accusative

accusative (ukyOO'zutiv") [key][Lat.,=accusing], in grammar of some languages, such as Latin, the case typically meaning that the noun refers to the entity directly affected by an action. The term is used for similar, but often not identical, features in the grammar of other languages. Thus in the English sentence “He helped him,” him is in the accusative (or, as it is sometimes called, objective) case, he in the nominative.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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