PREDICATE NOUNS.

167.  A PREDICATE NOUN is one connected with the Subject by some form of the verb Sum or a similar verb.

168.  A Predicate Noun agrees with its Subject in Case;[47] as,—­

    Cicero orator fuit, Cicero was an orator;

    Numa creatus est rex, Numa was elected king.

1. when possible, the Predicate Noun usually agrees with its Subect in Gender also; as,—­

    philosophia est vitae magistra, philosophy is the guide of life.

2.  Besides sum, the verbs most frequently accompanied by a Predicate Noun are—­

  a) fio, evado, exsisto; maneo; videor; as,—­

    Croesus non semper mansit rex, Croesus did not always remain king.

  b) Passive verbs of making, calling, regarding, etc.; as, creor,
  appellor, habeor; as,—­

    Romulus rex appellatus est, Romulus was called king;

    habitus est deus, he was regarded as a god.

APPOSITIVES.

169. 1.  An Appositive is a Noun explaining or defining another Noun denoting the same person or thing; as,—­

    Cicero consul, Cicero, the Consul;

    urbs Roma, the city Rome.

2.  An Appositive agrees with its Subject in Case; as,—­

    opera Ciceronis oratoris, the works of Cicero, the orator;

    apud Herodotum, patrem historiae, in the works of Herodotus, the
    father of history.

3.  When possible, the Appositive agrees with its Subject in Gender also; as,—­

    assentatio adjutrix vitiorum, flattery, the promoter of evils.

4.  A Locative may take in Apposition the Ablative of urbs or oppidum, with or without a preposition; as,—­

    Corinthi, Achaiae urbe, or in Achaiae urbe, at Corinth, a city of
    Greece.

5.  PARTITIVE APPOSITION.  A Noun denoting a whole is frequently followed by an Appositive denoting a part; as,—­

    milites, fortissimus quisque, hostibus restiterunt, the soldiers, all
    the bravest of them, resisted the enemy.

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THE CASES.

THE NOMINATIVE.

170.  The Nominative is confined to its use as Subject, Appositive, or Predicate Noun, as already explained.  See Sec. 166-169.

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THE VOCATIVE.

171.  The Vocative is the Case of direct address; as,—­

    credite mihi, judices, believe me, judges.

1.  By a species of attraction, the Nominative is occasionally used for the Vocative, especially in poetry and formal prose; as, audi tu, populus Albanus, hear ye, Alban people!

2.  Similarly the Appositive of a Vocative may, in poetry, stand in the Nominative; as, nate, mea magna potentia solus, O son, alone the source of my great power.