b, the noun which we put
absolute in the nominative by direct address. Of this gross error, the
following is an example: "_Study boys_. In this sentence," (says its
author,) "_study_ is a verb of the second person, plural number, and agrees
with its nominative case, _boys_--according to the rule: A verb must agree
with its nominative case in number and person. _Boys_ is a noun _of_ the
second person, plural number, masculine gender, in the nominative case to
the verb study."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 17.[339] Now the fact is, that
this laconic address, of three syllables, is written wrong; being made bad
English for want of a comma between the two words. Without this mark,
_boys_ must be an objective, governed by _study_; and with it, a
nominative, put absolute by direct address. But, in either case, _study_
agrees with _ye_ or _you_ understood, and has not the noun for its subject,
or nominative.

OBS. 5.--Some authors say, and if the first person be no exception, say
truly: "The nominative case to a verb, unless it be a pronoun, is always of
the _third_ person."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 141. But W. B. Fowle will
have all pronouns to be _adjectives_. Consequently all his verbs, of every
sort, agree with nouns "expressed or understood." This, and every other
absurd theory of language, can easily be made out, by means of a few
perversions, which may be called corrections, and a sufficient number of
interpolations, made under pretence of filling up ellipses. Thus, according
to this author, "They fear," means, "They _things spoken of_ fear."--_True
Eng. Gram._, p, 33. And, "_John, open_ the door," or, "_Boys, stop_ your
noise," admits no comma. And, "Be grateful, ye children," and, "Be ye
grateful children," are, in his view, every way equivalent: the comma in
the former being, in his opinion, needless. See _ib._, p. 39.

OBS. 6.--Though the nominative and objective cases of nouns do not differ
in form, it is nevertheless, in the opinion of many of our grammarians,
improper to place any noun in both relations at once, because this produces
a confusion in the syntax of the word. Examples: "He then goes on to
declare that there _are_, and distinguish _of_, four _manners_ of saying
_Per se_."--_Walker's Treatise of Particles_, p. xii. Better: "He then
proceeds to show, that _per se_ is susceptible of four different senses."
"In just allegory _and_ similitude there is always a propriety, or, if you
choose to call it, _congruity