n in relation to other verbs, neuter or
active-intransitive. Thus Nixon: "Nouns in apposition are in the same case;
as, '_Hortensius_ died a _martyr_;' '_Sydney_ lived the shepherd's
_friend_.'"--_English Parser_, p. 55. It is remarkable that _all_ this
author's examples of "_nominatives in apposition_," (and he gives eighteen
in the exercise,) are precisely of this sort, in which there is really _no
apposition at all_.

OBS. 3.--In the exercise of parsing, rule third should be applied only to
the _explanatory term_; because the case of the _principal term_ depends on
its relation to the rest of the sentence, and comes under some other rule.
In certain instances, too, it is better to waive the analysis which _might_
be made under rule third, and to take both or all the terms together, under
the rule for the main relation. Thus, the several proper names which
distinguish an individual, are always in apposition, and should be taken
together in parsing; as, _William Pitt--Marcus Tullius Cicero_. It may, I
think, be proper to include with the personal names, some titles also; as,
_Lord Bacon--Sir Isaac Newton_. William E. Russell and Jonathan Ware, (two
American authors of no great note,) in parsing the name of "_George
Washington_," absurdly take the former word as an _adjective_ belonging to
the latter. See _Russell's Gram._, p. 100; and _Ware's_, 17. R. C. Smith
does the same, both with honorary titles, and with baptismal or Christian
names. See his _New Gram._, p. 97. And one English writer, in explaining
the phrases, "_John Wickliffe's influence_," "_Robert Bruce's exertions_,"
and the like, will have the first nouns to be governed by the last, and the
intermediate ones to be distinct possessives _in apposition_ with the
former. See _Nixon's English Parser_, p. 59. Wm. B. Fowle, in his "True
English Grammar," takes all titles, all given names, all possessives, and
all pronouns, to be adjectives. According to him, this class embraces more
than half the words in the language. A later writer than any of these says,
"The proper noun is _philosophically_ an adjective. Nouns common or proper,
of similar or dissimilar import, _may be parsed as adjectives_, when they
become qualifying or distinguishing words; as, _President_
Madison,--_Doctor_ Johnson,--_Mr_. Webster,--_Esq_. Carleton,--_Miss_
Gould,--_Professor_ Ware,--_lake_ Erie,--the _Pacific_ ocean,--_Franklin_
House,--_Union_ street."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 134. I dissent