According to Kevin Barney, the term enallage is Greek for "interchange," and refers to a syntactic device that is fairly common in the Old Testament, where an author intentionally shifts from the singular to the plural (or vice versa) for rhetorical effect. . . .
A good example is found in Genesis 17. In the first eight verses of Genesis 17, God is speaking to Abraham and establishing his covenant with him. The verbs in this section are for the most part first-person singulars (such as "I will make," "have I made thee," "I will make thee," "I will establish my covenant," I will give unto thee," and "I will be their God"). In verse 9, the subject of the verse shifts from a first-person singular "I" (referring to God) to a second-person singular "thou" (referring to Abraham) in "thou shalt keep my covenant." This shift is emphatic . . . Finally, God addresses both Abraham and his seed together in the second-person plural: "which ye shall keep." Genesis 17:9-13 reads as follows:
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generation. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
These verses follow the following pattern:
1. A divine being or a prophet directly addresses an individual (here it is God speaking to Abraham).
2. He addresses the individual in the second-person singular, "thou."
3. He makes a third-person reference to that individual's posterity, "thy seed."
4. Finally, he directly addresses the individual and his posterity together in the second-person plural, "ye."
In the Book of Mormon this same pattern of enallage can be found in 1 Nephi 12:9, 2 Nephi 1:31-32, and 2 Nephi 3:1-2. . . . In 1 Nephi 12:9 the word ye is a plural referring not just to Nephi, but to Nephi an his posterity:
And he said unto me: Thou rememberest the twelve apostles of the Lamb? Behold they are they who shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel; wherefore, the twelve ministers of thy seed shall be judged of them; for ye are of the house of Israel.
In 2 Nephi 1;31-32, the word ye is a plural referring not just to Zoram, but to Zoram, Nephi, and their respective posterities. In 2 Nephi 3:1-2, the word ye is a plural referring not just to Joseph, but to Joseph, his brethren, and their respective posterities. [Kevin L. Barney, "Divine Discourse Directed at a Prophet's Posterity in the Plural: Further Light on Enallage," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 6/2 1997, pp. 229-234.