§35   Case and parsing noun phrases

As this section and the next use a variety of linguistic terms, here are some definitions. “Flexion” is the changing of a word according to its situation, and there are several kinds:

inflection: a variable ending for a word, such as “a” becoming “an”.

agreement: when the inflection of one word is changed to match another word which it goes with. Thus “grand maison” but “grande dame” (French), where the inflection on “grand” agrees with the gender of the noun it is being applied to.

affix: part of a word which is attached either at the beginning (prefix), the end (suffix) or somewhere in the middle (infix) of the ordinary word (the stem) to indicate, for instance, person or gender of the objects attached to a verb. The affix often plays a part that an entirely separate word would play in English. For instance, “donnez-lui” (French: “give to him”), where the suffix is “-lui”, or “cogela” (Spanish: “take it”), where the suffix is “la”.

enclitic: an affix, usually a suffix, meaning “too” or “and” in English. For instance, “que” (Latin).

agglutinization: the practice of composing many affixes to a single word, so that it may even become an entire phrase. For instance:

kirjoitettuasi   after you had written (Finnish)

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In most languages, noun phrases have different cases according to their situation in a sentence. In the English sentence “Emily ate one bath bun and gave Beatrice the other”, the noun phrase “Emily” is nominative, “one bath bun” and “the other” are accusative and “Beatrice” is dative. These last two are the cases most often occurring in Inform commands, as in the example

leg den frosch auf ihn   put the frog on him (German)
nimm den frosch von ihm   take the frog from him

where the noun phrase “den frosch” is accusative both times, but “ihn” and “ihm” are the same word (“him”) in its accusative and dative forms. In some languages a vocative case would also be needed for the name of someone being addressed:

domine, fiat lux   Lord, let there be light (Latin)

since “domine” is the vocative form of “dominus”. Latin also has genitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are written as just the noun phrase “water” with a suffix meaning “into”.

· · · · ·

To parse any of these languages, and even in some circumstances to parse special effects in English-language games, it's useful to h tgenitive and ablative cases, making six in all, but this pales by comparison with Finnish, which has about thirty. In effect, a wide range of English prepositional phrases like “into the water” are writt