3. If two or more nominatives be connected conjunctively, the verb is put in the plural; as,

'Andrew and he were schoolfellows.'

Except these nominatives refer to the same subject, when the verb is in the singular; as, 'Flesh and blood hath not revealed to thee.'

4. If two or more singular nominatives be connected disjunctively, the verb is put in the singular; as,

'Neither the man nor his wife was summoned.'

5. If one of the nominatives be in the plural, it must be placed next the verb, which must also be in the plural; as,

'Neither the Emperor nor his generals were convinced.'
be of different

6. If the nominatives connected by or, or nor, persons, the verb agrees with the nearest; as,

'Neither you nor I am concerned.'

Since all nominatives that require different forms of the verb virtually produce separate clauses or propositions, it is better to complete the concord by expressing the verb or its auxiliary in connection with each of them; as,

'Either thou art to blame, or I am.'

7. When two nominatives are connected, the one affirmative, the other negative, they make two propositions, and the verb agrees with the affirmativė; as,

'Not a loud voice, but strong proofs, bring conviction.'

8. When two nominatives are connected by as well as, or but, they belong to different propositions; as,

'Veracity, as well as justice, is to be our rule.'

9. * A collective noun (in which the idea of unity is prominent) takes the verb in the singular; as, ‘The mob was riotous.'

The reason for this seems very natural. Collective nouns have plurals: thus, we say mob, mobs; crowd, crowds; army, armies, &c. Therefore being singulars, as it were, they require the verb in the singular.

Nouns of multitude, on the other hand, have no plural forms, because they

10. A noun of multitude (in which the idea of plurality is prominent) takes the verb in the plural; as, 'The nobility were alarmed.' 11. Substantive verbs; passive verbs of calling, naming; the verbs to seem, to appear, to grow, to look, to become certain reflective verbs, and passive factitive verbs, take the same case after them as before them; and these cases may be considered cases in apposition; as, Wellington was a general.'

The verb in such cases may agree either with the nominative before it or behind it.

12. The absolute construction, which is ablative in Latin, genitive in Greek, was dative in Anglo-Saxon and Early English, and is now nominative: thus we say, 'He alone excepted,' where formerly we should have said, 'Him alone excepted.'

§ 2. The Genitive or Possessive Case.

Vide chap. III. § 6, 10, p. 34.

1. The Possessive case ('s) precedes the noun on which it depends ; as, John's horse;' otherwise the noun refers to one of many; as, 'The horse of John's,' i.e. ‘Of John's horses.'

2. When two genitives are in apposition, the apostrophe is used with only one of them (the principal noun); as, ‘A book of Virgil's, the Roman poet.'

3. Several genitive relations expressed by of are appended to adjectives, such as mindful, desirous, certain, guilty, conscious, innocent, fearful, &c., to complete the sense. In Anglo-Saxon these adjectives governed a genitive. (Compare the Lat. rules.)

4. Certain verbs, also expressing accusation, acquittal, shame, repentance, deprivation, emptying, &c., admit the same construction.

5. Vide § 5 note, with reference to the adjectives, worth, old, high, long, broad, &c.

involve the notion of plurality: thus, we do not talk of clergies, nobilities (where we do so, the word must be considered a collective noun). Hence they take the verb in the plural.

§ 3. The Dative.

1. The Dative case is sometimes called indirect object.

2. The constructions which may be best considered as dative constructions are seven.

(a) The dative follows the adjective like; as,

'He is like him,' i.e. ' to him.'

(b) Verbs of telling, bringing, giving, offering, lending, sending, showing, promising, which may be termed generally verbs of advantage or disadvantage, govern a dative of the person and an accusative of the thing; as,

'Give sorrow words,' i.e. ' to sorrow.'

(c) The absolute construction in O. English; as,
'Him alone excepted.'

(d) Me in connection with seems, thinks, lists, in meseems, methinks (mihi videtur), melists.

(e) The dative follows certain interjections; as,

'Woe is me,' i.e. ' to me.'

(f) Him in himself is a dative governed by self.

Vide chap. V. § 2 (d), p. 48.

(g) The verbs please and obey, also thank and resemble, govern a dative; as.

'Please it, your honours,' i.e. 'to your honours.'

'Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.— Romans vi. 16.

§ 4. The Accusative (Objective) Case.

1. Transitive verbs and prepositions take after them an accusa、 tive; as,

'God made the world.'

2. Intransitive verbs sometimes take after them an accusative of the same signification; as,

'I dreamt a dream.'

This construction is called the cognate accusative.

3. Intransitive verbs are sometimes made transitive by the addition of a preposition: they are then called prepositional verbs, and these prepositional verbs govern objective cases; as,

'I despair of the result.'

4. Nouns of time, space, and measurement, follow certain intransitive verbs and adjectives in the objective case. These objective cases, however, are really governed by some preposition understood; as,

He waited all night,' i. e. (during) ' all night.'

'He swam the river,' i.e. (across)' the river.'

See § 5, 2, note p. 97.

5. The verbs ask and teach take two accusatives after themone of the person, the other of the thing. When the verb is in the passive voice, one of these accusatives becomes a nominative, and the other is said to be governed by the verb; as,

or,

Either,

So,

This rule is stated as it is usually given. Perhaps the best explanation of this anomalous construction is, that one of these objective cases is a dative, or governed by some preposition understood; as,

'He asked (from) me a question.'

'A question was asked (from) me.'

'He asked me (concerning) a question.'
'I was asked (concerning) a question.'

'He taught me (concerning or in) geography.'
'I was taught (concerning or in) geography.'

or,

'He taught (to) me geography.'

'Geography was taught (to) me.'

6. Factitive verbs, i.e. verbs signifying to create, to make, to appoint, take after them two accusatives of the person, which are in apposition; as,

6 They made him king.'

7. When the verbs are in the passive voice, these accusatives become nominatives.

§ 5. The Adjective.

1. The adjective agrees with the noun it qualifies in gender, number, and case; as,

'Faithful friends are a treasure.'

2. The adjective like is the only adjective that governs a case (dative).-Latham.*

3. Other, rather, else, otherwise, used as comparatives, and all comparative forms are followed by the word than, which takes the same case (ejusdem generis) after it as before it; as,

'He loved him better than me.'

'I could do it better than he.'

* This is not accurate. The adjectives worth, old, high, broad, long, and some say nigh, take after them, as generally stated, an objective case, governed really by a preposition understood; as,

'It is worth six shillings.'

'He is three years old!'

The wall is fourteen feet long, high, broad.'

Goold Brown explains the government of worth, by supposing it a preposition! Such an explanation is unsatisfactory. An examination will prove that we are as much justified in asserting that these adjectives govern a genitive case, as that like governs a dative.

In Anglo-Saxon, such adjectives as worth, old, high, &c., signifying measure, value, age, and the like, govern a genitive; and in French they are followed by the preposition de, which is equivalent to a genitive relation; hence in English we can only conclude that the case governed by these adjectives is really a genitive and not an accusative, for the construction must have come to us from one of these sources, most probably the former.

H