to show their functions in a sentence.
For example, I & me, who & Whom, and John & John’s. The difference in this pair of words is a case.
How many Noun cases are there in the English language?
There are 4 noun cases;
1) Nominative case
2) Objective case
3) Possessive Case
4) Vocative case
Examples
Neha (Nominative Case) loves Sonu (Objective Case).
Sonu (Nominative Case) loves Neha (Objective Case).
Note: Unlike pronouns, the noun has different cases, but the words may remain the same in both cases Nominative and Objective case just as shown in the above two examples.
This article is going to be all about one of the noun cases you are going to learn for noun rules for competitive examples. It consists of some rules of the Possessive Noun Case from academic and competitive exam points of view. Let’s get started!
Possessive Case of Noun
What is a noun possessive case?
A possessive case shows the possession or ownership of something.
We also have a possessive case of pronoun similarly, there is also a possessive case of the noun.
There are two different ways to show possession using nouns.
1) Apostrophe (‘S)
2) Of
Let’s read between the lines with examples!
Mohan’s phone is brand new. (Apostrophe (‘S)
The phone of Mohan is brand new. (Of)
Raju’s wife or the wife of Raju
In both sentences, Mohan is the owner of a brand-new phone. The sentence may look different yet their meaning is the same.
Read: Noun definition and types in English Grammar.
Note: You cannot use [Apostrophe (‘S)] everywhere. There are certain rules wherein you can use it. You must look at the below sentence to know it inside out.
My best friend broke a table’s legs.
Here the use of (table’s legs) is grammatically incorrect. It is better to use the legs of the table.
Perhaps you may be confused about why we used ‘Mohan’s brand-new phone and why not ‘table’s legs).
It is generally considered wrong to use Apostrophe (‘S) with non-living things. You will learn noun rules in English grammar and why we did so by the end of this lesson.
Rule 1. The use of Apostrophe (‘S) with living things.
Cow’s milk
Dog’s kennels
Mother’s love
Women’s College
Akbar’s empire
Eagle’s nest
Men’s shoes
Cow’s tail
Father’s sacrifice
Examples;
1) Cow’s milk is very useful for health.
2) We needed a dog kennel for our home.
3) The mother’s love is always unconditional.
4) Akbar’s empire was extremely prominent at that time.
5) A father’s sacrifices are seldom noticed.
Rule no. 2 when we show the non-living things as living.
Fortune’s fate
Death’s hand
Knowledge’s demand
Belief’s power
Education’s value
Examples;
1) Fortune’s fate is always unexpected and indescribable.
2) You can never escape yourself from death’s hand.
3) The knowledge demand is very high these days.
4) You can change the world with the help of belief’s power.
5) None can understand education’s value without a teacher.
Rule no. 3 with the words to show time and distance.
A moment’s delay
A week’s leave
A month’s absence
Yesterday’s paper
A stone’s throw
A night’s sleep
A fortnight’s holiday
Today’s news
A day’s work
Examples;
1) A moment’s delay in the fire department can take the life of thousands of people.
2) The company provides male employees a week’s leave for paternity.
3) When he was getting married, he applied for a fortnight’s holiday.
4) Today’s news is not endorsable.
5) Five minutes’ walk can work as a miracle in your body.
6) I missed yesterday’s exam due to a high fever.
Rule no. 4 you can use Apostrophe (‘S) with Reciprocal pronouns.
If you don’t you about pronouns, go and learn the pronoun and types because your English is really incomplete without them.
Reciprocal with Apostrophe (‘S)
One another One another’s
Each other Each other’s
These two are reciprocal pronouns in English.
If you have to show their possession, you can use them likewise shown below examples.
1) Everybody should take care of one another’s feelings in a family.
2) They use each other’s books to study at home.
3) The group discussion is a great way to examine one another’s knowledge.
4) Every Indian citizen must respect one another’s religion.
This is part one on noun cases. There will be some other parts related to it soon. Keep visiting for updates!
