People interested in Latin who grew up with English or other declension-less languages are often at first puzzled by the nature or utility of inflexion (changing the endings depending on the use of the word). Luckily for Anglophones (speakers of English), being distantly related to Latin, English does indeed retain some inflexion, in the most common of words, too!
Cases
Nominative, accusative, genitive... These words can appear confusing at first, since they are Latin terms and not normal English ones. It is my opinion that English terms should be used for clarification, but not outright replacement. The Latin terms ought to stay, and the student will benefit more from knowing correct terminology.
But just how do you explain these to younger students, or especially to students who are not as familiar with grammar terms? The best examples are to bring up the pronouns for declensions., and modern possessives for the genitive.
English is fortunate enough to have retained the genitive as the sole survivor of the Old English declension system in regular nouns. But with pronouns we have even more.
Nominatives: Easy enough explanation - these are the subject words. I walk to the store, not me walk to the store. English speakers should be very familiar with the distinction. The terms I, he, she, we, and who are retainers of this. (Note, since students today are growing less familiar with the proper use of who vs. whom, perhaps this should be dropped.) Roughly 99% of the populace should be able to differentiate we go to the store vs. us go to the store. Here I usually digress by discussing how English used to have the same thing, but only here is it retained.
Accusative: I saw him. Him is the accusative. When something happens to someone, we put that in the accusative case. (Note again, there are exceptions to this, but it might be best to reserve that for later.) For older students more familiar with the terms direct object or indirect object, it might be useful to use those terms, although I have found that some students, even older ones, confuse them as much as they would accusative or dative. Caution is advised.
Dative: I gave her a present. Her is in the dative case. When something is given to or for someone, we put that in the dative case. There are other uses of the dative, but beginning students do not normally come across them in elementary texts. Like accusatives, direct and indirect objects appellations should be used with care.
Genitive: Is this your book? Your is in the genitive case. Students will most likely be more familiar with the name possessive, as that is what is often taught. Equating the term should be easy enough!
For helping hints, remember:
I, me, my/mine
We, us, our(s)
Thou, thee, thy/thine
Ye/you, you/ye, your(s)
He, him, his
She, her, her(s)
It, it, its
They, them, their(s)
Who, whom, whose
Students would doubly learn if taught this way, so perhaps they will stop saying "to who" and start saying "to whom". Well, we can wish!
Cases
Nominative, accusative, genitive... These words can appear confusing at first, since they are Latin terms and not normal English ones. It is my opinion that English terms should be used for clarification, but not outright replacement. The Latin terms ought to stay, and the student will benefit more from knowing correct terminology.
But just how do you explain these to younger students, or especially to students who are not as familiar with grammar terms? The best examples are to bring up the pronouns for declensions., and modern possessives for the genitive.
English is fortunate enough to have retained the genitive as the sole survivor of the Old English declension system in regular nouns. But with pronouns we have even more.
Nominatives: Easy enough explanation - these are the subject words. I walk to the store, not me walk to the store. English speakers should be very familiar with the distinction. The terms I, he, she, we, and who are retainers of this. (Note, since students today are growing less familiar with the proper use of who vs. whom, perhaps this should be dropped.) Roughly 99% of the populace should be able to differentiate we go to the store vs. us go to the store. Here I usually digress by discussing how English used to have the same thing, but only here is it retained.
Accusative: I saw him. Him is the accusative. When something happens to someone, we put that in the accusative case. (Note again, there are exceptions to this, but it might be best to reserve that for later.) For older students more familiar with the terms direct object or indirect object, it might be useful to use those terms, although I have found that some students, even older ones, confuse them as much as they would accusative or dative. Caution is advised.
Dative: I gave her a present. Her is in the dative case. When something is given to or for someone, we put that in the dative case. There are other uses of the dative, but beginning students do not normally come across them in elementary texts. Like accusatives, direct and indirect objects appellations should be used with care.
Genitive: Is this your book? Your is in the genitive case. Students will most likely be more familiar with the name possessive, as that is what is often taught. Equating the term should be easy enough!
For helping hints, remember:
I, me, my/mine
We, us, our(s)
Thou, thee, thy/thine
Ye/you, you/ye, your(s)
He, him, his
She, her, her(s)
It, it, its
They, them, their(s)
Who, whom, whose
Students would doubly learn if taught this way, so perhaps they will stop saying "to who" and start saying "to whom". Well, we can wish!
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