d the
_absolute_."--_Text-Book_, p. 31. Goldsbury, of Cambridge, has also four:
"the Nominative, the Possessive, the Objective, and the Vocative."--_Com.
S. Gram._, p. 13. Three other recent grammarians,--Wells, of Andover,--
Weld, of Portland,--and Clark, of Bloomfield, N. Y.,--also adopt "_four_
cases;--the _nominative_, the _possessive_, the _objective_, and the
_independent_."--_Wells's Gram._, p. 57; _Weld's_, 60; _Clark's_, 49. The
first of these gentlemen argues, that, "Since a noun or pronoun, used
_independently_, cannot at the same time be employed as 'the subject of a
verb,' there is a manifest impropriety in regarding it as a _nominative_."
It might as well be urged, that a nominative after a verb, or in apposition
with an other, is, for this reason, not a _nominative_. He also cites this
argument: "'Is there not as much difference between the _nominative_ and
[the] _independent_ case, as there is between the _nominative_ and [the]
_objective?_ If so, why class them together as _one_ case?'--_S. R.
Hall_."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 51. To this I answer, No. "The
nominative is that case which _primely denotes the name_ of any person or
thing;" (_Burn's Gram._, p. 36;) and _this only_ it is, that can be
absolute, or independent, in English. This scheme of four cases is, in
fact, a grave innovation. As authority for it, Wells cites Felton; and bids
his readers, "See also Kennion, Parkhurst, Fowle, Flint, Goodenow, Buck,
Hazen, Goldsbury, Chapin, S. Alexander, and P. Smith."--Page 57. But is the
fourth case of these authors _the same_ as his? Is it a case which "has
usually the nominative form," but admits occasionally of "_me_" and
"_him_," and embraces objective nouns of "_time, measure, distance,
direction_, or _place_?" No. Certainly one half of them, and probably more,
give little or no countenance to _such_ an independent case as he has
adopted. Parkhurst admitted but three cases; though he thought _two others_
"might be an improvement." What Fowle has said in support of Wells's four
cases, I have sought with diligence, and not found. Felton's "independent
case" is only what he absurdly calls, "_The noun or pronoun addressed_."--
Page 91. Bucke and Goldsbury acknowledge "_the nominative case absolute_;"
and none of the twelve, so far as I know, admit any objective word, or what
others call objective, to be independent or absolute, except perhaps
Goldsbury.

OBS. 7.--S. R. Hall, formerly principal of the S