s. 298. _We_ and _me_ have been dealt with as distinct words. But it is only for practical purposes that they can be considered to be thus separate; since the sounds of _m_ and _w_ are allied, and in Sanskrit the singular form _ma_=_I_ is looked upon as part of the same word with _vayam_=_we_. The same is the case with the Greek [Greek: me] (_me_), and the plural form [Greek: hemeis] (_haemeis_)=_we_. _You._--As far as the practice of the present mode of speech {245} 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. All that can be said is, that the historical reason and the logical reason are at variance. The Anglo-Saxon form for _you_ was _eow_, for _ye_, _ge_. Neither bear any sign of case at all, so that, form for form, they are equally and indifferently nominative and accusative, as the habit of language may make them. 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. _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 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. The fact is, that the whole question is a question of degree. Has or has not the custom been sufficiently prevalent to have transferred the forms _me_, _ye_, and _you_ from one case to another, as it is admitted to have done with the forms _him_ and _whom_, once dative, but now accusative? _Observe._--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.