ACCUSATIVE CASE EXERCISE 257 Write the following sentences when the teacher dictates them: 1. I am going, O my people, on a long and distant journey. Listen, my children, and you shall hear 2. Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. 3. When shall I see you again, Charles? 4. O Harry, please wait a minute. 5. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong. 6. How old are you, friend? 7. Five and twenty, sir. 8. Polly, do you know who planted that squash? 9. I am sorry, Mary, that I cannot accompany you. 10. Call me early, mother. Accusative Case. I. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: John struck me. We invited him. We love our country. Columbus crossed the ocean. The italicized words are used as the objects of transitive verbs. They are the objects that receive the action from the subject. These nouns and pronouns are in the accusative case. Nouns and pronouns used as the objects of transitive verbs are in the accusative case. 2. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: My mother lives with me. We will stand by the flag. I sit behind him at school. We sailed through the Isthmus. The italicized nouns and pronouns used above are the objects of prepositions. All prepositions are followed by substantives in the accusative case. A noun or a pronoun used as the object of a preposition is in the accusative case. 3. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: Mother asked me to go. In the sentences above the italicized words are used as the subjects of infinitives. The group of words me to go is used as the object of the verb asked. John to shoot is the object of told. Find the object of the verb in the last two sentences. When nouns or pronouns are used as the subjects of infinitives they are in the accusative case. A noun or a pronoun used as the subject of an infinitive is in the accusative case. 4. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: Always confide in your mother, your best friend. The poor man sold his cow, his last valuable possession. In the above sentences friend is used to mean the same thing as mother, and is said to be in apposition with mother. Possession is in apposition with cow, because it means the same thing as cow. A noun or a pronoun used in apposition with a substantive in the accusative case is also in the accusative case. 5. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: I saw him yesterday. He traveled a thousand miles. Look this way. John is twelve years old. In the preceding sentences the italicized nouns are used in an adverbial sense. Yesterday modifies saw, and tells when I saw him; miles modifies traveled, and tells how far he traveled; way modifies look, and tells where to look; years modifies old and tells how old John is. What does feet modify? What does minutes modify? Nouns used in an adverbial sense are in the accusative case. A noun may be used adverbially to express time when, distance, or extent. Such a noun is called an adverbial accusative. Dative Case. Notice the italicized words in the following sentences: Please give me the candy. 66 In each of the above I told you a secret. Louise wrote her a letter. sentences point out the object of the verb. If we rearrange the first sentence to make it read Please give the candy to me," we see that candy is the object of give, and that to me tells to whom to give it. In the second sentence him is the one to whom the present was sent. The one to whom or for whom anything is done is called the indirect object of the verb, and is in the dative case. The word dative comes from a Latin word meaning "give." Think, then, of the dative case as the case expressing to whom or for whom anything is done or given. The dative case has the same form as the accusative. A noun or a pronoun used as the indirect object of a verb is in the dative case. EXERCISE I Give the case of each noun and pronoun in the following sentences, and give the reason for each case: 1. Be thou glad, O thirsting desert! 2. The earth is covered with snow. 3. Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 4. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 5. Three years she grew in sun and shade. 6. The murmuring of mountain brooks and the songs of birds filled the woods with music. 8. He lives two miles from here. 9. She and I have been friends since we were eleven years old. 10. It is I, not he, that should be blamed. 11. Give me the dagger. 12. They brought him his sword and his shield. 13. We shall start on our trip to-morrow. 14. Three times Antony offered Caesar the crown. 15. He and Arnold built a dam in the creek last summer. EXERCISE II A. Use the following pronouns as the indirect objects of verbs: B. Use the same pronouns as the objects of prepositions. C. Use the same pronouns as direct objects of transitive verbs. D. Use the following nouns as adverbial accusatives: mile foot hours to-day weeks Give your complete sentences orally in class. time LISTEN' 수 CORRECT USAGE The Pronoun as Predicate We are not likely to make mistakes in using nouns, because nouns are inflected to a very small extent. But pronouns have many different forms, and it is from the use of the wrong forms of pronouns that a great many speech errors arise. The accusative form of the pronoun must never be used after any form of the verb is; only the nominative case of the pronoun may be used in the predicate after a linking verb. Fill each blank in the following sentences with the proper form of the pronoun: 1. She thought it was 2. It is 3. Was it 4. It will be (First person, singular) 5. If it had been plural) 6. It was who does the work. (Third person, singular) we should have heard of it. (Third person, who called last evening. (First person, plural) The Pronoun as Subject Only very small children say, "Me wants it" or "Him said a bad word." But many older people, when they combine two pronouns or a noun and a pronoun in the subject, use the wrong case; as, "Him and Jack shot a squirrel," for He and Jack," etc.; or; "Me and Fred are going down town," for "Fred and I are going down town;" or, "You and me won't quarrel," for "You and I won't quarrel.' Whenever a pronoun is used as part of the subject, be sure that it has the nominative form. EXERCISE Fill each blank in the following sentences with the correct form of the pronoun: I. You and were chosen captains. (First person, singular) 2. and Meredith have gone to school. (Third person, singular) 3. Alice and 4. We and 5. If you were are cousins. (Third person, singular) live near each other. (Third person, plural) 6. Who will do this, 7. I thought it was what would you do? (First person, singular) 8. I think you are as strong as (Third person, singular) |