Grammar Handbook: Noun and Pronoun Case

The Center for Writing Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Case refers to how nouns and pronouns are used in relation to the other words in a sentence. The three cases are subjective, objective, and possessive. See below for a chart of pronoun cases.

:: Subjective Case
Subjective case is sometimes called the nominative case. A noun or pronoun is in the subjective when it is used as the subject of the sentence or as a predicate noun. A predicate noun follows a form of the "be" verb, and it renames the subject of the sentence. In the following examples, nouns and pronouns in the subjective case are in orange.

I hope to finish my paper tonight.

Valerie danced in the statewide competition.

He is a clown. (The word clown is a predicate noun)
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:: Objective Case
A noun or pronoun is in the objective case when it is used as a direct object, an indirect object, or an object of the preposition.

Dad prepared the dinner.

Our dog crawled under the fence.

Mom gave us the money.
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:: Possessive Case
A noun or pronoun is in the possessive case when it is used to show ownership of an object:

Mom washed Valerie's leotard.

Where did you find her book?
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:: A Chart of Pronoun Cases

Subjective	Objective	Possessive
I	Me	My, Mine
You	You	Your, Yours
He	Him	His
She	Her	Her, Hers
It	It	Its
We	Us	Our, Ours
They	Them	Their, Theirs

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