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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

objective case? accusative case?

Hi,

I dont quite understand the difference between the two cases.

The term "accusative case" seems to be mostly used (in English grammar books) to emphasize that personal pronouns in the nominative case may differ from their counterparts in the objective case A LOT? :-)

Is there is a brief and clear way to explain "conceptual differences" between the OC and the AC in English?
Does the phrase "a noun in the AC" make sense to you grammar experts?

mus-te
  

Top answer

MUSCOVITE I dont quite understand the difference between the two cases. That's not surprising because there is no difference. "accusative" comes from Latin.

— CalifJim

  • MUSCOVITE I dont quite understand the difference between the two cases.
  • That's not surprising because there is no difference.
  • "accusative" comes from Latin.
  • It is usually used as the name of that case when speaking of the case structure of foreign languages (non-English).
  • "objective" is the equivalent term for the same thing, but in English.
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21 Answers
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MUSCOVITEI dont quite understand the difference between the two cases.
That's not surprising because there is no difference.

"accusative" comes from Latin. It is usually used as the name of that case when speaking of the case structure of foreign languages (non-English).
"objective" is the equivalent term for the same thing, but in English. To m
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For me, there is no difference. However, using the term "accusative case" only really makes sense to me when analyzing languages that have a fully developed system of grammatical cases. When it comes to English grammar, it's best to use the terms subjective/subject case and objective/object case.
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Thank you so much for the PERFECT explanation! Emotion: yes
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CalifJim"accusative" comes from Latin. It is usually used as the name of that case when speaking of the case structure of foreign languages (non-English)."objective" is the equivalent term for the same thing, but in English. To make matters even more confusing, some people use "accusative" when discussing English grammar as well.
One follow-up question if I ma
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MUSCOVITEobjective case? accusative case?
Here’s what The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language has to say:

? Terminology: ‘nominative’ vs ‘accusative’ or ‘subjective’ vs ‘objective’
The classical terms ‘nominative’ and ‘accusative’ are quite opaque, and some modern gramma
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Aspara GusThey’ve invited Kim and I to lunch)
H & P make a case for the acceptability of 'X + nominative pronoun' in such sentences. Learners need to be aware, however, that many native speakers regard this as substandard and, more importantly, many teachers and examination boards will mark it as incorrect.
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fivejedjonH & P make a case for the acceptability of 'X + nominative pronoun' in such sentences. Learners need to be aware, however, that many native speakers regard this as substandard and, more importantly, many teachers and examination boards will mark it as incorrect.
They’ve invited Kim and
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fivejedjonmany native speakers regard this as substandard
Maybe, but on the other hand I would be willing to bet that the average native speaker would not find it non-standard, as they would something like !I ain’t seen nobody. It’s only those who (mistakenly) conflate it with *They’ve invited I to lunch that call it wrong.
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Aspara GusFair enough. I probably should have clarified in my last post that the ‘%’ symbol indicates that invited Kim and I is not accepted by all speakers of Standard English.
I've never seen that before. Is it common, standard, or your own invention. I rather like the idea.
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PhilipI've never seen that before. Is it common, standard, or your own invention. I rather like the idea.
CGEL uses it, but I’m not sure if any other grammar does. They also have ‘#’ (semantically or pragmatically anomalous), ‘!’ (non-standard), and ‘?’ (of questionable acceptability).
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