Correct hard or soft pronunciation. Some difficult cases of pronunciation of vowels

The Russian language as a whole is characterized by the opposition of hard and soft consonants.

Wed: small and crumpled, WHO and carried, sir and ser, mouse and bear.

In many European languages ​​there is no such opposition. When borrowing, the word usually obeys the pronunciation norms of the Russian language. Yes, before e in Russian, a soft consonant usually sounds: chalk, no. Many borrowed words begin to be pronounced in the same way: meter, rebus. However, in other cases, the pronunciation of a hard consonant is retained in the borrowed word: adept[adept], amber[ambre], although this is not graphically reflected. Usually after a solid consonant in Russian it is written uh, after soft e. In borrowed words, as a rule, it is written e. Consonants can be pronounced both softly and firmly.

When pronouncing a borrowed word, several parameters must be taken into account.

1. The pronunciation of hard consonants is usually preserved by foreign surnames:

Shope[e]n, Volte[e]r.

2. The pronunciation of hard consonants is usually preserved in book words, little used, recently included in the Russian language:

de[e]-facto, apart[e]id, re[e]yting.

As the word is fixed in the language, the pronunciation of a hard consonant can be replaced by the pronunciation of a soft one (in accordance with the spelling). So, now it is possible to have a double pronunciation of the consonant in words:

de[e/e] grade, de[e/e] valuation, de[e/e] duction, de[e/e] odorant, de[e/e] can.

3. A certain role is played by the type of consonant located before e.

So, in borrowed words with the combination de, the consonant is regularly softened (in accordance with the spelling): de[e]coration, de[e]clamation, de[e]mobilization.


The process of softening the consonant is quite active in words with combinations not, re: abre[e]k, aggreg[e]ssia, watercolor[e]l, take[e]t, re[e]gent, re[e]yter, re[e]feri, brunet[e]t, tire[ spruce.


On the contrary, the combination of those quite stably preserves the solid pronunciation of the consonant: ate [e] lie, jewelry [e] ria, bute [e] rbrod, de [e] te [e] active, te [e] rier.

4. A certain role is played by the source of borrowing and the place in the word of combination with e.

So, the pronunciation of a solid consonant sound is stably preserved by those words that are borrowed from French with a final stressed syllable: entre [e], meringue [e], corrugated [e], curé [e], paste [e] l.

5. In book words in which before the letter e there is not a consonant, but a vowel, the sound [j] is not pronounced. Compare: in Russian words: ate [j] ate, over [j] ate; in borrowed words: hazel[e]s, project[e]kt, projector[e]ctor, projection[e]ction, ree[e]p.

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The pronunciation of hard and soft consonants in borrowed words has a social significance. If the pronunciation of a solid consonant still remains the norm (for example, chimpanzee[e], corrugated[e], computer[e]r, madem[dm] oise[e]l), then the pronunciation of the soft consonant in such words ( chimpanzee[e], corrugated[e], computer[e]r, made[e] moise[e]l) can be perceived by listeners as a manifestation of the low culture of the speaker. At the same time, the pronunciation of a hard consonant where the pronunciation of a soft consonant has already become the norm can be perceived by listeners as a manifestation of philistinism, pretentiousness, pseudo-intelligence. So, for example, the pronunciation of solid consonants in words is perceived: acade[e]mic, take[e]t, brunet[e]t, accounting[e]r, de[e]claration, de[e]magog, de[e]mocrat, coffee[e], te[e ]ma, te[e]rmome[e]tr, fane[e]ra, tire[e]l.

In borrowed words, only solid consonants in words are pronounced before spelling e ([e]): antenna, business, steak, delta, cabaret, cafe, scarf, codex, cocktail, model, hotel, parterre, pastel, poetess, puree, requiem, tarantella, dash, tunnel, brown hair, masterpiece, highway, eczema, aesthetics, etc.

In a number of words, the pronunciation of both hard and soft consonants is acceptable: deduction, dean, congress, creed, terrorist, etc..

Finally, in some words only the soft consonant is pronounced: beige, brunette, museum, pioneer, rail, term, plywood, overcoat.

5. Difficult cases in the system of orthoepic norms: pronunciation [o] and [e] after soft consonants and hissing.

In Russian, the sound [e] (graphically - e) in a position between a soft consonant or hissing and a hard consonant under stress, usually alternates with the sound [o] (graphically yo or about- in some forms after hissing).

Sister - sisters, wife - wives, to cope with the task - to go with a candle.

This process is very consistent.

Whitish, millstone, bucket, gutter, wool.

However, no such alternation is observed in the whole group of words.

1. Usually there is no alternation in words of Old Slavonic origin: One-tribal, expired, successor, rival, bent.


Wed parallel Old Church Slavonic and native Russian forms: being - being, snapdragon - yawning.

However, the pronunciation [about] now it is actively spreading to a number of Old Slavonicisms, primarily to verbal adjectives and participles. So, in "Eugene Onegin" A.S. Pushkin forms intoxicated, kneeling pronounced (in accordance with the orthoepic norms of that time) with the sound [e] under stress: "Napoleon waited in vain, Intoxicated with last happiness, Moscow on its knees With the keys of the old Kremlin." Now these Old Slavonic forms, like many others, are pronounced with the sound [about](graphically - yo): Captured, emaciated, emaciated, kneeling, aware and etc.

Sometimes the pronunciation of a word depends on its meaning. Wed: bled out - expired, announced results - screams like an announced, death of cattle - nominative case; a perfect crime is a perfect creation.


2. As a rule, there is no alternation in place of the etymological "". The presence of this sound in the past can be identified by comparing Russian and Ukrainian forms (in Russian - e, in Ukrainian - i: bread - bread). White, cut, thug, footprint, body.

But even in this group of words there are exceptions. stars, stellar, but: stellate.


3. There is no alternation in most loanwords.

Pharmacy, scam (!), bluff, canary, mannered.

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It should be taken into account that, firstly, at present the transition [e] in [about] begins to actively capture foreign words (cf .: maneuver- main option maneuver- admissible; maneuverable and maneuverable- equal options), and secondly, the pronunciation of the vowel under stress largely depends on the source of borrowing. So, in Russian, the pronunciation is preserved [about] in the name of a Polish priest - priest.

Especially a lot of fluctuations in the pronunciation of words on -er. Wed: grenadier, dromedary, engineer, interior - make-up artist, kioskeur, retoucher.


Options starter and starter, combine operator and combine operator are equal.

4. No alternation in vowel position e between two soft consonants.

Wed: ice - ice, polygamy - polygamy, bigamy - bigamy.

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There may be fluctuations in the pronunciation of some words: oared(admissible - oared), slaver and slaver(but: carry a roundabout).

Especially a lot of fluctuations are observed when pronouncing a stressed vowel in combination with hissing consonants (in the Old Russian language they were soft, then partially hardened, so the pronunciation of the vowel here goes either with a soft or with a hard consonant): a pot is a potter, a head is a firebrand.


This group of words is most prone to pronunciation fluctuations: bile(admissible - bile) – bilious(admissible - bilious); wool - coarse-haired, short-haired; pole - perch; lattice and lattice.


In the pronunciation of a number of words, difficulties arise due to the indistinguishability of letters in the printed text. e and yo , since only one graphic symbol is used to designate them - e . This situation leads to a distortion of the phonetic appearance of the word, causes frequent pronunciation errors. You need to remember two sets of words:

1) with a letter e and sound [" uh]: af e ra, be e , live e , grenad e r, op e ka, os e dumb, stupid e ny, foreign e ny, w e non-hater;

2) with a letter yo and sound [" about]: beznad yo zhy, payment yo capable, man yo vry, white yo syy, bl yo cool, w yo personal, w yo lie (option - w e lch), one yo ny.

In some pairs of words, a different meaning is accompanied by a different sound of the stressed vowel: ist e kshiy (term) - but: ist yo kshiy (with blood), screams as loud e ny - but: decree, announce yo given in the morning etc. .

§1.2. Some difficult cases of pronunciation of consonants

1. According to old Moscow norms, the spelling combination -ch- should always be pronounced like [ sh ] in words: bakery, on purpose, penny, fiddling, creamy, apple and under. Currently, the pronunciation has been preserved only in some words: sure, boring, scrambled eggs, fiddling, birdhouse, bachelorette party. In the vast majority of other words, [ch] is pronounced, as it is written: toy, creamy, apple, flour, snack bar, wine glass etc.

Pronunciation [ sh] is also preserved today in female patronymics ending in -ichna: Nikitichna, Ilyinichna etc..

According to old Moscow norms, the combination -thu- pronounced like [pcs] in the word what and in words derived from it: nothing, something and others: currently this rule is preserved (with the exception of the word something[Th]). In all other words, spelling - thu- always pronounced like [th]: mail, dream, mast.

2. In words man, defector on the spot zhch, in the form of the comparative degree of adverbs tougher, tougher(and biting) in place stch, as well as in place of combinations zch and mid customer, sandstone, cost accounting etc. is pronounced [ sch]: mu[sh]ina, perebe[sh]ik, zhe[sh]e etc.

3. When several consonants accumulate in some words, one of them is not pronounced: teaching [s "n"] ik, ve [s "n"] ik by [zn] o, pra [zn] ik, sove [s "l"] ive, maximum [ss] cue etc. .

4. Hard consonants before soft consonants can soften:

a) must be softened n before soft h and with: face [n "z"] iya, pretense [n "z"] iya;

b) n in front of soft t and d softens: a["n"t"]personal, ka[n"d"]idat.

Ppronunciation of borrowed words

Many borrowed words have orthoepic features that must be remembered.

1. In some words of foreign origin in place of unstressed about the sound is pronounced [ about]: babout mond, threeabout, babout ah, whatabout , biabout stimulant, vetabout , grossabout , nettabout , adviceabout , about asis, renabout me. Word pronunciation Pabout ezia, creedabout and others with unstressed [ about] optional. Proper names of foreign origin also retain the unstressed [ about] as a variant of literary pronunciation: Wabout pen, Vabout Altair, Sacramentabout and etc.

2. In some borrowed words, after vowels and at the beginning of a word, the unstressed [ uh]: uh guideuh evolution, douh lant and etc.

3. In oral speech, certain difficulties are caused by pronouncing a hard or soft consonant in borrowed words before a letter e: t[em]p or [t "e] mp? bass[se]yn or bass [s "e] yn? In some cases, a soft consonant is pronounced.

Soft pronunciation:

In other cases before e a hard consonant is pronounced.

Solid pronunciation:

4. Currently, there are fluctuations in the pronunciation of words:

Both hard and soft pronunciation is possible.

In loanwords beginning with prefixes de- before vowels, dez-, as well as in the first part of compound words starting with neo-, with a general tendency to soften, there are fluctuations in the pronunciation of soft and hard d and n:

5. In foreign proper names, it is recommended to firmly pronounce consonants before e: De kart, flobe r, minot li, "De Cameron",Re jigan.

6. In loanwords with two (or more) e often one of the consonants is pronounced softly, while the other remains firm before e: gene sis[g "ene], relay[rel "e] and etc.

7. Solid [ w] is pronounced in words pairshyu t[shu], broshyu ra[shu]. In the word jury pronounced soft hissing [ w"]. Names are softly pronounced Julien, Jules.

8. When pronouncing some words, erroneous extra consonants or vowels sometimes appear. Should be pronounced:

incident, not incident[n]dent;

precedent, not precede[n] dent;

compromise, not compromise;

competitive, not competitive[n]capable;

emergency, not h[e] extraordinary;

institution, not education;

future, not future;

thirsty, not thirsty

The Russian language as a whole is characterized by the opposition of hard and soft consonants (cf.: small and crumpled, Houses and Dyoma). In many European languages ​​there is no such opposition. When borrowing, the word usually obeys the pronunciation norms of the Russian language. So, before "e" in Russian, a soft consonant usually sounds ( m ate, no no). Many foreign words begin to be pronounced in the same way: m etr, r ebus. The pronunciation of hard consonants is usually retained by all foreign surnames: Chopin [pe], Voltaire [te]. The pronunciation of a solid consonant before "e" is also typical for bookish, little-used words ( apartheid [te]. demarche [de]). The type of consonant before "e" also has a certain meaning. For example, the combination "de" is more often pronounced with a soft consonant. and the combination "te" - with solid. A certain role is played by the source of borrowing. For example, the final stressed syllable in words from French is usually pronounced with a hard consonant ( pastel [te], cure [re], corrugated [re]). But there are exceptions, such as the word overcoat pronounced with a soft "n". Here is a small group of words in which pronunciation errors are often observed.

The correct pronunciation is considered to be a solid consonant before "e" in the following words: artery, atelier, atheist, bijouterie, business, businessman, steak, brandy, brotherhood, Bundeswehr, sandwich, bra, water polo, riding breeches, gangster, corrugation, grotesque, disintegration, decadent, dequalification, decollete, detective, dumping, denunciation, determinism, de facto, de jure, deciphering, identical, impresario, inert, index, interval, integration, intensity, intervention, interview, cartel, square, cabaret, condensate, container, motorcade, computer, cure, laser, lottery, Madeira, Mademoiselle Manager

In words diet, project, caries the sound [j] is not pronounced, that is, they sound like [d ieta], [project], [kar yes].

The consonant before the "e" is pronounced softly: academy, certificate, benefit performance, beret, brunet, bookmaker, accounting, promissory note, gazelle, haberdashery, hegemon, debit, debate, debut, degenerate, devaluation, degradation, disinfection, demagogue, democrat, demi-season, dismantling, deposit, dispatch, despot, defect, hyphen, deficit, deformation, dividend, ikebana, investor, intellectual; congress, conditioner, coffee, cream, patent, presentation, progress, review, raglan, register, reserve, raid, flight, rail, x-ray, referee, term, overcoat, effect.

In general, the pronunciation of hard and soft consonants in loanwords is a very flexible norm. As a rule, when borrowing, the word is pronounced with a firm consonant for some time. As it is mastered by the language, it loses the “plaque” of a foreign, “foreign”, hard pronunciation is gradually replaced by the pronunciation of a soft consonant (in accordance with the spelling). Sometimes this process goes very quickly. For example, schoolchildren in urban schools, where the computer is no longer perceived as something exotic, usually pronounce the word a computer with a soft “t”, but such a pronunciation has not yet become a general literary norm.

At the same time, in some cases, the pronunciation of both hard and soft consonants is equally acceptable. For example, the pronunciation of "e" and "e" is allowed in the words: aggression, misinformation, decade, dean, creed, claim and some others.

Attention should also be paid to the social significance of the pronunciation of hard and soft consonants in borrowed words. If the pronunciation of a hard consonant is still the norm, then the pronunciation of a soft consonant can be perceived as a manifestation of a person’s low culture (cf. , can be perceived as a manifestation of philistinism, pseudo-intelligence. This is how, for example, pronunciation like shi [ne] l, k [re] m, ko [fe], bru [ne] t, aka [de] miya, [te] ma is perceived.

Pronunciation [e] and [o] under stress after soft consonants and hissing

In Russian, in a position between a soft and hard consonant, under stress, “o” is usually pronounced (graphically “e”): sister - sisters, wife - wives. However, in whole groups of words, such alternation is not observed. These are many borrowed words ( bluff, scam etc.), words that came to us from the Old Slavonic language. For example, nouns in -ie are usually of Old Slavonic origin, and words with -e are Russian, so the following parallels can be distinguished: being - being, living - living. There is no alternation in the position between two soft consonants, cf .: ice, but - sleet.

CHECK YOURSELF:

1. Read the following words carefully, paying attention to their correct pronunciation and stress:

a) White, faded, sequin, voyager, millstone, gutter, bile, kioskeur, maneuver, nonsense, sweep, loan, receiver, polygamy, bucket, bucket, priest, kneeling, imprinted, wool, perch, hopeless, worthless, importer, retoucher , marker, pianist, chronicler, stuntman, knowledgeable, starter, officer.

b) Obstetrician, guardianship, scam, being, life, plump, snapdragon. grenadier, carabinieri, successor, sharpness, settled way of life, bent, bigamist, polygamist, bluff, expired, pole, rod, hornet, spineless, fashion designer, dispensary, minuscule, croupier, porter, point.

2. Mark the words in which [e] is pronounced under stress after a soft consonant.

Genesis, fable, of the same name, catechumen, stunned, grenadier, difference in time, connected, laden, coarse-haired.

3. Divide the words below into two groups, depending on whether the consonant is pronounced hard or soft.

Ampere, anesthesia, antenna, beige, steak, brunette, sandwich, dean, demon, depression, chapel, caravel, file cabinet, cafe, cake, stranded, modern, museum, short story, Odessa, hotel, pastel, patent, pioneer, resonance, rail, sausage, superman, tavern, thematic, plywood, music library, brown hair, overcoat.

4. Highlight the words in which the consonant before E is pronounced firmly.

Antithesis, anapaest, grotesque, aesthetics, effect, genetics, tennis, pool, phoneme, benefit performance.

The Russian language as a whole is characterized by the opposition of hard and soft consonants.

Wed: small and crumpled, WHO and carried, sir and ser, mouse and bear.

In many European languages ​​there is no such opposition. When borrowing, the word usually obeys the pronunciation norms of the Russian language. So, before e in Russian, a soft consonant usually sounds: chalk, no. Many borrowed words begin to be pronounced in the same way: meter, rebus. However, in other cases, the pronunciation of a hard consonant is retained in the borrowed word: adept[adept], amber[ambre], although this is not graphically reflected. Usually, after a hard consonant in Russian, it is written e, after a soft one - e. In loanwords, as a rule, it is written e. Consonants can be pronounced both softly and firmly.

When pronouncing a borrowed word, several parameters must be taken into account.

1. The pronunciation of hard consonants is usually retained by foreign surnames:

Shope[e]n, Volte[e]r.

2. The pronunciation of hard consonants is usually preserved in the words of the book, little used, recently included in the Russian language:

de[e]-facto, apart[e]id, re[e]yting.

As the word is fixed in the language, the pronunciation of a hard consonant can be replaced by the pronunciation of a soft one (in accordance with the spelling). So, now it is possible to have a double pronunciation of the consonant in words:

de[e/e] grade, de[e/e] valuation, de[e/e] duction, de[e/e] odorant, de[e/e] can.

3. A certain role is played by the type of consonant located before e.

So, in borrowed words with the combination de, the consonant is regularly softened (in accordance with the spelling):

de[e]coration, de[e]clamation, de[e]mobilization.

The process of softening the consonant is quite active in words with combinations not, re:

abre[e]k, aggreg[e]ssia, watercolor[e]l, take[e]t, re[e]gent, re[e]yter, re[e]feri, brunet[e]t, tire[ spruce.

On the contrary, the combination of those quite stably preserves the solid pronunciation of the consonant: ate [e] lie, jewelry [e] ria, bute [e] rbrod, de [e] te [e] active, te [e] rier.

4. A well-known role is played by the source of borrowing and the place in the word combination with e.

So, the pronunciation of a solid consonant sound is stably preserved by those words that are borrowed from French with a final stressed syllable:

entre [e], meringue [e], corrugated [e], curé [e], paste [e] l.

5. In book words in which the letter e is not preceded by a consonant, but by a vowel, the sound [j] is not pronounced.

Compare: in Russian words: ate [j] ate, over [j] ate; in borrowed words: die[e]ta, brown[e]s, project[e]kt, projector[e]ctor, project[e]ction, ree[e]p.

It is absolutely unacceptable to pronounce [j] in the word poet and its derivatives ( poetic, poetess).

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The pronunciation of hard and soft consonants in borrowed words has a social significance. If the pronunciation of a solid consonant still remains the norm (for example, chimpanzee[e], corrugated[e], computer[e]r, madem[dm] oise[e]l), then the pronunciation of the soft consonant in such words ( chimpanzee[e], corrugated[e], computer[e]r, made[e] moise[e]l) can be perceived by listeners as a manifestation of the low culture of the speaker. At the same time, the pronunciation of a hard consonant where the pronunciation of a soft consonant has already become the norm can be perceived by listeners as a manifestation of philistinism, pretentiousness, pseudo-intelligence. So, for example, the pronunciation of solid consonants in words is perceived: acade[e]mic, take[e]t, brunet[e]t, accounting[e]r, de[e]claration, de[e]magog, de[e]mocrat, coffee[e], te[e ]ma, te[e]rmome[e]tr, fane[e]ra, tire[e]l.

Remember some words in which the consonant before e is pronounced firmly: anesthesia, cleavage, grotesque, degradation, decadence, delicacy, detective, computer, manager, mixer, service, stress, thesis, antithesis, nonsense, protection, sweater, thermos, sandwich, pace, tennis, awning, brown hair, psychic, beefsteak, business, inert, atelier, identical, laser, interview, pastel, rugby, timbre, trend, phonetics, index, interior, meringue, relay, sexy. Words with a soft consonant before e: academic, beret, accounting, debut, anemia, brunette, clarinet, competence, context, cream, museum, patent, pate, press, progress, term, flannel, overcoat, essence, jurisprudence, yachtsman. In many cases, variant pronunciation is allowed: [d "] ekan and [de] kan, [d"] ekanat and [de] kanat, [s"] session and [se] ssia, but [ve] lla and but [in" ]ella, ag[r"]session and additional ag[re]ssia, [d"]ep[r"]session and additional [de]p[re]ssia, ba[ss"]ein and ba[sse ]yn, strategy [t "] egy and additional strategy [te] gia, lo [te] rey and additional lo [t "] herey. Pronunciation [ch], [shn] in place of the spelling ch The competition of pronunciation options in place of the spelling combination ch has a long history, the echoes of which we feel when we have to choose one or another use: boring [ch] o or sku [shn] o, skvore [h] ik or rather [shn] ik? There is a gradual displacement of the old Moscow pronunciation [shn] and a convergence of the pronunciation with the spelling, so the options kori [shn] vyy, bulo[shn] aya, gorni [shn] aya are obsolete. At the same time, it should be remembered that some words are retained as a mandatory pronunciation [shn] in place of spelling h: boring, boring, on purpose, of course, scrambled eggs, birdhouse, trifling, eyeglass case (glass case), laundry, mustard plaster, loser, candlestick. The pronunciation [shn] is also normative in female patronymics: Kuzminichna, Fominichna, Ilyinichna. Pronunciation [e] and [o] under stress after soft consonants and hissing In modern speech, one often hears a scam, guardianship instead of the scam, guardianship provided for by the norm. Why do such fluctuations occur? The long process of transition from [e] to [o], in writing denoted by the letter ё, in a position under stress after soft consonants before hard ones, is reflected in the state of the modern norm. In most cases, under stress in a position between a soft and hard consonant and after hissing, the sound [o] is pronounced (graphically ё). Compare, for example, a sieve - a lattice, a star - starry, a tear - tearful. Remember the words with this pronunciation: motley, gutter, worthless, sweep, swollen, perch, marker, starter, oblivion, engraver, driver, priest, bigamy, expired (bleeded). However, in many words, most often borrowed, there is no transition [e] to [o] in this position: guardianship (not guardianship!), scam (not scam!), stout, grenadier, bigamist, expired (day), pole, rod , spineless, carabinieri, settlement, deadwood, simultaneous. The possibility of variant pronunciation of some words testifies to the fluctuation of this orthoepic norm. It should be borne in mind that the main, most preferred options are with e: whitish, faded, bile, bile, maneuver, maneuverable, fade. Dictionaries record options with e as acceptable, that is, less desirable to use: whitish, faded, bile, bilious, maneuver, maneuverable, fade. GRAMMATICAL CORRECTNESS OF SPEECH The grammatical correctness of speech is determined by the observance of grammatical norms, that is, the correct choice of grammatical forms of words (morphological norms) and the forms of connection of words in a phrase and sentence (syntactic norms). MORPHOLOGICAL NORMS The morphological structure of the Russian language has been sufficiently studied both from the historical and from the structural and descriptive side. At the same time, in speech practice there are many questions about the correctness of the use of certain forms of words. Why is the noun "coffee" masculine? Which form should be chosen - "agreements" or "agreements", "accountants" or "accountants"? What is the correct way to say: “go off the rails” or “go off the rails”, “a couple of clips” or “a couple of clips”? Numerous grammatical violations in both oral and written speech indicate the need for closer attention to these issues. Difficulties in Forming Nouns by Gender The category of gender is quite stable, and we can easily attribute the noun "table" to the masculine gender, and "desk" to the feminine. But in a number of cases the gender of nouns has changed, and instead of the old forms of film, rail, hall, new film, rail, hall are used. Some nouns still retain a variant design by gender, that is, parallel forms coexist in the language: banknote - banknote, aviary - aviary, dahlia - dahlia, burr - burr, duct - duct, spiny lobster - spiny lobster, mongoose - mongoose, arabesque - arabesque , shutter - shutter. Some options are rated as valid along with the main ones: key - add. keys, clearing - add. clearing, sprat - add. sprat, giraffe - add. giraffe. Fluctuation in design by gender is characteristic of many names of shoes, but only one generic form corresponds to the literary norm: masculine - boots, felt boots, sneakers, high boots, slippers; feminine - shoe, sandal, sandal, slipper, sneaker, boot, sneaker, galosh. Incorrect: shoes, slippers, slippers, sneakers, sandal. Difficulties in formalization by gender also arise when using a number of other nouns that have only one normative generic form. The masculine gender includes the nouns shampoo, roofing felt, tulle, shoulder strap, corrective, clip, rail (variant design by gender is preserved only in the form of the genitive plural - derail and derail). The feminine gender includes the nouns veil, corn, beans, reserved seat, cuff. Remember: the feminine form of the tomato, which is common in the speech of the Astrakhans, is not normative, and therefore only the masculine form of the tomato should be used. Determination of the grammatical gender of indeclinable nouns 1. As a rule, indeclinable nouns denoting inanimate objects belong to the middle gender: show, alibi, fiasco, planter, baroque, interview, jury, variety show, entrecha, pince-nez, rugby, bikini, meringue, communiqué, Role, aloe, taboo, rally, revue, necklace, cliche, dossier, cafe, slang. 2. In a number of cases, the gender is determined by a more general generic concept: Bengali, Hindi, Pashto - masculine ("language"); kohlrabi ("cabbage"), salami ("sausage") - feminine; sirocco, tornado ("wind") - masculine; avenue ("street") - feminine. 3. The gender of indeclinable nouns denoting geographical names is also determined by the grammatical gender of a common noun expressing a generic concept (that is, by the gender of the words river, city, lake, etc.): Sochi - masculine (city), Gobi - feminine ( desert), Missouri - feminine (river). Compare: multi-million Tokyo (city), wide Mississippi (river), industrial Baku (city), picturesque Capri (island), full-flowing Erie (lake). So, tribal affiliation can also be motivated from the content side. It is no coincidence that many indeclinable nouns (words of foreign origin) receive a dual characterization in dictionaries. For example, the word "tsunami" can be associated with the concept of "wave" and be shaped in the Russian language as a feminine gender, or it can be classified as an inanimate noun and receive a neuter gender. Wed: tsunami - s.r. (Orthoepic Dictionary of the Russian Language); well. and s.r. (Dictionary of difficulties of the Russian language); avenue (connection with the word "street") - f.r. (Orthoepic Dictionary of the Russian Language), w. and s.r. (frequency-stylistic dictionary of variants "Grammatical correctness of Russian speech"); penalty (connection with the word "hit") - m. and s.r. (Orthoepic dictionary of the Russian language). From a formal point of view, the literary language can retain non-productive variants (coffee is masculine). Dictionaries mark the variant form of the gender of the noun coffee (m and s.p.). Presumably, one of the reasons for the initial attribution of the word coffee to the masculine gender was the now lost tradition of using it with a different phonetic form - "coffee". The second possible reason is that the word belongs to the masculine gender in French, from which it was borrowed. 4. Indeclinable nouns denoting animated objects are masculine: funny pony, funny chimpanzee, big kangaroo, beautiful cockatoo, old marabou. The exception is words whose gender is determined by the generic concept: hummingbird - feminine (bird), ivasi - feminine (fish), tsetse - feminine (fly). Some animate indeclinable nouns may have a parallel form in gender, depending on the context. Wed: The old kangaroo carefully looked around. The kangaroo protected her cub. 5. Indeclinable nouns of foreign origin denoting persons are masculine or feminine depending on the gender of the designated person: a famous entertainer, a rich rentier, an old curate, a talented travesty, a beautiful pani, an elderly lady, a great maestro, a capable impresario. Bigeneric words are protégé (my protégé, my protégé), vis-à-vis, incognito, hippie. Definition of the grammatical gender of abbreviations and compound words 1. The grammatical gender of an abbreviation (abbreviated word) is determined as follows: correlation with the gender of the stem word "record")"; b) if the abbreviation is not inclined, then its gender is determined by the gender of the main (core) word of the deciphered compound name: ACS - feminine (automatic control system), SEC - feminine (state examination board ), HPP - railway (hydroelectric power station), SSU - metro (Saratov State University), ATS - railway (automatic telephone exchange), ZhEU - metro (housing and operational area), ZhSK - m.r. (housing-construction cooperative) The difficulty of etymological deciphering of abbreviations, their formal similarity with integral words (such as, for example, cat, house, cancer) leads to shattered the formation of a general rule by speech practice and the emergence of variants. Wed: VAK - f.r. (Higher Attestation Commission) and permissible m.r.; MFA - s.r. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and permissible m. ROE - f.b. (erythrocyte sedimentation reaction) and additional. s.r. However, fluctuations in the norm of determining the grammatical gender of an abbreviation by the core word are not evidence of the abolition of this rule, which continues to operate in the Russian language. 2. The grammatical gender of compound words such as sofa-bed, shop-studio, museum-apartment is determined by the semantic relationships between the parts of the compound word - the leading component is a word with a more general meaning: museum-library - noun. husband. kind (the word museum denotes a broader concept, with the second part acting as a clarifying one); chair-bed, rocking chair of the middle gender (one of the types of chairs is called, and the second part of the word is only specified). As a rule, the leading word is in the first place: exhibition-view, exhibition-sale, showcase-stand - these are feminine nouns; review competition, sofa bed, theater-studio, evening meeting, lesson-lecture, rematch, plant-laboratory, car-workshop, salon-studio, story-sketch - masculine; a dressing gown, a cafe-pastry shop, an atelier-studio - of a middle kind. In some cases, the order of arrangement may not correspond to the semantic significance of the parts of the word - alpha decay - husband. r., gamma radiation - cf. r., raincoat-tent, cafe-dining room - female. In case of difficulty, you should refer to the Orthoepic Dictionary or the Dictionary of Difficulties of the Russian Language. Difficulties in the use of case forms of nouns The use of nominative plural forms M. V. Lomonosov at one time unconditionally recommended for use only 3 words with the ending -a in the nominative plural: sides, eyes, gender, and gave a small list of words that allowed double use of forms on -s and on -a: forests - forests, shores - shores, bells - bells, snows - snows, meadows - meadows. Common to the literary language in the XIX century. there were forms: trains, houses, sails, professors. A trend in development is clearly emerging: the number of forms per stressed -а (-я) is steadily increasing due to forms with unstressed -ы (-и). The following tend to form the nominative plural on -а (-я): a) monosyllabic words: run - run, forest - forests, age - centuries, house - houses, silk - silks, volume - volumes, etc. But: cakes , syllables, soups, fronts, ports. Incorrect: cake, syllable, soup, front, port. b) words that have singular stress on the first syllable: order - orders, pearls - pearls, cook - cooks, address - addresses, watchman - watchman, monogram - monogram, boat - boats, stack - stacks, ham - ham, skull - skulls, order - orders, etc. But: handwriting, grooms, valves, healers. Given their colloquial nature, parallel forms in -a (-s) of the following nouns are acceptable: turner - turners - turner, locksmith - locksmiths, locksmith, cruiser - cruisers - cruisers, tractor - tractors, tractors, etc. In some cases, forms on - a(-s) and on -s(-s) differ in meaning: images (artistic) - images (icons); tones (shades of sound) - tones (shades of color); bread (in the oven) - bread (in the field); bodies (cars) - bodies (mushrooms); omissions (oversights) - passes (documents); orders (insignia) - orders (knightly); furs (blacksmith's; wineskins) - furs (dressed skins); sheets (paper) - leaves (on trees). The following tend to form the nominative plural on -s (-s): a) words with an accent on the final syllable of the stem: associate professor - associate professors, portfolio - portfolios, cut - cuts, auditor - auditors, percentage - percentages, steamboat - steamships and etc. (single exceptions such as sleeve - sleeve, cuff - cuff); b) words of foreign origin with the final part -er: officer - officers, driver - drivers, engineer - engineers, director - directors, conductor - conductors, actor - actors, etc. c) words of Latin origin with the final part -tor, denoting inanimate items: detectors, capacitors, reflectors, transformers. Words of Latin origin in -tor, -sor, -zor, denoting animated objects, may in some cases end in -s (designers, lecturers, rectors, censors, authors, dispatchers), in others -a (directors, doctors, professors) . Allowed, taking into account their colloquial nature, variant forms in -a for a number of nouns: proofreaders - proofreaders, instructors - instructors, inspectors - inspectors, editors - editors; d) trisyllabic and polysyllabic words with an accent on the middle syllable: accountants, pharmacists, speakers, librarians, composers, researchers. Forms of a pharmacist, accountant are colloquial, not normative and are not recommended for use. Use of genitive plural forms Difficulties associated with the use of genitive plural forms in speech arise quite often. What form to choose - grams (with a formally expressed ending) or grams (with a zero ending), hectares or hectares, a nursery or a nursery? Masculine nouns with a basis on a solid consonant of the following groups gravitate to the formation of forms with a zero ending: a) names of paired objects: (pair) boots, boots, stockings, (without) shoulder straps, epaulettes, (form) eyes, legs, hands. Note that in the orthoepic dictionary, variant forms of socks and socks are noted; b) names of persons by nationality (words with stems starting with "r" ina "n"): (several) Bashkirs, Tatars, Moldovans, Georgians, Englishmen, Turks, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Romanians, Ossetians. But: Kalmyks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Yakuts, Uzbeks; fluctuations: Turkmen - Turkmen; c) some names of units of measurement usually used with numerals: (several) volts, amperes, watts, hertz, fluctuations: microns - microns, coulombs - pendant, carats - carats, roentgens - roentgens. Only in oral colloquial speech can be used in parallel with the main options and shorter forms: kilograms and kilograms, grams and grams, hectares and hectares; d) names of military groups: soldier, partisan, hussar, dragoon. But: miners, sappers. Please note: for the names of fruits and vegetables, the normative forms in the genitive plural are, as a rule, forms with endings: oranges, tomatoes, tangerines, pomegranates, bananas, eggplants. Forms with zero inflection (kilogram tomato, pomegranate) can only be used in colloquial speech. For feminine nouns, the following forms are normative: earrings, apple trees, waffles, domain, drops, gossip, roofing, nannies, candles (a variant of candles is found in stable combinations such as "the game is not worth the candle"), sheets (permissibly simple "yn, but not cool), shares. The existence of morphological variants can be determined by the variance in stress or sound composition: ba "rzh (t barge") and bar "rzhey (from ba" rye), sa "zheny (from sa" zhen) and soot "n, soot" of her (from sazhen), bitter (from the "gorge") and with the "pots" (from the "pot"). For nouns of the middle gender, such forms of the genitive plural as shoulders, towels, saucers, porches, lace, mirrors, mirrors, backwoods, coasts, potions, apprentices are normative. For nouns that are used only in the plural, in the genitive case, the normative forms are: twilight, attacks, descendants, weekdays, nursery, frosts, gr "ables and rakes, stilts and stilts. Difficulties in using some surnames 1. Foreign surnames ending in -ov , -in in the instrumental case have an ending -om (Darwin, Chaplin, Cronin, Virkhov), in contrast to Russian surnames ending in -y (Petrov, Vasiliev, Sidorov, Sinitsyn). : Vasilenko, Yurchenko, Petrenko - at Vasilenko, Yurchenko, Petrenko, before Vasilenko, Yurchenko, Petrenko. Russian and foreign surnames ending in a consonant are inclined if they refer to men, and do not decline if they refer to women: with Andrei Grigorovich - with Anna Grigorovich, with Lev Gorelik - with Irina Gorelik, Igor Korbut - Vera Korbut. Difficulties in the use of forms of adjectives Do not meet the literary norm of the form of comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives, formed according to the type of more humane, more beautiful, the most beautiful. There are two ways to form comparative and superlative forms in the language: analytical (more humane, most beautiful) and synthetic, when the meaning is expressed using a suffix (more humane, most beautiful). The desire to combine both of these methods leads to errors. Remember the correct options: thinner or thinner, thinnest or thinnest. In no case do not use such forms of adjectives as thinner or the thinnest. How numerals are used in speech Of all the names (noun, numeral, adjective), numerals are more unlucky than others: they are increasingly used incorrectly in speech. For example, before our eyes they lose the forms of indirect cases - they simply cease to decline. Let's remember some norms for the use of numerals, and you will see that they are not so difficult. 1. In compound numbers denoting hundreds and tens and ending in -hundred (hundred) or -ten in the nominative case, each part is declined like a simple number. It is important to simply understand the logic of the formation of case forms. I. seven ten (combine) seventy R. seven ten seventy E. seven ten seventy C. seven ten seventy T. seven ten seventy P. about seven ten seventy As you can see, everything remains exactly the same as when declining simple numbers. Please note: both parts of the numeral end in the same way: seventy, seventy. In compound numerals, all the words that form them decline: with two thousand five hundred and seventy-three rubles, to own eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand, seven hundred and ninety-five hectares of land. 2. The numerals forty and ninety have only two case forms: I. and V. - forty and ninety. The rest: forty and ninety 3. The correct combinations are 45.5 percent (not percent), 987.5 hectares (not hectares, and even more so not a hectare). With a mixed number, the noun is ruled by a fraction: five tenths of a percent or a hectare. Options are possible: forty-five and a half percent, nine hundred and eighty-seven and a half hectares. 4. Collective numerals are used in the following cases: a) with masculine and common nouns that name males: two friends, three soldiers, four orphans along with two friends, three soldiers; b) with nouns that have only the plural form: two scissors, four days (starting with five, quantitative numerals five days, six scissors are usually used); c) with personal pronouns: there are two of us, there were five of them. Remember: collective nouns are not used with feminine nouns denoting females, so you can’t say two girls, three teachers, five students, but only two girls, three teachers, five students. Difficulties in the use of some forms of verbs 1. From the forms quenched - extinguished, mok - mokn, dried up (with or without the suffix -well- in the past tense), the first, short form is more commonly used. 2. In pairs, condition - condition, focus - concentrate, summarize - summarize, empower - empower, the first options are the main ones, and the second forms (with the root a) are colloquial. 3. Of the two parallel forms, splashing - splashing, rinsing - rinsing, purring - purring, prowling - prowling, clucking - clucking, waving - waving are fixed in dictionaries as the main options, and the second - as acceptable, colloquial. 4. Some verbs, for example, win, convince, kink, feel, find yourself are not used in the first person singular. Instead, descriptive forms are used: I will be able to win, I can convince, I want to feel, I hope to find myself, I will not be weird. SYNTACTICAL NORMS Difficulties in agreeing the predicate with the subject Difficulties in agreeing the subject with the predicate are associated with the choice of the form of the number of the predicate in sentences with the subject, a pronounced quantitative combination. Most books are dedicated - most books are dedicated. Several students spoke - several students spoke at the seminar. Which form of communication is correct? The plural form of the predicate is preferable for the subject, expressed by a quantitative combination, which includes an animate noun, in the following cases: a) the subject includes several controlled words in the form of the genitive case: Several students, teachers and faculty members were present at the conference; b) the subject is expressed by an animated noun and the activity of the action attributed to each person individually is emphasized. Most graduate students showed excellent command of the subject of study; c) between the main members of the proposal there are other members of the proposal: Several graduate students in the process of preparing for a scientific conference carried out serious research work. If we put the predicate in the plural, then the subject is considered as separate objects, and if in the singular - as a whole. In some cases, syntactic variation is possible: Thirty graduates were sent to rural schools. - Thirty graduates were sent to rural schools. If the subject, expressed by a quantitative combination, includes an inanimate noun, then the predicate, as a rule, is used in the singular form: Fifteen student papers were noted by the commission. Several reports have been prepared for the student seminar. Most of the books were received by the library last year. A number of term papers are considered by the teacher. Some of the reports are included in the conference program. With the numerals two, three, four, the predicate is usually put in the plural: Three books are on the table. Four students entered the auditorium. Two student reports received the highest marks. With homogeneous subjects, the predicate, as a rule, agrees in the plural: Scheduled repairs to classrooms and cleaning of other rooms are carried out simultaneously. The rector of the institute and several professors were elected to the presidium. With a subject expressed by a noun denoting a profession, position, rank, the predicate is traditionally put in the masculine form: a graduate student worked in a card file, an associate professor gave a lecture. However, the modern literary norm allows both ways of agreeing the predicate with the subject in the gender, if the latter denotes a female person gender: the doctor wrote the prescription and the doctor wrote the prescription, the professor spoke to the students and the professor spoke to the students. If there is a proper name of the person, the predicate is consistent with the proper name: Associate Professor Nikolaeva successfully spoke at a scientific conference - Associate Professor Andreev gave an introductory lecture, graduate student Ivanova read a report - graduate student Sergeev read a report. Difficulties in agreeing definitions 1. With nouns that depend on the numerals two, three, four, the definition agrees as follows: with masculine and neuter words, it is put in the genitive plural (two large buildings, three new buildings). When defining feminine words, the form of agreement in the nominative plural is preferable (two new audiences). If the definition comes before the numeral, then it is put in the form of the nominative case, regardless of the gender of the nouns: the first two lectures, the last two semesters, every three assignments. 2. If the word being defined has two or more definitions, then this word can be both in the singular and in the plural: a) the plural emphasizes the presence of several subjects: Moscow and Saratov universities, students of the historical and philological faculties, synchronous and comparative historical methods; b) the singular emphasizes the connection of the defined subjects, their terminological proximity: the right and left wings of the academic building, masculine, feminine and neuter nouns, scientific and educational work. If there is a divisive or opposing union between the definitions, the word being defined is put in the singular form: a humanitarian or technical university, not a journalistic, but a literary text. 3. When agreeing on the definition with the word being defined, expressed by a noun of a common gender, the form of communication can be both in the feminine gender when designating a female person, and in the masculine gender when designating a male person: Petrov is a complete ignoramus in this matter, from the moment complete ignoramus in this area. The girl is an orphan. Alexey is an orphan. The modern norm allows for a double agreement of the definition in the form of masculine and feminine when designating a male person in live colloquial speech: Vasya is such a slob and (additional) Vasya is such a slob. 4. When agreeing with complex names consisting of two words of different grammatical gender, the word being defined agrees with the one that expresses a broader concept: a new cafe-dining room, an interesting exhibition-view, a famous museum estate, a wet raincoat, useful reference book, folding chair-bed. Note that the word denoting a broader concept and defining the nature of the agreement is usually in the first place. Difficulties in choosing the form of management An important indicator of the grammatical correctness of speech is the exact choice of case and preposition, that is, the correct choice of the form of control. Control is a kind of subordination in which the main word determines the case form of the dependent word. It is a mistake to use in the book many examples that ..., since the main word "example" requires the form of the genitive, and not the instrumental case of the dependent word. Therefore, the correct form of the case connection - there are many examples in the book that ... There are frequent cases of incorrect choice of prepositions: an abstract written on the same topic instead of on the same topic, which is also due to a violation of the prepositional case connection. When choosing a preposition, one should sometimes take into account the shades of meaning inherent in it. So, the prepositions due to, due to, due to have a stylistic coloring and are appropriate in official business speech, and the preposition due to is neutral. The preposition thanks has not lost its lexical meaning, and therefore can be used when it comes to the reasons that cause the desired result. That is why such a use of the preposition would be inappropriate: Due to illness, the student could not pass the test on time. Prepositions thanks, contrary to, according to are used with the dative case, so the use is erroneous: thanks to skillful scientific guidance; as directed by the supervisor. Wed correct usage: thanks to the leadership, according to the decision of the commission, contrary to the instruction. Of course, it is impossible to give a complete set of recommendations for choosing a form of control, so we will limit ourselves to a selective list of constructions with grammatical control that are often used incorrectly in speech: pay attention to something, but pay attention to something; superiority over something, but advantage over something; be based on something (on specific facts), but justify something (your answer with specific facts); be offended by something, but offended by something; be happy about something, but happy about something; report on something, but make an account of something; a monument to someone - something: a monument to Pushkin, Tolstoy; a review of what: a review of the thesis; a review of what: a review of a term paper; annotation of what: annotation of a book, article; control over what and over what (by whom): quality control, control over the spending of funds and control of what: control over the activities of the student council, control over the quality of knowledge; to distinguish what from what: to distinguish self-doubt from excessive demands on oneself, but to distinguish something: to distinguish between self-doubt and excessive demands on oneself; address someone: address a letter to a friend, but address someone: address a reader; pay for something, but pay for something (pay for delivery, travel; pay for work, travel); represent: the discovery represents a new page in the history of science; the form of communication is not strictly normative and is permissible only in oral informal speech; the tendency of what and to what: the tendency of growth, the tendency to increase; confidence in what (wrong: in what): confidence in success, in victory; limit to what (and additional the limit of what): the limit of patience; the limit of my desire; to be amazed, to be surprised at what, but to admire what, by whom: to be amazed at patience, perseverance; be surprised at kindness, skill; admire courage, talent; wait for what and what: wait for trains, meetings, orders and additional wait for the train, order; characteristics of whom and for whom: characteristics of student Petrov and give a description of the laboratory assistant Vasiliev. Difficulties in using participial and participial phrases When using participial phrases, two mistakes are most often encountered: 1. Separation of the participial phrase from the word being defined, for example: Students are divided into groups who entered the first year instead of Students enrolled in the first year are divided into groups. 2. The word being defined is inside the participle: This exam passed by a student was the last one instead This exam taken by a student was the last one. Do not correspond to the literary norm and such sentences in which the participial turnover and the attributive clause are combined as homogeneous components. Not right: Students who successfully passed the exam, who decided to go to a sports and recreation camp, must receive a referral from the trade union committee. Correctly: Students who successfully passed the exam and decided to go... or Students who successfully passed the exam and decided to go... Particular attention should be paid to the use of adverbial phrases. There are many examples of grammatical violations associated with the incorrect use of gerunds in written, and especially in oral speech, for which these forms are not typical. They involuntarily recall a phrase from a humorous story by A.P. Chekhov's Complaint Book "Driving up to this station and looking at nature through the window, my hat fell off." As you know, the participle denotes an additional action that corresponds to the main one expressed by the verb-predicate. Hence two conclusions: 1. The participle denotes the action of the same person or object as the predicate. For example, The students, after listening to the reports at the scientific conference, discussed them and named the best ones. The person performing both the main and additional actions are students. They listened, and discussed, and named. The subject of all three actions is the same, that is, the subject. Thus, the proposal is well-formed. The situation is different with the following fragment from the essay of the applicant at the entrance exam: Seeing the heroic battle of ordinary soldiers, Pierre [Bezukhov] is overcome by a sense of pride in his people. There is fuzziness, ambiguity: what does the gerund participle "seeing" refer to - to the word Pierre or to the word feeling? You can construct a sentence correctly like this: Seeing the heroic battle of ordinary soldiers, Pierre feels a sense of pride in his people. It is also possible to replace the adverbial turnover with the adverbial tense: When Pierre sees the heroic battle of ordinary soldiers, he is overcome by a sense of pride in his people. For the same reason, adverbial phrases should not be used in impersonal sentences, where there is no indication of a person at all, that is, of the subject of the action. Wrong: After reading Bulgakov's novel, it became clear to me that this work goes beyond a clear time frame. That's right: After reading Bulgakov's novel, I realized that... 2. If there is a gerund in a sentence, then there must be a verb-predicate denoting the main action. In the following syntactic construction: He hoped to be admitted to the examination session. Until you pass the last test, the second part is not a sentence, since there is no grammatical basis here, and the gerund cannot be a predicate. Right: Until he passed the last test, he still hoped that he would be admitted to the examination session.