▁( H ung arian , ▁Finn ish , ▁Est onian ), ▁Turk ic ▁( T urk ish ). ▁ ▁Old ▁English ▁was ▁an ▁inf lection al ▁language , ▁but ▁largely ▁abandoned ▁inf lection al ▁changes ▁as ▁it ▁evol ved ▁into ▁Modern ▁English . ▁Though ▁tradition ally ▁class ified ▁as ▁synth etic , ▁Modern ▁English ▁has ▁moved ▁towards ▁an ▁analyt ic ▁language . ▁ ▁History ▁ ▁It ▁is ▁agreed ▁that ▁An cient ▁Gree ks ▁had ▁a ▁" v ague " ▁idea ▁of ▁the ▁forms ▁of ▁a ▁n oun ▁in ▁their ▁language . ▁A ▁fragment ▁of ▁An acre on ▁seems ▁to ▁confirm ▁this ▁idea . ▁Nevertheless , ▁it ▁cannot ▁be ▁concluded ▁that ▁the ▁An cient ▁Gree ks ▁actually ▁knew ▁what ▁the ▁cases ▁were . ▁The ▁Sto ics ▁developed ▁many ▁basic ▁not ions ▁that ▁today ▁are ▁the ▁rud iments ▁of ▁lingu istics . ▁The ▁idea ▁of ▁gram mat ical ▁cases ▁is ▁also ▁trac ed ▁back ▁to ▁the ▁Sto ics , ▁but ▁it ' s ▁still ▁not ▁completely ▁clear ▁what ▁the ▁Sto ics ▁exactly ▁meant ▁with ▁their ▁notion ▁of ▁cases . ▁ ▁Modern ▁English ▁ ▁In ▁Modern ▁English , ▁the ▁system ▁of ▁decl ensions ▁is ▁very ▁simple ▁compared ▁to ▁some ▁other ▁languages , ▁so ▁much ▁so ▁that ▁the ▁term ▁decl ension ▁is ▁rarely ▁applied ▁to ▁English ▁in ▁practice . ▁Most ▁n oun s ▁in ▁English ▁have ▁distinct ▁singular ▁and ▁pl ural ▁forms ▁and ▁have ▁distinct ▁plain ▁and ▁possess ive ▁forms . ▁Pl ur ality ▁is ▁most ▁commonly ▁shown ▁by ▁the ▁aff ix ▁- s ▁( or ▁-