Noun declensions

In many languages, nouns have endings to indicate whether the noun is the subject, object, indirect object, or possessive — these categories are called “cases.”  In Latin, there are three separate sets of declensions to which a noun can belong, each with different endings. In German, nouns are declined differently according to their gender, and so on.

One advantage of using case endings is that since the function of each noun is clear, it can be placed more flexibly in a sentence. English is a linear language, with the function of a noun generally indicated by its place in the sentence, not by a case ending — subject first, verb, then direct or indirect objects.  (Our linear rules are not sacrosanct: “I gave John the book,” and “I gave the book to John,” are both correct.)  The crystal clear rules of classical Latin and Sanskrit were broken when these languages hit the street.

The linear rules of English are not absolute: for example, “I gave John Mary’s book,” and “I gave Mary’s book to John” are both correct.( “Mary’s I book John gave” is not.)  In case-oriented languages, on the other hand, one cannot place the nouns willy-nilly, but that would be the subject of another posting.

Exercise: Have your class make up arbitrary noun endings and see how well your students use them in constructing sentences.  For example, -um (subject), -et (object), -is (indirect object), and -on (possessive.)  A sentence might end up: Johnum gave the booket Frankon the girlis. (John gave Frank’s book to the girl.) This will be a brain teaser and should serve to wake up any student who happens to be sleeping.

grammar exercises, linguistics in the classroom, noun declensions, Syntax, teaching grammar

Syntax