What are called proper names. What is a proper name? Proper names: examples

In any language, the proper name occupies an important place. It appeared in ancient times, when people began to understand and differentiate objects, which required assigning them separate names. The designation of objects occurred based on its distinctive features or functions so that the name contained data about the object in a symbolic or factual form. Over time, proper names have become a subject of interest in various fields: geography, literature, psychology, history and, of course, linguistics.

The originality and meaningfulness of the phenomenon being studied led to the emergence of the science of proper names - onomastics.

A proper name is a noun that names an object or phenomenon in a specific sense, distinguishing it from other similar objects or phenomena, distinguishing them from a group of homogeneous concepts.

An important feature of this name is that it is associated with the named object and carries information about it without affecting the concept. They are written with a capital letter, and sometimes the names are put in quotation marks (Mariinsky Theater, Peugeot car, play Romeo and Juliet).

Proper names, or onyms, are used in the singular or plural. The plural appears in cases where several objects have similar designations. For example, the Sidorov family, the namesake Ivanovs.

Functions of proper names

Proper names, as units of language, perform various functions:

Nominative- assigning names to objects or phenomena.
Identifying- selecting a specific item from a variety.
Differentiating- the difference between an object and similar objects within the same class.
Expressive-emotional function- expression of a positive or negative attitude towards the object of the nomination.
Communicative- nomination of a person, object or phenomenon during communication.
Deictic- an indication of an object at the moment of pronouncing its name.

Classification of onyms

Proper names in all their originality are divided into many types:

Anthroponyms - names of people:

name (Ivan, Alexey, Olga);
surname (Sidorov, Ivanov, Brezhnev);
patronymic (Viktorovich, Aleksandrovna);
nickname (Gray - for the name Sergei, Lame - based on external characteristics);
pseudonym (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov - Lenin, Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - Stalin).

2. Toponyms - geographical names:

oikonyms - populated areas (Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo);
hydronyms - rivers (Danube, Seine, Amazon);
oronyms - mountains (Alps, Andes, Carpathians);
horonyms - large spaces, countries, regions (Japan, Siberia).

3. Zoonyms - animal names (Murka, Sharik, Kesha).

4. Documentonyms - acts, laws (Archimedes' law, Peace Pact).

5. Other names:

television and radio programs (“Blue Bird”, “Time”);
vehicles (“Titanic”, “Volga”);
periodicals (Cosmopolitan magazine, Times newspaper);
literary works (“War and Peace”, “Dowry”);
names of holidays (Easter, Christmas);
trademarks (“Pepsi”, “McDonald’s”);
organizations, enterprises, groups (Abba group, Bolshoi Theater);
natural disasters (Hurricane Jose).

Relationship between common nouns and proper nouns

When talking about a proper name, one cannot fail to mention the common noun. They are distinguished by object nominations.

Thus, a common noun, or appellative, names objects, persons or phenomena that have one or more common characteristics and represent a separate category.

cat, river, country - a common noun;
cat Murka, Ob River, country Colombia - proper name.

The differences between proper names and common nouns are also of great interest in scientific circles. This issue was studied by such linguists as N.V. Podolskaya, A.V. Superanskaya, L.V. Shcherba, A.A. Ufimtseva, A.A. Reformatsky and many others. Researchers examine these phenomena from different angles, sometimes arriving at contradictory results. Despite this, specific features of onyms are identified:

Onims name objects within a class, while common nouns name the class itself.
A proper name is assigned to an individual object, and not to the set to which it belongs, despite the common features characteristic of this set.
The object of the nomination is always specifically defined.
Although both proper names and common nouns are connected by the framework of the nominative function, the former only name objects, while the latter also highlight the concept of them.
Onims are derived from appellatives.

Sometimes proper names can be converted into common nouns. The process of converting an onym into a common noun is called appellation, and the reverse action is called onymization.

Thanks to this, words are filled with new shades of meaning and expand the boundaries of their meaning. For example, the personal name of the creator of the pistol, S. Colt, has become a household name and is often used in speech to nominate this type of firearm.

As an example of appeal, one can cite the transition of the common noun “earth” in the meaning of “soil”, “land”, into the onym “Earth” - “planet”. Thus, using a common noun as the name of something, it can become an onym (revolution - Revolution Square).

In addition, the names of literary heroes often become household names. Thus, in honor of the hero of the work of the same name by I. A. Goncharov, Oblomov, the term “Oblomovism” arose, which denotes inactive behavior.

Translation Features

Particularly difficult is the translation of proper names, both into Russian and from Russian into foreign languages.

It is impossible to translate onyms based on semantic meaning. It is carried out using:

transcriptions (recording the translated Cyrillic alphabet while retaining the original sound series);
transliteration (correlating letters of the Russian language with foreign ones using a special table);
transpositions (when onyms differing in form have the same origin, for example, the name Mikhail in Russian, and Mikhailo in Ukrainian).

Transliteration is considered the least used method of translating onyms. They resort to it in the case of processing international documents and foreign passports.

Incorrect translation can lead to misinformation and misinterpretation of the meaning of what was said or written. When translating, you should adhere to several principles:

Use reference materials (encyclopedias, atlases, reference books) to clarify words;
Try to make a translation based on the most accurate possible pronunciation or meaning of the name;
Use the rules of transliteration and transcription to translate onyms from the source language.

To summarize, we can say that onyms are distinguished by their richness and diversity. The originality of types and an extensive system of functions characterize them, and therefore onomastics, as the most important branch of linguistic knowledge. Proper names enrich, fill, develop the Russian language, and support interest in its study.

Quite often, students ask: “What is a common noun and a proper name?” Despite the simplicity of the question, not everyone knows the definition of these terms and the rules for writing such words. Let's figure it out. After all, in fact, everything is extremely simple and clear.

Common noun

The most significant layer of nouns consists of They denote the names of a class of objects or phenomena that have a number of characteristics by which they can be attributed to the specified class. For example, common nouns are: cat, table, corner, river, girl. They do not name a specific object or person or animal, but designate a whole class. Using these words, we mean any cat or dog, any table. Such nouns are written with a small letter.

In linguistics, common nouns are also called appellatives.

Proper name

Unlike common nouns, they constitute an insignificant layer of nouns. These words or phrases denote a specific and specific object that exists in a single copy. Proper names include names of people, names of animals, names of cities, rivers, streets, and countries. For example: Volga, Olga, Russia, Danube. They are always written with a capital letter and indicate a specific person or single object.

The science of onomastics deals with the study of proper names.

Onomastics

So, we have figured out what a common noun and a proper name are. Now let's talk about onomastics - the science that deals with the study of proper names. At the same time, not only names are considered, but also the history of their origin, how they changed over time.

Onomastologists identify several directions in this science. Thus, anthroponymy studies the names of people, and ethnonymy studies the names of peoples. Cosmonymics and astronomy study the names of stars and planets. Zoonymics studies animal names. Theonymics deals with the names of gods.

This is one of the most promising areas in linguistics. Research on onomastics is still being conducted, articles are being published, and conferences are being held.

Transition of common nouns into proper nouns and vice versa

A common noun and a proper noun can move from one group to another. Quite often it happens that a common noun becomes a proper one.

For example, if a person is called by a name that was previously part of the class of common nouns, it becomes a proper name. A striking example of such a transformation is the names Vera, Lyubov, Nadezhda. They used to be household names.

Surnames formed from common nouns also become anthroponyms. Thus, we can highlight the surnames Cat, Cabbage and many others.

As for proper names, they quite often move into another category. This often concerns people's last names. Many inventions bear the names of their authors; sometimes the names of scientists are assigned to the quantities or phenomena they discovered. So, we know the units of measurement ampere and newton.

The names of the heroes of the works can become household names. Thus, the names Don Quixote, Oblomov, Uncle Styopa became a designation for certain traits of appearance or character characteristic of people. The names of historical figures and celebrities can also be used as common nouns, for example, Schumacher and Napoleon.

In such cases, it is necessary to clarify what exactly the addresser means in order to avoid mistakes when writing the word. But often it is possible from the context. We think you understand what a common and proper name is. The examples we have given show this quite clearly.

Rules for writing proper names

As you know, all parts of speech are subject to spelling rules. Nouns - common and proper - were also no exception. Remember a few simple rules that will help you avoid making annoying mistakes in the future.

Proper names are always written with a capital letter, for example: Ivan, Gogol, Catherine the Great.
People's nicknames are also written with a capital letter, but without the use of quotation marks.
Proper names used in the meaning of common nouns are written with a small letter: Don Quixote, Don Juan.
If next to a proper name there are function words or generic names (cape, city), then they are written with a small letter: Volga River, Lake Baikal, Gorky Street.
If a proper name is the name of a newspaper, cafe, book, then it is placed in quotation marks. In this case, the first word is written with a capital letter, the rest, if they do not refer to proper names, are written with a small letter: “The Master and Margarita”, “Russian Truth”.
Common nouns are written with a small letter.

As you can see, the rules are quite simple. Many of them have been known to us since childhood.

Let's sum it up

All nouns are divided into two large classes - proper nouns and common nouns. There are much fewer of the former than the latter. Words can move from one class to another, acquiring a new meaning. Proper names are always written with a capital letter. Common nouns - with a small one.

This is an independent part of speech that denotes an object and answers the questions who? What?
The meaning of an object expressed nouns, combines the names of a wide variety of objects and phenomena, namely: 1) the names of specific cabbage soup and objects (house, tree, notebook, book, briefcase, bed, lamp); 2) names of living beings (man, engineer, girl, boy, deer, mosquito); 3) names of various substances (oxygen, gasoline, lead, sugar, salt); 4) names of various natural and social phenomena (storm, frost, rain, holiday, war); 5) names of abstract properties and signs, actions and states (freshness, whiteness, blueness, illness, expectation, murder).
Initial form noun- nominative singular.
Nouns There are: proper (Moscow, Rus', Sputnik) and common nouns (country, dream, night), animate (horse, elk, brother) and inanimate (table, field, dacha).
Nouns belong to the masculine (friend, youth, deer), feminine (girlfriend, grass, land) and neuter (window, sea, field) gender. Names nouns change according to cases and numbers, that is, they decline. Nouns have three declension (aunt, uncle, Maria - I declension; horse, gorge, genius - II declension; mother, night, quiet - III declension).
In a sentence nouns usually act as a subject or object, but can also be any other part of a sentence. For example: When the soul in chains, screams in my heart yearning, and the heart longs for boundless freedom (K. Balmont). I lay in the scent of azaleas (V. Bryusov)

Proper and common nouns

Proper nouns- these are the names of individuals, individual objects. Proper nouns include: 1) first names, surnames, nicknames, nicknames (Peter, Ivanov, Sharik); 2) geographical names (Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia); 3) astronomical names (Jupiter, Venus, Saturn); 4) names of holidays (New Year, Teacher's Day, Defender of the Fatherland Day); 5) names of newspapers, magazines, works of art, enterprises (the newspaper “Trud”, the novel “Resurrection”, the publishing house “Prosveshchenie”), etc.
Common nouns They call homogeneous objects that have something in common, the same, some kind of similarity (person, bird, furniture).
All names own are written with a capital letter (Moscow, Arctic), some are also placed in quotation marks (the Cosmos cinema, the Evening Moscow newspaper).
In addition to differences in meaning and spelling proper nouns have a number of grammatical features: 1) are not used in the plural (except in cases of designating different objects and persons with the same name: We have two Ira and three Olya in our class); 2) cannot be combined with numerals.
Proper nouns can turn into common nouns, and common nouns- V own, for example: Narcissus (the name of a handsome young man in ancient Greek mythology) - narcissus (flower); Boston (city in the USA) - boston (woolen fabric), boston (slow waltz), boston (card game); labor - newspaper "Trud".

Animate and inanimate nouns

Animate nouns serve as names of living beings (people, animals, birds); answer the question who?
Inanimate nouns serve as names for inanimate objects, as well as objects of the plant world; answer the question what? Initially, in the Russian language, the category of animate-inanimate was formed as a semantic one. Gradually, with the development of language, this category became grammatical, therefore the division of nouns into animate And inanimate does not always coincide with the division of everything that exists in nature into living and nonliving.
An indicator of the animate or inanimate nature of a noun is the coincidence of a number of grammatical forms. Animated and inanimate nouns differ from each other in the accusative plural form. U animate nouns this form coincides with the genitive case form, and inanimate nouns- with the nominative case form, for example: no friends - I see friends (but: no tables - I see tables), no brothers - I see brothers (but: no lights - I see lights), no horses - I see horses (but: no shadows - I see shadows), no children - I see children (but: no seas - I see seas).
For masculine nouns (except for nouns ending in -a, -я), this difference is preserved in the singular, for example: no friend - I see a friend (but: no house - I see a house).
TO animate noun may include nouns that, according to their meaning, should be considered inanimate, for example: “our nets brought in a dead man”; discard the trump ace, sacrifice the queen, buy dolls, paint nesting dolls.
TO inanimate noun may include nouns that, according to the meaning they express, should be classified as animated, for example: study pathogenic microbes; neutralize typhus bacilli; observe the embryo in its development; collect silkworm larvae, believe in your people; gather huge crowds, arm armies.

Concrete, abstract, collective, real, singular nouns

According to the characteristics of the expressed meaning, nouns can be divided into several groups: 1) concrete nouns(chair, suit, room, roof), 2) abstract, or abstract, nouns(struggle, joy, good, evil, morality, whiteness), 3) collective nouns(animal, fool, foliage, linen, furniture); 4) real nouns(cycle: gold, milk, sugar, honey); 5) singular nouns(pea, grain of sand, straw, pearl).
Specific are nouns that denote phenomena or objects of reality. They can be combined with cardinal, ordinal and collective numbers and form plural forms. For example: boy - boys, two boys, second boy, two boys; table - tables, two tables, second table.
Abstract, or abstract, are nouns that denote any abstract action, state, quality, property or concept. Abstract nouns have one form of number (only singular or only plural), are not combined with cardinal numerals, but can be combined with the words many, few, how many, etc. For example: grief - a lot of grief, little grief. How much grief!
Collective are called nouns that denote a collection of persons or objects as an indivisible whole. Collective nouns have only the singular form and are not combined with numerals, for example: youth, old man, foliage, birch forest, aspen forest. Wed: Old people gossiped for a long time about the lives of young people and the interests of youth. - Whose are you, old man? Peasants, in essence, have always remained owners. - In no country in the world has the peasantry ever been truly free. On the first of September all children will go to school. - The children gathered in the yard and waited for the adults to arrive. All students successfully passed state exams. - Students take an active part in the work of charitable foundations. The nouns old people, peasantry, children, students are collective, the formation of plural forms from them is impossible.
Real are nouns that denote a substance that cannot be divided into its component parts. These words can name chemical elements, their compounds, alloys, medicines, various materials, types of food products and agricultural crops, etc. Real nouns have one form of number (only singular or only plural), are not combined with cardinal numerals, but can be combined with words naming units of measure kilogram, liter, ton. For example: sugar - a kilogram of sugar, milk - two liters of milk, wheat - a ton of wheat.
Singular nouns are a type real nouns. These nouns name one instance of those objects that make up the set. Wed: pearl - pearl, potato - potato, sand - grain of sand, pea - pea, snow - snowflake, straw - straw.

Gender of nouns

Genus- this is the ability of nouns to be combined with forms of compatible words specific for each generic variety: my house, my hat, my window.
Based on gender nouns are divided into three groups: 1) masculine nouns(house, horse, sparrow, uncle), 2) feminine nouns(water, earth, dust, rye), 3) neuter nouns(face, sea, tribe, gorge).
In addition, there is a small group common nouns, which can serve as expressive names for both male and female persons (crybaby, touchy-feely, youngster, upstart, grabber).
The grammatical meaning of gender is created by the system of case endings of a given noun in the singular (thus gender of nouns distinguished only in the singular).

Masculine, feminine and neuter gender of nouns

TO masculine include: 1) nouns with a base on a hard or soft consonant and a zero ending in the nominative case (table, horse, reed, knife, cry); 2) some nouns with the ending -а (я) such as grandfather, uncle; 3) some nouns with endings -о, -е such as saraishko, bread, little house; 4) noun journeyman.
TO feminine refers to: 1) most nouns with the ending -a (ya) (grass, aunt, earth) in the nominative case; 2) part of the nouns with a base on a soft consonant, as well as on zh and sh and a zero ending in the nominative case (laziness, rye, quiet).
TO neuter include: 1) nouns ending in -о, -е in the nominative case (window, field); 2) ten nouns starting with -mya (burden, time, tribe, flame, stirrup, etc.); 3) noun “child”.
The nouns doctor, professor, architect, deputy, guide, author, etc., naming a person by profession, type of activity, are classified as masculine. However, they can also refer to females. Coordination of definitions in this case is subject to the following rules: 1) a non-separate definition must be put in the masculine form, for example: A young doctor Sergeeva appeared at our site. A new version of the article of the law was proposed by the young deputy Petrova; 2) a separate definition after the proper name should be placed in the feminine form, for example: Professor Petrova, already known to the trainees, successfully operated on the patient. The predicate must be put in the feminine form if: 1) the sentence contains a proper noun standing before the predicate, for example: Director Sidorova received a prize. Tour guide Petrova took the students through the oldest streets of Moscow; 2) the form of the predicate is the only indicator that we are talking about a woman, and it is important for the writer to emphasize this, for example: The school director turned out to be a good mother. Note. Such constructions should be used with great caution, since not all of them correspond to the norms of book and written speech. Common nouns Some nouns with endings -а (я) can serve as expressive names for both male and female persons. These are nouns of a general gender, for example: crybaby, touchy, sneak, slob, quiet. Depending on the gender of the person they denote, these nouns can be classified as either feminine or masculine: a little crybaby is a little crybaby, such a mischief is such a mischief, a terrible slob is a terrible slob. In addition to similar words, common nouns may include: 1) unchangeable surnames: Makarenko, Malykh, Defieux, Michon, Hugo, etc.; 2) colloquial forms of some proper names: Sasha, Valya, Zhenya. The words doctor, professor, architect, deputy, guide, author, which name a person by profession or type of activity, do not belong to the general nouns. They are masculine nouns. Common nouns are emotionally charged words, have a pronounced evaluative meaning, are used mainly in colloquial speech, and therefore are not characteristic of scientific and official business styles of speech. By using them in a work of art, the author seeks to emphasize the conversational nature of the statement. For example: - You see how it is, on someone else’s side. Everything turns out hateful for her. No matter what you see, it’s not the same, it’s not like mom’s. Right? - Oh, I don’t know! She's a crybaby, that's all! Aunt Enya laughed a little. Such a kind laugh, light sounds and leisurely, like her gait. - Well, yes! You are our man, a knight. You won't shed tears. And she's a girl. Tender. Mom and Dad (T. Polikarpova). Gender of indeclinable nouns Foreign language common nouns are distributed by gender as follows: The masculine gender includes: 1) names of male persons (dandy, maestro, porter); 2) names of animals and birds (chimpanzees, cockatoos, hummingbirds, kangaroos, ponies, flamingos); 3) the words coffee, penalty, etc. The feminine gender includes the names of female persons (Miss, Frau, Lady). The neuter gender includes the names of inanimate objects (coat, muffler, neckline, depot, subway). Indeclinable nouns of foreign origin denoting animals and birds are usually masculine (flamingos, kangaroos, cockatoos, chimpanzees, ponies). If, according to the conditions of the context, it is necessary to indicate a female animal, the agreement is carried out using the feminine gender. The nouns kangaroo, chimpanzee, pony are combined with a past tense verb in the feminine form. For example: The kangaroo was carrying a baby kangaroo in her bag. The chimpanzee, apparently a female, fed the baby a banana. The mother pony was standing in a stall with a small foal. The noun tsetse is an exception. Its gender is determined by the gender of the word mukha (feminine). For example: Tsetse bit a tourist. If determining the gender of an indeclinable noun is difficult, it is advisable to consult a spelling dictionary. For example: haiku (Japanese tercet) - s.r., takku (Japanese quintet) - s.r., su (coin) - s.r., flamenco (dance) - s.r., taboo (prohibition) - s.r. .r. Some indeclinable nouns are recorded only in dictionaries of new words. For example: sushi (Japanese dish) - sr., tarot (cards) - plural. (genus is not determined). The gender of indeclinable foreign-language geographical names, as well as names of newspapers and magazines, is determined by the generic common noun, for example: Pau (river), Bordeaux (city), Mississippi (river), Erie (lake), Congo (river), Ontario (lake), "Humanité" (newspaper). The gender of indeclinable compound words is in most cases determined by the gender of the core word of the phrase, for example: MSU (university - m.r.) MFA (academy - zh.r.). The gender of compound nouns written with a hyphen The gender of compound nouns written with a hyphen is usually determined: 1) by the first part, if both parts change: my chair-bed - my chair-bed (cf. ), new amphibious aircraft - new amphibious aircraft (m.r.); 2) according to the second part, if the first does not change: sparkling firebird - sparkling firebird (g.r.), huge swordfish - huge swordfish (g.r.). In some cases, the gender is not determined, since the compound word is used only in the plural: fairy-tale boots-runners - fairy-tale boots-runners (plural). Number of nouns Nouns are used in the singular when talking about one object (horse, stream, crevice, field). Nouns are used in the plural when talking about two or more objects (horses, streams, cracks, fields). According to the characteristics of the forms and meanings of the singular and plural, the following are distinguished: 1) nouns that have both singular and plural forms; 2) nouns that have only a singular form; 3) nouns that have only a plural form. The first group includes nouns with a concrete object meaning, denoting countable objects and phenomena, for example: house - houses; street - streets; person - people; city dweller - city dwellers. The nouns of the second group include: 1) names of many identical objects (children, teachers, raw materials, spruce forest, foliage); 2) names of objects with real meaning (peas, milk, raspberries, porcelain, kerosene, chalk); 3) names of quality or attribute (freshness, whiteness, dexterity, melancholy, courage); 4) names of actions or states (mowing, chopping, delivery, running, surprise, reading); 5) proper names as names of individual objects (Moscow, Tambov, St. Petersburg, Tbilisi); 6) words burden, udder, flame, crown. The nouns of the third group include: 1) names of composite and paired objects (scissors, glasses, watches, abacus, jeans, trousers); 2) names of materials or waste, residues (bran, cream, perfume, wallpaper, sawdust, ink, 3) names of periods of time (vacations, days, weekdays); 4) names of actions and states of nature (troubles, negotiations, frosts, sunrises, twilight); 5) some geographical names (Lyubertsy, Mytishchi, Sochi, Carpathians, Sokolniki); 6) the names of some games (blind man's buff, hide and seek, chess, backgammon, grandma). The formation of plural forms of nouns is mainly done with the help of endings. In some cases, some changes in the base of the word may also be observed, namely: 1) softening of the final consonant of the base (neighbor - neighbors, devil - devils, knee - knees); 2) alternation of the final consonants of the stem (ear - ears, eye - eyes); 3) adding a suffix to the plural stem (husband - husband\j\a], chair - chair\j\a], sky - heaven, miracle - miracle-es-a, son - son-ov\j\a]) ; 4) loss or replacement of formative suffixes of the singular (mister - gentlemen, chicken - hens, calf - tel-yat-a, bear cub - bear cubs). For some nouns, plural forms are formed by changing the stem, for example: person (singular) - people (plural), child (singular) - children (plural). In indeclinable nouns, number is determined syntactically: young chimpanzee (singular) - many chimpanzees (plural). Case of nouns Case is an expression of the relationship of an object called by a noun to other objects. Russian grammar distinguishes six cases of nouns, the meanings of which are generally expressed using case questions: The nominative case is considered direct, and all others are indirect. To determine the case of a noun in a sentence, you need to: 1) find the word to which the noun refers; 2) put a question from this word to the noun: see (who? what?) brother, be proud of (what?) successes. Among the case endings of nouns, homonym endings are often found. For example, in the forms of the genitive case from the door, the dative case to the door, and the prepositional case about the door, there is not the same ending -i, but three different homonym endings. The same homonyms are the endings of the dative and prepositional cases in the forms by country and about country-e. Types of declension of nouns Declension is the change of a noun by case and number. This change is expressed using a system of case endings and shows the grammatical relationship of the given noun to other words in the phrase and sentence, for example: School\a\ is open. Construction of schools has been completed. Graduates send greetings to schools\e\ According to the peculiarities of case endings in the singular, a noun has three declensions. The type of declination can only be determined in the singular. Nouns of the first declension The first declension includes: 1) feminine nouns with the ending -а (-я) in the nominative singular (country, land, army); 2) masculine nouns denote people with the ending -a (ya) in the nominative singular case (uncle, young man, Petya). 3) nouns of the general gender with endings -а (я) in the nominative case (crybaby, sleepyhead, bully). Nouns of the first declension in the oblique singular cases have the following endings: It is necessary to distinguish between the forms of nouns in -ya and -iya: Marya - Maria, Natalya - Natalia, Daria - Daria, Sophia - Sofia. Nouns of the first declension in -iya (army, guard, biology, line, series, Maria) in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases have the ending -i. In writing, mistakes are often caused by mixing the endings of nouns of the first declension into -ee and -iya. Words ending in -eya (alley, battery, gallery, idea) have the same endings as feminine nouns with a base on a soft consonant such as earth, will, bathhouse, etc. Nouns of the second declension The second declension includes: 1) nouns masculine with a zero ending in the nominative singular (house, horse, museum); 2) masculine nouns with the ending -о (-е) in the nominative singular (domishko, saraishko); 3) neuter nouns with the ending -о, -е in the nominative singular case (window, sea, gorge); 4) noun journeyman. Masculine nouns of the second declension have the following endings in the oblique singular cases: In the prepositional singular case, the ending -e predominates for masculine nouns. The ending -у (у) is accepted only by inanimate masculine nouns if: a) they are used with the prepositions in and on; b) have (in most cases) the nature of stable combinations denoting a place, state, time of action. For example: eyesore; remain in debt; on the verge of death; grazing; to follow the lead; stew in one's own juices; be in good standing. But: work by the sweat of your brow, in the sunshine; grammatical structure; at a right angle; in some cases, etc. It is necessary to distinguish between the forms of nouns: -ie and -ie: teaching - teaching, treatment - treatment, silence - silence, torment - torment, radiance - radiance. Nouns of the second declension ending in -i, -i in the prepositional case -i. Words ending in -ey (sparrow, museum, mausoleum, frost, lyceum) have the same endings as masculine nouns with a base on a soft consonant such as horse, elk, deer, fight, etc. Nouns of the third declension The third declension includes names feminine nouns with a zero ending in the nominative singular (door, night, mother, daughter). Nouns of the third declension in the oblique singular cases have the following endings: The words mother and daughter belonging to the third declension, when changed in all cases except the nominative and accusative, have the suffix -er- at the base: Declension of nouns in the plural In case endings plural differences between individual types of noun declension are insignificant. In the dative, instrumental and prepositional cases, nouns of all three declensions have the same endings. In the nominative case, the endings -и, -ы и|-а(-я) predominate. The ending -e is less common. You should remember the formation of the genitive plural forms of some nouns, where the ending can be zero or -ov. This includes words naming: 1) paired and composite objects: (not) felt boots, boots, stockings, collars, days (but: socks, rails, glasses); 2) some nationalities (in most cases, the stem of the words ends in n and r): (no) English, Bashkirs, Buryats, Georgians, Turkmens, Mordvins, Ossetians, Romanians (but: Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Yakuts); 3) some units of measurement: (five) amperes, watts, volts, arshins, hertz; 4) some vegetables and fruits: (kilogram) apples, raspberries, olives (but: apricots, oranges, bananas, tangerines, tomatoes, tomatoes). In some cases, plural endings perform a semantic distinguishing function in words. For example: dragon teeth - saw teeth, tree roots - fragrant roots, sheets of paper - tree leaves, scratched knees (knee - “joint”) - complex knees (knee - “dance move”) - trumpet knees (knee - “ joint at the pipe"). Indeclinable nouns Indeclinable nouns include: 1) ten nouns ending in -mya (burden, time, udder, banner, name, flame, tribe, seed, stirrup, crown); 2) noun path; 3) noun child. Diversified nouns have the following features: 1) ending - both in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases of the singular - as in the III declension; 2) the ending -еm in the instrumental case of the singular as in the 2nd declension; 3) the suffix -en- in all forms, except for the nominative and accusative cases of the singular (only for nouns ending in -mya). The word path has case forms of the third declension, with the exception of the instrumental case of the singular, which is characterized by the form of the second declension. Wed: night - nights, path - paths (in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases); steering wheel - steering wheel, path - path (in the instrumental case). The noun child in the singular retains the archaic declension, which is currently not actually used, but in the plural it has the usual forms, except for the instrumental case, which is characterized by the ending -mi (the same ending is characteristic of the form by people). Indeclinable nouns Indeclinable nouns do not have case forms, these words do not have endings. The grammatical meanings of individual cases in relation to such nouns are expressed syntactically, for example: drink coffee, buy cashews, novels by Dumas. Indeclinable nouns include: 1) many nouns of foreign origin with final vowels -o, -e, -i, -u, -yu, -a (solo, coffee, hobby, zebu, cashew, bra, Dumas, Zola); 2) foreign-language surnames denoting female persons ending in a consonant (Michon, Sagan); 3) Russian and Ukrainian surnames with -o, -ih, -yh (Durnovo, Krutykh, Sedykh); 4) complex abbreviated words of alphabetic and mixed nature (Moscow State University, Ministry of Internal Affairs, head of department). The syntactic function of indeclinable nouns is determined only in context. For example: The Walrus asked the Kangaroo (RP): How can you stand the heat? I'm shaking from the cold! - Kangaroo (I.p.) said to Walrus. (B. Zakhoder) Kangaroo is an indeclinable noun, denotes an animal, masculine, in a sentence it is the object and subject. Morphological analysis of a noun Morphological analysis of a noun includes the identification of four constant characteristics (proper-common noun, animate-inanimate, gender, declension) and two inconsistent ones (case and number). The number of constant features of a noun can be increased by including features such as concrete and abstract, as well as real and collective nouns. Scheme of morphological analysis of a noun.

There is a huge variety of phenomena in the world. For each of them there is a name in the language. If it names a whole group of objects, then such a word is. When there is a need to name one object from a number of similar ones, then the language has its own names for this.

nouns

Common nouns are those nouns that immediately designate a whole class of objects united by some common characteristics. For example:

Each water stream can be called in one word - river.
Any plant with a trunk and branches is a tree.
All animals that are gray in color, large in size, and have a trunk instead of a nose are called elephants.
A giraffe is any animal with a long neck, small horns and tall stature.

Proper names are nouns that distinguish one object from the entire class of similar phenomena. For example:

The dog's name is Druzhok.
My cat's name is Murka.
This river is the Volga.
The deepest lake is Baikal.

Once we know what a proper name is, we can complete the following task.

Practical task No. 1

Which nouns are proper nouns?

Moscow; city; Earth; planet; Bug; dog; Vlad; boy; radio station; "Lighthouse".

Capital letters in proper names

As can be seen from the first task, proper names, unlike common nouns, are written with a capital letter. Sometimes it happens that the same word is written either with a small letter or with a capital letter:

bird eagle, city Orel, ship "Eagle";
strong love, girl Love;
early spring, “Spring” lotion;
riverine willow, restaurant "Iva".

If you know what a proper name is, then it’s easy to understand the reason for this phenomenon: words denoting individual objects are written with a capital letter in order to separate them from others of the same kind.

Quotation marks for proper names

To know how to correctly use quotation marks in proper names, you need to learn the following: proper names denoting phenomena in the world created by human hands are isolated. In this case, the markers are quotation marks:

newspaper "New World";
DIY magazine;
Amta factory;
Hotel Astoria;
ship "Swift".

Transition of words from common nouns to proper ones and vice versa

It cannot be said that the distinction between the categories of proper names and common nouns is unshakable. Sometimes common nouns become proper names. We talked about the rules for writing them above. What proper names can you give? Examples of transition from the category of common nouns:

cream "Spring";
perfume "Jasmine";
cinema "Zarya";
magazine "Worker".

Proper names also easily become generalized names for homogeneous phenomena. Below are proper names that can already be called common nouns:

These are young philanderers to me!
We mark in Newtons, but we don’t know the formulas;
You are all Pushkins until you write a dictation.

Practical task No. 2

Which sentences contain proper nouns?

1. We decided to meet at the Ocean.

2. In the summer I swam in a real ocean.

3. Anton decided to give his beloved perfume “Rose”.

4. The rose was cut in the morning.

5. We are all Socrates in our kitchen.

6. This idea was first put forward by Socrates.

Classification of proper names

It would seem easy to understand what a proper name is, but you still need to repeat the main thing - proper names are assigned to one object from a whole series. It is advisable to classify the following series of phenomena:

A number of phenomena	Proper names, examples
Names of people, surnames, patronymics	Ivan, Vanya, Ilyushka, Tatyana, Tanechka, Tanyukha, Ivanov, Lysenko, Belykh Gennady Ivanovich, Alexander Nevsky.
Animal names	Bobik, Murka, Zorka, Ryaba, Karyukha, Gray Neck.
Geographical names	Lena, Sayan Mountains, Baikal, Azovskoye, Chernoye, Novosibirsk.
Names of objects made by human hands	“Red October”, “Rot-front”, “Aurora”, “Health”, “Kiss-kiss”, “Chanel No. 6”, “Kalashnikov”.

People's names, surnames, patronymics, animal names are animate nouns, and geographical names and designations of everything created by man are inanimate. This is how proper names are characterized from the point of view of the category of animation.

Proper names in the plural

It is necessary to dwell on one point, which is determined by the semantics of the studied features of proper names that they are rarely used in the plural. You can use them to refer to several objects if they have the same proper name:

The surname can be used in plural. in two cases. Firstly, if it denotes a family, people who are related:

It was customary for the Ivanovs to gather for dinner with the whole family.
The Karenins lived in St. Petersburg.
The Zhurbin dynasty all had a hundred years of work experience at the metallurgical plant.

Secondly, if namesakes are named:

Hundreds of Ivanovs can be found in the registry.
They are my full namesakes: the Grigoriev Alexandras.

- inconsistent definitions

One of the Unified State Examination tasks in the Russian language requires knowledge of what a proper name is. Graduates are required to establish correspondences between sentences and those included in them. One of these is a violation in the construction of a sentence with an inconsistent application. The fact is that the proper name, which is an inconsistent application, does not change according to cases with the main word. Examples of such sentences with grammatical errors are given below:

Lermontov was not delighted with his poem “Demona” (poem “Demon”).
Dostoevsky described the spiritual crisis of his time in the novel The Brothers Karamazov (in the novel The Brothers Karamazov).
A lot is said and written about the film “Taras Bulba” (About the film “Taras Bulba”).

If a proper name acts as an addition, that is, in the absence of a defined word, then it can change its form:

Lermontov was not delighted with his “Demon”.
Dostoevsky described the spiritual crisis of his time in The Brothers Karamazov.
A lot is said and written about Taras Bulba.

Practical task No. 3

Which sentences have errors?

1. We stood for a long time in front of the painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga.”

2. In “A Hero of His Time,” Lermontov sought to reveal the problems of his era.

3. The “Pechorin Journal” reveals the vices of a secular person.

4). The story “Maksim Maksimych” reveals the image of a wonderful person.

5. In his opera “The Snow Maiden,” Rimsky-Korsakov sang love as the highest ideal of humanity.

Each person uses several hundred nouns in his speech every day. However, not everyone will be able to answer the question of which category this or that word belongs to: proper names or common nouns, and whether there is a difference between them. Meanwhile, not only written literacy depends on this simple knowledge, but also the ability to correctly understand what is read, because often, only by reading a word, you can understand whether it is a name or just the name of a thing.

What is this

Before you figure out which nouns are called proper nouns and which are common nouns, it’s worth remembering what they are.

Nouns are words that answer the questions “What?”, “Who?” and denoting the name of things or persons (“table”, “person”), they change according to declensions, genders, numbers and cases. In addition, words related to this part of speech are proper/common nouns.

Concept about and own

Apart from rare exceptions, all nouns belong to the category of either proper or common nouns.

Common nouns include the summarized names of homogeneous things or phenomena that may differ from each other in some ways, but will still be called one word. For example, the noun “toy” is a common noun, although it generalizes the names of different objects: cars, dolls, bears and other things from this group. In Russian, as in most other languages, common nouns are always written with a small letter.

nouns are names of individuals, prominent things, places or persons. For example, the word “doll” is a common noun that names a whole category of toys, but the name of the popular doll brand “Barbie” is a proper noun. All proper names are written with capital letters.
It is worth noting that common nouns, unlike proper nouns, carry a certain lexical meaning. For example, when they say “doll”, it becomes clear that we are talking about a toy, but when they simply call the name “Masha”, outside the context of a common noun, it is not clear who or what it is - a girl, a doll, the name of a brand, a hair salon or a chocolate bar.

Ethnonyms

As mentioned above, nouns can be proper and common nouns. So far, linguists have not yet come to a consensus on the issue of the connection between these two categories. There are two common views on this issue: according to one, there is a clear dividing line between common and proper nouns; according to another, the dividing line between these categories is not absolute due to the frequent transition of nouns from one category to another. Therefore, there are so-called “intermediate” words that do not relate to either proper or common nouns, although they have characteristics of both categories. Such nouns include ethnonyms - words meaning the names of peoples, nationalities, tribes and other similar concepts.

Common nouns: examples and types

The vocabulary of the Russian language contains the most common nouns. All of them are usually divided into four types.

1. Concrete - denote objects or phenomena that can be counted (people, birds and animals, flowers). For example: “adult”, “child”, “thrush”, “shark”, “ash”, “violet”. Specific common nouns almost always have a plural and singular form and are combined with quantitative numerals: “an adult - two adults”, “one violet - five violets”.

2. Abstract - denote concepts, feelings, objects that cannot be counted: “love”, “health”, “intelligence”. Most often, this type of common noun is used only in the singular. If, for one reason or another, a noun of this type acquires a plural form (“fear - fears”), it loses its abstract meaning.

3. Real - denote substances that are homogeneous in composition and do not have separate objects: chemical elements (mercury), food (pasta), medicines (citramon) and other similar concepts. Real nouns cannot be counted, but they can be measured (a kilogram of pasta). Words of this type of common noun have only one form of number: either plural or singular: “oxygen” is singular, “cream” is plural.

4. Collective nouns mean a collection of similar objects or persons, as a single, indivisible whole: “brotherhood”, “humanity”. Nouns of this type cannot be counted and are used only in the singular form. However, with them you can use the words “a little”, “several”, “few” and similar ones: a lot of children, a lot of infantry and others.

Proper nouns: examples and types

Depending on the lexical meaning, the following types of proper nouns are distinguished:

1. Anthroponyms - first names, surnames, pseudonyms, nicknames and nicknames of people: Vasilyeva Anastasia,
2. Theonyms - names and titles of deities: Zeus, Buddha.
3. Zoonyms - nicknames and nicknames of animals: the dog Barbos, the cat Marie.
4. All types of toponyms - geographical names, cities (Volgograd), reservoirs (Baikal), streets (Pushkin) and so on.
5. Aeronautonims - the names of various space and aircraft: the Vostok spacecraft, the Mir interorbital station.
6. Names of works of art, literature, cinema, television programs: “Mona Lisa”, “Crime and Punishment”, “Vertical”, “Jumble”.
7. Names of organizations, websites, brands: “Oxford”, “Vkontakte”, “Milavitsa”.
8. Names of holidays and other social events: Christmas, Independence Day.
9. Names of unique natural phenomena: Hurricane Isabel.
10. Names of unique buildings and objects: Rodina cinema, Olimpiysky sports complex.

Transition of proper into common nouns and vice versa

Since language is not something abstract and is constantly influenced by both external and internal factors, words often change their category: proper nouns become common nouns, and common nouns become proper nouns. Examples of this occur quite often. So the natural phenomenon “frost” - from a common noun turned into a proper noun, the surname Moroz. The process of turning common nouns into proper ones is called onymization.

At the same time, the name of the famous German physicist who was the first to discover X-ray radiation, in the colloquial speech of the Russian language has long turned into the name of the study of something using the “X-ray” radiation he discovered. This process is called appellation, and such words are called eponyms.

How to differentiate

In addition to semantic differences, there are also grammatical ones that allow one to clearly distinguish between proper and common nouns. The Russian language is quite practical in this regard. The category of common nouns, unlike proper nouns, as a rule, has both plural and singular forms: “artist - artists.”

At the same time, another category is almost always used only in the singular: Picasso is the artist’s surname, singular. However, there are exceptions when proper nouns can be used in the plural. Examples of this are names originally used in the plural: the village of Bolshiye Kabany. In this case, these proper nouns are often deprived of the singular: Carpathian mountains.
Sometimes proper names can be used in the plural if they denote different persons or phenomena, but with identical names. For example: There are three Xenias in our class.

How to spell

If with the writing of common nouns everything is quite simple: they are all written with a small letter, and otherwise you should adhere to the usual rules of the Russian language, then the other category has some nuances that you need to know in order to correctly write proper nouns. Examples of incorrect spelling can often be found not only in the notebooks of careless schoolchildren, but also in the documents of adults and respectable people.

To avoid such mistakes, you should learn a few simple rules:

1. All proper names, without exception, are written with capital letters, especially when it comes to the nicknames of legendary heroes: Richard the Lionheart. If a given name, surname or place name consists of two or more nouns, regardless of whether they are written separately or hyphenated, each of these words must begin with a capital letter. An interesting example is the nickname of the main villain of the Harry Potter epic - the Dark Lord. Afraid to call him by name, the heroes called the evil wizard “He Who Must Not Be Named.” In this case, all 4 words are written in capital letters, since this is the character's nickname.

2. If the name or title contains articles, particles and other auxiliary particles of speech, they are written with a small letter: Albrecht von Graefe, Leonardo da Vinci, but Leonardo DiCaprio. In the second example, the particle “di” is written with a capital letter, since in the original language it is written together with the surname Leonardo DiCaprio. This principle applies to many proper names of foreign origin. In eastern names, the particles “bey”, “zul”, “zade”, “pasha”, and the like indicating social status, regardless of whether they appear in the middle of the word or are written at the end with a small letter. The same principle applies to writing proper names with particles in other languages. German “von”, “zu”, “auf”; Spanish "de" Dutch “van”, “ter”; French “deux”, “du”, “de la”.

3. The particles “San-”, “Saint-”, “Saint-”, “Ben-” located at the beginning of a surname of foreign origin are written with a capital and a hyphen (Saint-Gemain); after O, there is always an apostrophe and the next letter is capital (O’Henry). The part “Mc-” should be written as a hyphen, but it is often written together because the spelling is closer to the original: McKinley, but McLain.

Once you understand this rather simple topic (what a noun is, types of nouns and examples), you can once and for all rid yourself of stupid, but rather unpleasant spelling errors and the need to constantly look in the dictionary to check yourself.