_Him_ was
anciently used in the same manner; as, "_him thute_, him thought." There
was a period when these constructions were not anomalies in our
language. Formerly, what we call the _objective_ cases of our pronouns,
were employed in the same manner as our present _nominatives_ are. _Ago_
is a contraction of _agone_, the past part. of to _go_. Before this
participle was contracted to an adverb, the noun _years_ preceding it,
was in the nominative case absolute; but now the construction amounts to
an anomaly. The expressions, "generally speaking," and "considering
their means," under number 4, are idiomatical and anomalous, the
subjects to the participles not being specified.
According to the genius of the English language, transitive verbs and
prepositions require the _objective_ case of a noun or pronoun after
them; and this requisition is all that is meant by government, when we
say, that these parts of speech govern the objective case. See pages 52,
57, and 94. The same principle applies to the interjection.
Interjections require the _objective_ case of a pronoun of the first
person after them; but the _nominative_ of a noun or pronoun of the
second or third person; as, "Ah _me!_ Oh _thou!_ O my _country!_" To
say, then, that interjections _require_ particular cases after them, is
synonymous with saying, that they _govern_ those cases; and this office
of the interjection is in perfect accordance with that which it performs
in the Latin and many other languages.
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