Unlike Modern English, Old English is a language rich in morphological diversity. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and (vestigially) instrumental. The only remnants of this system in Modern English are in the forms of a few pronouns (such as I/me/mine, she/her, who/whom/whose) and in the possessive ending -'s, which derives from the old (masculine and neuter) genitive ending -es. In Old English, however, nouns and their modifying words take appropriate endings depending on their case. COUNT 4
QSN1 What trait does Old English possess that Modern English lacks? ANS1 morphological diversity QSN2 Along with the nominative, genitive, dative and instrumental, what case did Old English possess? ANS2 accusative QSN3 The Modern English ending -'s is derived from what ending in Old English? ANS3 -es QSN4 In Old English, noun endings vary on what basis? ANS4 their case