English marks case only on pronouns. Three cases are recognized:
Nominative: I, we, you, he, she, it, they, who
Objective: me, us, you, him, her, it, them, who(m)
Genitive: my, our, your, his, her, its, their, whose.case^2
see case grammar
case assignern
(in case theory) an element that assigns a particular function, a case (see
case^1 ), to a noun phrase in a sentence. Case assigners are often verbs or
prepositions.
case grammarn
an approach to grammar developed in the 1970s which stresses the semantic
relationships in a sentence. Parts of case grammar have been incorporated
into more recent versions of generative grammar.
see also agentive case, benefactive case, dative case^2 , factitive case,
instrumental case, locative case, objective case
case methodsn
in language teaching and teacher education, the use of cases as a form of
pedagogy. A case consists of a report of (usually successful) practice prepared
by a practitioner. It attempts to explore what experienced practitioners in a
particular field (law, business, industry, teaching) know and do and presents
an account of “craft knowledge” as compared to the “theoretical know-
ledge” that is often the focus of traditional academic courses. Case methods
are often used in the preparation of professionals in law and business and
are also thought to be useful in teaching and teacher education. In teacher
education, students may study and react to accounts of how teachers
developed courses, conducted classes, and responded to particular teaching
issues and problems. In business English courses, case accounts presenting
the circumstances of a particular company, office, or individual, may form
the basis of a variety of language development activities. Case methods
should not be confused with a case study.
case studyn
the intensive study of an aspect of behaviour, either at one period in time
or over a long period of time, e.g. the language development of a child over
one year. The case study method provides an opportunity to collect detailed
information that may not be observable using other research techniques
(compare cross-section(al) method), and may or may not be based on
case study