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nominative

nominative

1 8.1
Showing that a noun or pronoun is the subject of a verb
  • adjective
  • /ˈnɑːmɪnətɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : nominativo
  • Classical scholars, you need not point out to me that this is true only in the nominative case of the first declension, or that "Ursae" is also the form that the genitive and dative singular and the plural vocative cases take.
  • nominative pronoun
  • nominative and accusative

Examples

  • The word 'I' is an example of a nominative pronoun.

  • For the first three months of class, Foster hammered away at the idea of the subject and object (we never heard the words nominative and accusative cases).

    Academic text (1994)
  • I will delay the full explanation until we study nominative and objective pronouns.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Thus, the pronouns are the subject of a subordinate clause and must be in the nominative case.

    Blog text (27)
  • In English, the nominative case is used for subjects in sentences.

  • When constructing a sentence, ensure that the subject is in the nominative case.

Compounds

nominative case
  • Specialized
8.6

The form of a noun or pronoun used as the subject of a sentence

Surface Forms

nominative positive

Morphology

nominative = nominate (opaque) = nomin + ative

Although formed from the same root as 'nominate', the grammatical adjectival sense is a technical morphological borrowing and is not directly inferable by an average learner.

Etymology

Nominative comes from the Latin root nomen, meaning 'name'. As an adjective it describes the case that shows the 'name' of the subject or the word linked to the subject, which is why we use it for subjects.