Now that I added the bit about "methinks" as an example of dative case in English, I find myself doubting whether I should have done so. Is it not an example of excessive anglocentrism? While this Wikipedia's primary language is English, it may seem a bit presumptuous to illustrate perfectly universal categories and topics (such as "dative case") with examples from the English language. Or not? I'm not sure. --
AV
"This is the English Wikipedia". While there are probably many multilingual users, English is the only language we should assume that the readers possess. Examples in English *are* most universal, given that assumption.
I'm also of the opinion that provoking people to think more about the structures and idiosyncracies of their native language is a good thing. -- Paul Drye
I think the English "methinks" is a bit of a historical oddity, and while it is useful as a historical tidbit, it is a confusing example. I think giving an example from Latin, or some other language with cases (Russian, Finish, etc. -- take your pick) would be more useful. Especially since the Old English that "methinks" derives from is probably different from the modern word "methinks". -- SJK
The main page says that the Dative has dissapeared from English grammar. This I'd agree with only in the sense that the dative has no inflection distinct from the
accusative case. It occurs in such sentences as 'He gave me it' and 'He built me a snowman'. I boths examples 'me' is dative. --
Karl Palmen
Who says "he gave me it"? That sounds (to my ears, anyway) really colloquial and ungrammatical. Or is it just me?
Colloquial, yes. Awkward, yes. But it is indeed grammatical. You
would say, for example, "he gave me that", which is an identical construction with a different pronoun. --LDC
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