Hey! Oddly enough, many beginners in English, having heard that there are still cases in this language, remain at a loss. Indeed, English grammar in this case cannot be compared with Russian, where there are 6 cases, each of which has its own endings and questions that it answers. I can assure you, the topic of English cases remains controversial even among linguists. Some language experts claim that English cases do not exist at all, others, on the contrary, recognize their presence in English. Adhering to the opinion of the first, we have English language two cases of nouns general And possessive. You are truly surprised how just two cases can reflect the various relationships of a noun with all other members of a sentence. Let's find out now. There are two cases of nouns in English - common and possessive.

English cases: common and possessive

The common case is a case that does not have special endings that would indicate the function of nouns. The position of the noun in the sentence determines its function, and its ending is always zero

talking in simple words, it allows the noun to act as any member of the sentence:

After practice students of the economy faculty have to study 3 months.
After practice, students of the Faculty of Economics must study for 3 months.

• after-practice- circumstance of time
• students - subject
• of the economy faculty — definition

The possessive case in English helps to indicate the ownership of a noun. A noun in the possessive case is a definition of another word and comes before it

Exceptions in possessive cases

However, there are a number of exceptions that form the possessive form in the same way as animate ones:

1. Words for distance and time
   • Tomorrow's timetable tomorrow's schedule
2. Names of cities and countries
   • Moldova's traditions traditions of Moldova
3. Name of organizations
   • NATO's concept - NATO concept
4. Name of newspapers
   • New-York Time's article — New York Times article
5. General categories and concepts
   • nation - nation
   • country - country
   • city ​​- city
   • town - city
   • nature - nature
   • water - water
   • ocean - ocean

   Town's park City Park
   nature's beauty beauty of nature

6. The following vehicles:
   • ship - ship
   • car - car
   • boat - boat

   car's motor car motor

7. planets
   • Saturn's location location of Saturn
8. Months and seasons
   • February's wind february wind
   • Summer's rain summer rain (summer)

Preposition - replacement for case

Prepositions help replace some cases:

• Pretext -of corresponds to the parent (of what? whom?)
  The beginning of the spring was warm. — The beginning of spring was warm.
  The behavior of the dog is rather strange. — The behavior of this dog is rather strange.
• Pretext -to corresponds to the dative (to whom?)
  He is going to Mike. — He goes to Mike.
• The preposition -with conveys the form of the instrumental, if the object with which the action is performed is meant (what?)
  My friend can write with his left hand. — My friend can write with his left hand

Cases of English pronouns

Pronouns have two cases in English: nominative and object.

The nominative is no different from that in Russian (answers the questions: who? what?), but the objective plays the role of the other five Russian cases, from genitive to prepositional. Pronouns in the objective case answer the questions:
by whom? about whom? to whom? whom?

Face	Nominative	Object
	Singular
1 2 3	I - I You - you He - he She - she It - it	Me - me, me You - you, you Him - him, him his, him Her - her, her It - to him, her, him, her
	Plural
1 2 3	We - we You - you They - they	Us - us, us You - you, you Them - them, them

In the objective case, the personal pronouns of the English language act as:

• direct complement
  She loves you. — She loves You
• Indirect object (non-prepositional)
  Show him the book. — Show him this book
• Pronouns in replicas (short)
  — Who saw him? — Who saw him?
  — Me! — I!

case is a grammatical category that shows the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. Previously, there were several cases in English, but over time, only two remained: common case(the common case) and possessive(the possessive/genitive case).

Common case (The Common Case)

shape common case all nouns have. In the common case, nouns have a null ending ( car,birds), i.e. this case is not marked in any way. That is why, in the absence of prepositions, the relation of such nouns to other words in a sentence is determined only by the place it occupies in the sentence.

Consider what functions a noun in the common case can perform in a sentence.

• The noun that comes before the predicate is used in the function subject and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the nominative case.

For example:

Thedog bit the man. — Dog bit the man. (Who bit? Dog.)

• The noun that comes after the predicate performs the function direct complement and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the accusative case without a preposition.

For example:

The dog bit theman. — The dog bit man.(Who did you bite? A man.)

• If between the predicate and the noun that performs the function of a direct object, there is another noun in the common case without a preposition that denotes a person, it is an indirect object. Such a noun corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case without a preposition.

For example:

Maria showed herfriends the photos. Maria showed to my friends Photo. (Whom did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with prepositions of,to,by And with help to express relationships that in Russian are transmitted using indirect cases without prepositions. In this case, prepositions are not translated into Russian in separate words.

Nouns in the common case with the preposition OF

Noun in the general case with a preposition of corresponds in Russian to a noun in the genitive case and is a definition in relation to the noun that precedes it.

For example:

The walls of the house are made of brick. - Walls Houses made of bricks. (Walls of what? Houses.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition TO

Noun with preposition to corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case and is used as a prepositional indirect object.

For example:

Maria showed the photos toherfriends. — Maria showed photos to my friends. (Whom did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition BY

Noun with preposition by corresponds in Russian to a noun in the instrumental case. This combination is commonly used in passive voice to denote an actor or force. The noun in this case is used in the function of a prepositional object.

The book was written bymyfriend. - The book was written my friend. (Written by? Friend.)

The building was destroyed by the hurricane. The building was destroyed hurricane. (Destroyed by what? Hurricane.)

Common nouns with the preposition WITH

Noun with preposition with also corresponds to a noun in the instrumental case in Russian. This combination is used to denote an object with which a certain action is performed. The noun in this case is also used in the function of a prepositional object.

For example:

I can't write withthispen. - I can not write this pen. (Write with what? Pen.)

Note: nouns in the common case can be used with any prepositions and convey those relations that are expressed in Russian with the help of indirect cases with prepositions.

For example:

I live with my friend.- I live with a friend.

This present is for you. - This gift for you.

Possessive Case (The Possessive Case)

As for the form possessive case, then only some groups of nouns have it (more on this will be discussed below). The possessive case most often expresses the possession of an object. A noun in the possessive case performs the function of defining in relation to another noun.

What does the possessive case look like?

The form

The possessive case is formed with an apostrophe and the letter s - ‘s — or just an apostrophe - ‘ . First way you can get the possessive form for nouns that are in the singular (your father —> your father ‘ s book = your father's book). The second way it turns out the possessive case form for the plural of nouns, which are formed according to the basic rule (his parents -> his parent s‘ car = car of his parents), as well as for some proper names that end in - s(Socrates —> Socrates s‘ ideas = ideas of Socrates ) .

If plural noun is formed differently than most, it is used first way(their children —> their children ‘ s toys = their children's toys ).

Note 1: with a compound noun ‘ s is added to its last element: my mother-in-law -> my mother-in- law ‘ s car = my mother-in-law's car; the passer-by —> the passer- by ‘ s glasses = passer-by's glasses.

Note 2: Mary and Peter ‘s house = Mary and Peter's house (common). BUT: Mary ‘ s and Peter ‘ s houses = Mary's house and Peter's house (each one has his own) or = Mary's house and Peter's house (each has his own).

What nouns are used with the possessive case?

As mentioned above, not all nouns can form the possessive case. The following groups can do this:

1) animated

Mary's bag - Mary's bag

the boys' bicycles - boys' bicycles

the team's defeat - team defeat

the tiger's cage - tiger cage

2) some inanimate

• a) nouns that denote time And distance:

a month's holiday - monthly vacation

a mile's distance — one mile distance

• b) names countries And cities, as well as the words world,country,city:

Germany's policy - German policy

the city's museums - city museums

• c) nouns ship,boat,yacht:

the ship's name - the name of the ship

• d) some nouns that refer to stores:

a/the baker's / butcher's / chemist's etc. (shop) - bakery, butcher shop, pharmacy

a/the travel agent's etc. (office) - travel agency

the dentist's / doctor's / vet's etc. (surgery) - reception of a dentist / doctor / veterinarian

NB! in this case, in the sentence it is enough to use the word directly in the form of the possessive case (for example: I’m at the travelagent's(= travel agent's office). She went to the baker's(= baker's shop). Word house is also often omitted in such cases (for example: I had lunch at my friend's(= my friend's house). - I dined with my friend.

• e) in phrases for heaven's sake, for goodness' sake- For heaven's sake
• f) some fixed expressions: at a snail's pace- like a snail (very slowly); a hair's breadth- by a hair

Note 3: Except for the above, inanimate nouns, as a rule, show belonging with the help of a preposition of.

the roof of the building

the door of the car

Note 4: Two possessive nouns rarely follow each other. Usually with the second noun in this case the preposition is used of.

For example:

This is the cat ofmy friend's daughter. (instead of This is my friend's daughter's cat)

Also of used when the noun denoting the object to which something belongs is followed by a phrase or sentence:

For example:

I didn't take the advice of the woman I met in the city.

In what other cases can the possessive case be used?

On the one hand, the possessive case is used to show belonging. For example: the girl's name.

On the other hand, it can convey certain qualitative characteristics of the object. In this case, we are not talking about belonging, but about the properties of the object.

For example:

a children's room = children's room

women's magazines = women's magazines

a Bachelor's degree - bachelor's degree

This is true only if we are talking about a relation to another noun (for example: the roof of the house - the roof ofthehouse). Other relations conveyed in Russian by the genitive case are expressed differently in English (for example: a chair is smaller than a table = the chair is smallerthan the table).

Those. by adding -s to the singular form.

The resulting word is pronounced in this case in the same way as the original: parents'- [ˈpeərənts].

Among proper names that end in -s, there are those in which the possessive form can be formed in both ways. For example: Burn s‘ life = Burns ‘ s life; John s‘ flat = Jones ‘ s flat.

Regardless of how the form of the possessive case is formed in this case, the ending of the word, as a rule, is read as [...iz]: Jones' / Jones's -.

§ 30. In modern English, there are only two cases: the “general” case (the Common Case), which has no special endings, and the “possessive” case (the Possessive Case), which has the ending - "s.

Common case (The Common Case)

§ 31. Since a noun in the common case has no special endings, its relation to other words, in the absence of a preposition, is determined solely by the place it occupies in the sentence. The noun before the predicate is the subject and corresponds in Russian to the noun in the nominative case.

The noun after the predicate is a direct object and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the accusative case without a preposition:

• The student recognized the teacher.- The student recognized the teacher.
• The teacher recognized the student. - The teacher recognized the student.

Between the predicate and the noun, which is a direct object, there can be another noun in the common case without a preposition, denoting a person. Such a noun is an indirect object and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case without a preposition:

The teacher showed the students adiagram. The teacher showed the students a diagram.

§ 32. Nouns in the common case with the prepositions of, to, by, with express relations conveyed by Russian indirect cases without prepositions. These prepositions do not have an independent meaning in this case and are not translated into Russian in separate words.

1. The noun with the preposition of corresponds to the Russian genitive case (answering the question of whom? what?) and performs the function of defining to the previous noun:
   • The leg of the table is broken.- Leg table broken.
   • He showed me the house of his friend. He showed me his house friend.

   Note. Please note that Russian Genitive A noun is rendered in English by a noun with the preposition of only if it expresses a relation to another noun. The preposition of in the corresponding English sentence always stands, thus, between two nouns:

   • The leg of the table is broken. - The table leg is broken.
   • give me a glass of water. - Give me a glass of water.

   Other relations expressed by the genitive case in Russian are conveyed in English in other ways, such as:

   • The boy is older than the girl. - The boy is older girls.
   • I did not take the pencil. - I did not take pencil.

2. The noun with the preposition to corresponds to the Russian dative case (answering the question to whom? why?) and performs the function of a prepositional indirect object:

   • He gave a magazine to his friend.
   • I showed the book to the teacher.

   A noun in the dative case can also correspond to a noun without a preposition; in this case it takes place between the verb and the direct object:

   • He gave his friend a magazine. He gave his friend a magazine.
   • I showed the teacher the book. I showed the book to the teacher.

3. The noun with the preposition by corresponds to the Russian instrumental case (responding to the question by whom? what?) and performs the function of a prepositional object, denoting the actor or the active force after the verb in the form of a passive voice.

   • The cup was broken by Peter. The cup was broken by Peter.
   • The engine is driven by electricity. This motor is powered by electricity.

4. The noun with the preposition with also corresponds to the Russian instrumental case and performs the function of a prepositional object, denoting an object with which some action is performed:

   • I opened the tin with a knife. I opened the can with a knife.
   • I cannot write with this pen. I can't write with this pen.

§ 33. Nouns in the common case are also used with any prepositions and express relations conveyed by Russian oblique cases with prepositions:

• This letter is for the teacher. This is a letter for a teacher.
• I quite agree with the doctor. I fully agree with the doctor.
• I have received a letter from the manager. I received a letter from the manager.

Material test.

Remove translation Clean up

Common case (The Common Case)

Mark the correct statements.

A noun in the general case has special endings that determine its relation to other words in the sentence.

A noun that is predictable is a subject and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the nominative case.

Instrumental case in English

Good afternoon, I am glad to welcome everyone to the online English lesson. Today we will continue to study cases in English and how these cases are transmitted using English prepositions. As we already talked about in the previous lesson, many students try to learn the translations of English prepositions into Russian, that is, remember which English preposition corresponds to which Russian preposition. Such an approach with memorizing translations of prepositions is initially doomed to failure, since English and Russian prepositions are performed in sentences various functions: Russian prepositions perform an auxiliary function and allow only to clarify the meaning of the sentence, but even without prepositions Russian sentence it will be completely understandable (for example, telegrams in Russian are sent without function words, including prepositions, and the meaning of the telegram is easy to read), but in English, prepositions are the key to understanding the relationship of words in a sentence, since they correspond to Russian cases.

Our task during the lessons on English cases is to first learn all the cases in Russian and understand their functions in a sentence, and then memorize their counterparts in English. As I said in the introductory lesson on English cases, there are thirteen cases in Russian, and only six of them are studied at school: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional. Seven more Russian cases are not studied at school, but, nevertheless, they are present in the Russian language. In order to learn how to use English prepositions correctly and understand the word order in an English sentence, we need to learn all thirteen cases. To begin, we will review the six cases you learned in school and learn how to render them in English, and then move on to seven additional cases. Let me remind you that our today's lesson is accompanied not only by a text summary, but also by an audio podcast, which you can download from the link below:

(To listen to MP3 object you need )

English, like Russian, has two groups of parts of speech: independent and auxiliary. Functional ones include conjunctions, interjections, particles, modal words, exclamations and prepositions. Prepositions are the focus of this article. You will learn what prepositions are in English and how to use them correctly. After all, the literacy of your speech depends on the use of prepositions in English.

All English cases, with the exception of the nominative and accusative, are transmitted using prepositions, so let's remember what a preposition is. A preposition is a service part of speech that expresses a syntactic relationship between grammatical names- noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, participle - as well as words belonging to other parts of speech. In their structure, prepositions are simple, that is, consisting of one root ( on, near, for), complex, that is, consisting of two roots, which are written together ( outside, into) and compound, that is, consisting of two or three words that are written separately ( because of, in front of, in accordance with). Prepositions can also be classified according to the nature of the relationship they express (temporal, spatial, direction, causal, and so on).

Gradually, we will learn all the English cases and their functions, but our first priority is to learn the basic English prepositions that convey case relations - without this we will not be able to understand and build English sentences on our own. As you already know from previous online English lessons, the choice of a preposition in English in many cases depends on which Russian case we are talking about. Here are the prepositions that correspond to the six Russian cases that you studied at school:

Nominative answers the questions who? what?, a word in the nominative case performs the functions of a subject or a predicate - in English, a word in the nominative case is at the beginning of a sentence without a preposition (if it is a subject) or immediately after a linking verb (if it is a predicate).

Genitive answers the questions whom? what?, the word in the genitive case performs the functions of a relative or possessive definition - in English, the word in the genitive case is used after the preposition of and in this case it can be both a relative and possessive determiner, also genitive relations can be transmitted using Possessive Case with the ending "s(in which case the definition is only possessive) or by using an Attribute Clause (in which case the definition is only relative).

Dative answers the questions to whom? what?, the word in the dative case is an indirect object, that is, it indicates the person or object on which the action with transitive verb passes indirectly, for example, - in this sentence the word students is an indirect complement, to which the action passes indirectly - through direct object abstracts, that is, the teacher performs an action on the notes, and the students are the indirect recipient of this action. In English, the word in the dative case is used after a direct object and prepositions to or for; as part of an inverted construction, the word in the dative case is used in English without a preposition and before a direct object.

Accusative answers the questions whom? what?, the word in the accusative case performs the syntactic function of a direct object, that is, indicates the person or object to which the action passes directly from the transitive verb, for example, teacher sends notes to students- in this sentence the word abstracts is a direct addition, that is, the teacher performs an action that directly changes the state of the notes - they become submitted. In English, a word in the accusative case is used after a transitive verb-predicate without a preposition or after an indirect object without a preposition if an inverted construction is used.

We have studied these four cases in previous lessons, and it is assumed that you understand the functions of these cases in a Russian sentence and how they are conveyed in an English sentence. If something from the above is not obvious to you, then go back to the previous notes and repeat these materials.

Instrumental case- we will study this case in today's lesson - instrumental case answers questions by whom? how?, the word in the instrumental case indicates the person or object with which the action is performed, which is why the instrumental case is also called instrumental case or instrumental, that is, it points to the tool for performing the action.

Prepositional- this is the sixth and last of the cases you studied at school - words in the prepositional case answer questions about whom? about what? and are used in various kinds of descriptive constructions.

In the next lesson, we will study the prepositional case, and at this point the repetition of six school Russian cases and the study of their analogues in English will be completed, after which we will move on to more difficult topic- to the study of seven additional Russian cases and their English counterparts.

It is clear that the matter is not limited to cases alone, since there are more prepositions in English than cases, and many English prepositions are completely similar in function to Russian prepositions, that is, they perform a purely clarifying function.

Moreover, many verbs, nouns and adjectives in English are used strictly with certain prepositions. That is why I immediately explain such parts of speech with the prepositions related to them and always immediately give several examples of the use of such words composed by native English speakers - for this I take sentences from blogs, forums and travel guides. So, for example, the verb depend uses with a preposition on: depend on - depend on whom? from what?, the same preposition is also used with single-root adjectives dependent on - dependent on whom? from what? and with a noun dependency on - dependence on whom? from what?. Or, for example, the verb wait - wait necessarily requires a preposition after itself for: wait for someone - to wait for someone or wait for something - wait for something. The management of such words should be memorized: for example, the Russian verb listen is transitive and takes after itself a direct object in the accusative case ( listen to whom? what?), but its English counterpart is always used with the preposition of the dative case to: listen to someone - listen to someone or listen to something - listen to something(eg music). Management may not coincide not only with verbs, but also with other independent parts of speech, for example, the adjective proud - proud used with the genitive preposition of: proud of something - proud of something- pay attention to the fact that in Russian the instrumental case is used, and not the genitive case, as in English. Behind the words advantage - advantage And disadvantaged - flaw preposition is used of, and after the noun damage - injury, harm to someone or something the British make a suggestion to.

Instrumental case function in an English sentence

Let's now talk about the next in line - instrumental - case. Instrumental case called in Latin instrumentalis, and is sometimes also called instrumental. This case indicates the instrument for performing the action in the broadest sense of the word - that is, the instrumental case indicates the person or object with which the action is performed.

As in the case of other cases, the instrumental case in Russian is conveyed by case endings (words in the instrumental case answer questions by whom? how?), and in English the instrumental case is conveyed by prepositions by And with. Whenever the English case is conveyed by two prepositions, the problem arises of choosing one of the two prepositions. Remember when we studied dative prepositions to And for, I spent a huge number of classes with you to explain to you the difference in the use of these two prepositions, and then we worked long and hard on language simulators to consolidate our knowledge. With prepositions by And with everything will be a little simpler, but just like in the case of the dative case, we will work on linguo simulators to consolidate these rules of use.

So, general rule easy: combinations of nouns with prepositions by And with correspond to the Russian instrumental case and indicate the instrument of the action, so most often these prepositions are found in Passive Voice or in the passive voice when indicating the source of the action. Usually by denotes an actor, that is, a person who performs an action, and the preposition with denotes the instrument with which the action is performed.

The most attentive of you will ask me: "How can it be that the pretext by refers to the person doing the action? Indeed, when studying the nominative case, you, Igor Igorevich, told us that the person performing the action is the subject - in the Russian sentence it answers questions who? what?, and in the English sentence it is at the very beginning and without a preposition? From which side did the instrumental appear here at all?" Indeed, in a regular sentence in Active Voice or in the active voice, the action is performed by the subject, and this subject is in the nominative form and answers questions who? what? However, in addition to the active voice, there is also a Passive Voice or a passive voice - as a rule, in sentences in Passive Voice, the person performing the action is not mentioned at all, since in Passive Voice all attention is focused on the object of the action, however, if we all -we want to mention the protagonist in a sentence in Passive Voice, then we use the instrumental case and the preposition by.

Let's compare two sentences in active and passive voices: Our driver pleasantly surprised us, because he managed to his car a crevice in the mountain, cutting our hike by half. - Our driver pleasantly surprised us, because he was able to drive his car to the gorge in the mountain, cutting our hiking route in half.- the first simple sentence is built in the active voice or in Active Voice: our driver- this is the subject, indicating the person who performed the action; pleasantly- adverb-attribute of the verb, which is placed before the verb of action; surprised- transitive verb-predicate; us- direct object in the accusative case. As we can see, in the active voice, the person performing the action is the subject and is placed at the very beginning of the sentence without a preposition.

Let's see how the same idea can be expressed in Passive Voice or in the passive voice. In the passive voice, attention is focused not on the subject of the action (that is, on the person who performs the action), but on the object of the action (that is, on the person or object in relation to which the action is performed). That is, in fact, Passive Voice is a regular sentence with a linking verb and a predicate, but the predicate is always expressed by the past participle, literally: is / was / will be done. In 99% of cases, the word that is a direct object in an Active Voice sentence will be the subject in a Passive Voice sentence: We were pleasantly surprised by our driver, who managed to drive his car down to a crevice in the mountain, cutting our hike by half. - We were pleasantly surprised by our driver, who managed to drive his car to the gorge in the mountain, cutting our hiking route in half.- the main character in this sentence is no longer driver, but we, and the main idea is that we were surprised. This sentence will retain its meaning if the mention of the driver is removed from it at all: We were pleasantly surprised to start our hiking tour at a crevice in the mountain. - We were pleasantly surprised to start our hiking trip at the gorge in the mountain. And it is precisely in the Passive Voice or in the passive voice that the instrumental case with the preposition is used to indicate the character by.

Let us derive a simple rule for ourselves: in Active Voice or in the active voice, the subject in the nominative case performs the action, in Passive Voice the subject is the object of the action, and the state of this subject is described in the sentence, and the person performing the action, as a rule, is not mentioned at all. However, if you still want to mention the person doing the action in a sentence in Passive Voice, then that person is described by a noun in the instrumental case with the preposition by.

Let's take a look at some examples in Passive Voice to understand how the instrumental with preposition works. by when it refers to the actor doing the action. Also note that the sentence does not have to be built in Passive Voice in order for it to have room for the instrumental with the preposition by- in many cases a preposition by will indicate the noun-subject of the action as part of the circumstance:

Once you have confirmed your credit card's coverage, be sure to decline the CDW offered by your car rental company. If you accept any coverage offered by the rental agency, you automatically forego your credit card's coverage. In other words, if you buy CDW that comes with a $1,000 deductible, that deductible will not be covered by your credit card. - Once you have confirmed your credit card coverage, make sure you opt out of the CASCO offered by your car rental company. If you accept any insurance offered by the rental agency, you will automatically waive the coverage on your credit card. In other words, if you buy a CASCO that comes with a thousand dollar deductible, that deductible will not be covered by your credit card.- in this sentence, several phrases are in the instrumental case: by your car rental company- by whom? how? your car rental company, by the rental agency- by whom? how? rental agency, by your credit card- by whom? how? with your credit card.

Pompeii, stopped in its tracks by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, offers the best look anywhere at what life in Rome must have been like 2,000 years ago. An entire city of well-preserved ruins is yours to explore. The city grew from Greek and Etruscan roots and was by Romans a thriving commercial port of 20,000. - Pompeii stopped in their development(verbatim: in your ruts) volcanic eruption Vesuvius(it puzzles many, the British denote volcano word mount - mountain many people ask: why not volcano; everything is very simple: the Russian word volcano has two meanings - the physical process of ejection of magma, ash and hot gases from the vent, and a mountain in which there is a vent from which magma can be ejected, but not the fact that it is being ejected at the moment - the volcano may well be dormant, in English language word volcano denotes only a physical process, and the word mount- a mountain, and it doesn’t matter, with or without a vent) in AD 79, offers the best glimpse of what life was like in Rome about two thousand years ago. The entire city is a well-preserved ruin at your disposal to explore.(verbatim: have yours to explore). The city grew out of Greek and Etruscan roots and was turned by the Romans into a thriving trading port with a population of 20,000. - in this sentence the instrumental case formed by the preposition by, occurs twice: in the first case as part of the participial turnover stopped in its tracks by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 - stopped in its development by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD- in this participial turnover, the main idea is that Pompeii were stopped in development, the question of what exactly stopped them in development is secondary, therefore it is conveyed by the circumstance in the instrumental case with the preposition by. If the speaker wanted to highlight the idea that it was the volcanic eruption that stopped Pompeii from developing, then in this case the speaker would not use the definition expressed by participle turnover, but constructed a separate sentence in which the eruption of Mount Vesuvius - volcanic eruption Vesuvius- would play the role of the subject. In the second case, the instrumental case with a preposition by used in a passive sentence: The city was turned by Romans into a thriving port. - The city was turned by the Romans into a flourishing port.- again, the main idea here is that the city has turned into a prosperous port, and the fact that it was the Romans who did it, and, for example, not the Greeks or Etruscans, is secondary, and the circumstance by Romans- by whom? how? Romans- just clarifies the main idea.

These Irish hermit monks were inspired by the earlier hermits in the Egyptian desert, and, too used the purity and silence of extreme isolation as a tool to get closer to God. - These Irish hermit monks were inspired by earlier hermits in the Egyptian desert and also used the purity and silence of extreme isolation as a tool [to] get closer to God.- pay attention to the fact that the first sentence is built in the passive voice, that is, the subject these Irish hermit monks - those Irish hermit monks- are described in the proposal for the action that was performed on them. It was not they who inspired someone there, but, on the contrary, they themselves were inspired by other monks. In a sentence in Passive Voice, the subject does not perform an action, but is the object of such an action, that is, we describe the subject by the action that is performed on it. Who exactly performs the action is completely unimportant. A sentence in Passive Voice may or may not contain an indication of the subject of the action. However, even if the sentence is in Passive Voice and contains indications of the source of the action in the instrumental case with the preposition by, then this sentence is still not identical to the sentence in Active Voice, where the subject itself performs the action. Let's compare two sentences: These Irish hermit monks were inspired by the earlier hermits. - These Irish hermit monks were inspired by earlier hermits.- in this sentence, the main idea is to describe the Irish hermit monks, and an indication of those who inspired them to do so is a secondary issue. The earlier hermits inspired the Irish hermit monks. - Earlier hermits inspired the Irish hermit monks.- despite the apparent similarity with the previous sentence, the meaning of the sentence in Active Voice is completely different: it is already talking about a different subject - the main idea is that the earlier monks inspired someone there.

While the rest of Croatia's coastline was virtually untouched by the civil war, the Yugoslav National Army laid siege to Dubrovnik for eight long months. - While the rest of the Croatian coast(verbatim: remnant of the Croatian coastline) was virtually untouched civil war, the Yugoslav national army laid siege to Dubovnik for eight long months.- the main idea of ​​the subordinate clause the rest of Croatia's coastline was virtually untouched by the civil war consists in the fact that almost the entire Croatian coast was not affected by the civil war; the main idea in this sentence is to describe the state of the coast, that it was this coast that was not affected, and thanks to which it retained its original appearance, is the tenth thing. Thus, Passive Voice is used to describe the state of the subject on which the certain action. Who exactly and under what circumstances performed the action is the tenth matter, an indication of who committed this action can either be present or absent. If such an indication is present, then it is introduced by the preposition of the instrumental case by.

We are accustomed to the fact that in Russian it is enough to decline a word according to cases, thereby forming the context we need. But, what to do in a similar situation with English, where there is practically no case system? First, here the syntactic meaning of a word is always determined by its place in the sentence. And secondly, there are as many as three case categories, but not all of them play a really significant role. In today's material, we will consider how cases are formed in English, what parts of speech they correspond to, and what function they perform.

First, let's find out what this section of grammar is. Case is a term denoting the syntactic role of a sentence member or the semantic meaning of a word in a phrase. talking plain language, case determines the dependence of one word on another. The corresponding case in the sentence expresses the subject, object, definition.

Russian grammar allows you to apply this term to a noun, pronoun, adjective, participle, numeral. But in English, cases can occur only in two parts of speech: a noun and a pronoun. Moreover, they bring more changes to the class of pronouns. Consider the English case system.

Cases in English

Since English uses a fixed word order, the role of cases is somewhat crumpled and not always actively expressed. But this is no reason not to consider their construction and use. On the contrary, for confident use of the language, you need to be able to work with any grammatical constructions, and the category of case is no exception. Let's ask ourselves: how many cases are there in English? Officially three, but only two are singled out. We will analyze a three-level classification.

Subject category (Subjective)

Translated into Russian, this is the most common nominative case, which emphasizes that the noun / pronoun acts as a subject. This grammatical construction does not differ in anything remarkable: both nouns and pronouns are used in it in their usual dictionary form.

• She is my best friendShemybestfriend.
• Peter is a clever boyPeter -smartboy.
• Children read the bookChildrenreadbook.

The second case in English is much more peculiar.

Object category (Objective)

This is the so-called indirect case. In this case, nouns/pronouns are not actors/objects, but objects of these actions. Accordingly, in the sentence, this construction is associated with the role of the complement.

When translated into Russian, depending on the context, words can be put into the genitive, dative, proposed and accusative cases. It is noteworthy that nouns still do not change their construction, and most personal pronouns receive a completely new form.

Subject	An object	Transformation
I	Me	i ⟶ me, me
You	You	you, you ⟶ you, you, you, you
He	Him	he ⟶ him, him
She	Her	she ⟶ her, her
It	It	it ⟶ him, him, this, this, her, her (inanimate)
We	Us	we ⟶ us, us
They	Them	they ⟶ them, us

The pronoun who (who?), Which turns into whom (whom? To whom?), Is also subject to changes.

• Give me a pen, pleaseGiveto me,please,handle.
• I told them the truth-Isaidthemthe truth.
• The boy bought a ball – Boyboughtball.

These two case categories in the case of nouns are combined into one common case, because there are still no changes in their composition, and the syntactic role to a greater extent is always determined by the location of the word. A separate and most specific case is the third group.

Possessive category

The most important type of case in English . It is a meaningful construction that not only expresses the role of a noun/pronoun, but also changes its composition.

The class of pronouns is also transformed into new forms.

The task of these forms and endings, as well as the case group as a whole, is to show belonging to someone or possessing something, and also to describe, tell what kind of person / object it is. The parts of speech of this category are always in front of the word being defined, so it finally controls the position of the member of the sentence. And this is another exceptional feature of this category.

• This is Liz' s mirror-ThisLisinomirror.
• These are my children 's pictures-Thesedrawingsmychildren.

Accordingly, the syntactic role of such constructions is definition.

And last important nuance this group: as a rule, possessive endings are attached only to the animate class of nouns. But there are exceptions to this law. Let's consider them in more detail.

Grammar note: in constructions associated with dedication, the erection of something in honor of someone, the possessive form is not used: theLermontovmonument.

It is noteworthy that in addition to its own case system, English grammar has other possibilities for noun declension. Next, we will learn how to form cases in English using function words.

Prepositions as cases

Prepositions and cases actually have a lot in common even in Russian. Remember that many of them are used only with certain cases and are a kind of markers for these cases. But prepositions in English not only indicate the case, but also help to form it. Let's consider such cases concrete examples, but the table below will help us with this.

Prepositions	Conformity	Examples	Translation
Of, from	whom? what? - possessive form of inanimate. noun, genitive	I got a postcard from my grandparents. The cover of the book was made of cardboard.	I received a postcard from my grandma and my grandpa. Cover of this book was made from cardboard.
By, with	as? how? with the help of whom/what? who/what? instrumental case	I cut the rope with a knife. The computer was bought by my son. This novel was written by Walter Scott.	I cut this rope knife. This computer was purchased my son. This novel was written Walter Scott.
about, of	about what? about whom? prepositional	I'm thinking of moving to Poland. I was talking about this film with my friend.	I'm thinking about moving to Poland. I was talking about this film with my friend.
To, for	to whom? what? for whom, if it can be translated as the dative case	I want to say something to you. He wrote a fairy tale for his daughter.	I want to tell you something. He wrote his daughter fairy tale.

Now we've taken it all apart possible ways declensions of English words. Having mastered this material, we not only learned how to put nouns in the right form, but also got acquainted with many common stable constructions. So, with each lesson, we all better understand the shades. English speech. See you in new classes!