This matter is very plain. For
example: Gallileo invented the telescope. Now it is evident, that
Gallileo did not exert his powers of invention, without some object in
view. In order to ascertain that object, put the question, Gallileo
invented what? The telescope. _Telescope_, then, is the real object of
the action, denoted by the transitive verb invented; and, therefore,
telescope is in the objective case. If I say, The horse _kicks_ the
servant--Carpenters _build_ houses--Ossian _wrote_ poems--Columbus
_discovered_ America--you readily perceive, that the verbs _kick, build,
wrote_, and _discovered_, express transitive actions; and you cannot be
at a loss to tell which nouns are in the objective case:--they are
_servant, houses, poems_, and _America_.
The nominative and objective cases of nouns are generally known by the
following rule: the nominative _does something_; the objective _has
something done to it_. The nominative generally comes _before_ the verb;
and the objective, _after_ it. When I say, George struck the servant,
_George_ is in the nominative, and _servant_ is in the objective case;
but, when I say, The servant struck George, _servant_ is in the
nominative case, and _George_ is in the objective.
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