_Neut._ _Masc._ _N._ Hwaet Hw['a]. _A._ Hwaet Hwone (hwaene). \------\/------/ _Abl._ _Hwi_ _D._ Hw['a]m (hwae'm) _G._ Hwaes. Hence, then, in _the_ and _why_ we have instrumental ablatives, or, simply, _instrumentals_. s. 292. _The determination of cases._--How do we determine cases? In other words, why do we call _him_ and _them_ {240} accusatives rather than datives or genitives? By one of two means; _viz._, either by the sense or the form. Suppose that in the English language there were ten thousand dative cases and as many accusatives. Suppose, also, that all the dative cases ended in _-m_, and all the accusatives in some other letter. It is very evident that, whatever might be the meaning of the words _him_ and _them_ their form would be dative. In this case the meaning being accusative, and the form dative, we should doubt which test to take. My own opinion is, that it would be convenient to determine cases by the _form_ of the word _alone_; so that, even if a word had a dative sense only once, where it had an accusative sense ten thousand times, such a word should be said to be in the dative case. Now, as stated above, the words _him_ and _them_ (to which we may add _whom_) were once dative cases; _-m_ in Anglo-Saxon being the sign of the dative case. In the time of the Anglo-Saxons their sense coincided with their form. At present they are dative forms with an accusative meaning. Still, as the word _give_ takes after it a dative case, we have, even now, in the sentence, _give it him_, _give it them_, remnants of the old dative sense. To say _give it to him_, _to them_, is unnecessary and pedantic: neither do I object to the expression, _whom shall I give it_? If ever the _formal_ test become generally recognised and consistently adhered to, _him_, _them_, and _whom_ will be called datives with a latitude of meaning; and then the only true and unequivocal accusatives in the English language will be the forms _you_, _thee_, _us_, _me_, and _twain_. _My_, an accusative form (_meh_, _me_, _mec_), has now a genitive sense. The same may be said of _thy_. _Me_, originally an accusative form (both _me_ and _my_ can grow out of _mec_ and _meh_), had, even with the Anglo-Saxons, a dative sense. _Give it me_ is correct English. The same may be said of _thee_. _Him_, a dative form, has now an accusative sense. _Her._--For this word, as well as for further details on _me_ and _my_, see the Chapters on the Personal and Demonstrative Pronouns. {241} s. 293. When all traces of the original dative signification are effaced, and when all the dative cases in a language are similarly affected, an accusative case may be said to have originated out of a dative. s. 294. Thus far the question has been concerning the immediate origin of cases: their remote origin is a different matter.