as the practice of the present mode of speech is
concerned, the word _you_ is a _nominative_ form; since we say _you move_,
_you are moving_, _you were speaking_.

Why should it not be treated as such? There is no absolute reason why it
should not. The Anglo-Saxon form for _you_ was _eow_, for _ye_, _ge_.
Neither bears any sign of case at all, so that, form for form, they are
equally and indifferently nominative and accusative. Hence, it, perhaps, is
more logical to say that a certain form (_you_), is used _either_ as a
nominative or accusative, than to say that the accusative case is used
instead of a nominative. It is clear that _you_ can be used instead of _ye_
only so far as it is nominative in power.

_Ye_.--As far as the evidence of such expressions as _get on with ye_ is
concerned, the word _ye_ is an accusative form. The reasons why it should
or should not be treated as such are involved in the previous paragraph.

s. 222. _Me_.--carrying out the views just laid down, and admitting _you_
to be a nominative, or _quasi_-nominative case, we may extend the reasoning
to the word _me_, and call it also a secondary or equivocal nominative;
inasmuch as such phrases as _it is me_ = _it is I_ are common.

Now to call such expressions incorrect English is to assume the point. No
one says that _c'est moi_ is bad French, and that _c'est je_ is good.

s. 223. _Caution._--Observe, however, that the expression _it is me_ = _it
is I_ will not justify the use of _it is him_, _it is her_ = _it is he_ and
_it is she_. _Me_, _ye_, _you_, are what may be called _indifferent forms_,
i.e., nominative as much as accusative, and accusative as much as
nominative. _Him_ and _her_, on the other hand, are not indifferent. The -m
and -r are respectively the signs of cases other than the nominative.

s. 224. Again: the reasons which allow the form _you_ to be considered as a
nominative plural, on the strength of its being used for _ye_, will not
allow it to be considered a nominative singular on the strength of its
being used for _thou_.

s. 225. In phrases like _you are speaking_, &c., even when applied to a
single individual, the idea is really plural; in other words, the courtesy
consists in treating _one_ person as _more than one_, and addressing him as
such, rather than in using a plural form in a singular sense. It is certain
that, grammatically considered, _you_ = _thou_ is a plural, since the verb
with which it agrees is plural:--