Groups of common nouns are proper nouns. What is a proper name, examples

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 animation or inanimateness 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, -ya), 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, young, upstart, grabber).
The grammatical meaning of gender is created by the system of case endings of a given singular noun (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, tour 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 case (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 character of stable combinations denoting 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 -о, -е, -и, -у, -у, -а (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) compound 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 gender, and is the object and subject of a sentence. 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 permanent features of a noun can be increased by including such features as concrete and abstract, as well as real and collective nouns. Scheme of morphological analysis of a noun.

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 came to designate 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.

1. Proper names are always written with a capital letter, for example: Ivan, Gogol, Catherine the Great.
2. People's nicknames are also written with a capital letter, but without the use of quotation marks.
3. Proper names used in the meaning of common nouns are written with a small letter: Don Quixote, Don Juan.
4. 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.
5. 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”.
6. 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.

Nouns are divided into proper and common nouns according to their meaning. The very definitions of this part of speech have Old Slavonic roots.

The term “common noun” comes from “naming”, “criticism”, and is used for the general name of homogeneous, similar objects and phenomena, and “proper” means “feature”, an individual person or a single object. This naming distinguishes it from other objects of the same type.

For example, the common noun “river” defines all rivers, but the Dnieper and Yenisei are proper names. These are constant grammatical features of nouns.

What are proper names in Russian?

A proper name is the exclusive name of an object, phenomenon, person, different from others, standing out from other multiple concepts.

These are names and nicknames of people, names of countries, cities, rivers, seas, astronomical objects, historical events, holidays, books and magazines, names of animals.

Also, ships, enterprises, various institutions, product brands and much more that require a special name can have their own names. May consist of one or more words.

Spelling is determined by the following rule: all proper names are written with a capital letter. For example: Vanya, Morozko, Moscow, Volga, Kremlin, Russia, Rus', Christmas, Battle of Kulikovo.

Names that have a conditional or symbolic meaning are enclosed in quotation marks. These are the names of books and various publications, organizations, companies, events, etc.

Compare: Big theater, But the Sovremennik theater, the Don River and the novel Quiet Don, the play The Thunderstorm, the Pravda newspaper, the ship Admiral Nakhimov, the Lokomotiv stadium, the Bolshevichka factory, the Mikhailovskoye museum-reserve.

Note: the same words, depending on the context, can be common nouns or proper words and are written according to the rules. Compare: bright sun and star Sun, native land and planet Earth.

Proper names, consisting of several words and denoting a single concept, are emphasized as one member of the sentence.

Let's look at an example: Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote a poem that made him famous. This means that in this sentence the subject will be three words (first name, patronymic and last name).

Types and examples of proper nouns

Proper names are studied by the linguistic science of onomastics. This term is derived from an ancient Greek word and means “the art of naming”

This area of ​​linguistics studies information about the name of a specific, individual object and identifies several types of names.

Anthroponyms are the proper names and surnames of historical figures, folklore or literary characters, famous and ordinary people, their nicknames or pseudonyms. For example: Abram Petrovich Hannibal, Ivan the Terrible, Lenin, Lefty, Judas, Koschey the Immortal.

Toponyms study the appearance of geographical names, city names, streets, which may reflect the specifics of the landscape, historical events, religious motives, lexical features of the indigenous population, and economic characteristics. For example: Rostov-on-Don, Kulikovo Field, Sergiev Posad, Magnitogorsk, Strait of Magellan, Yaroslavl, Black Sea, Volkhonka, Red Square, etc.

Astronims and cosmonyms analyze the appearance of the names of celestial bodies, constellations, and galaxies. Examples: Earth, Mars, Venus, Comet Halley, Stozhary, Ursa Major, Milky Way.

There are other sections in onomastics that study the names of deities and mythological heroes, names of nationalities, names of animals, etc., helping to understand their origin.

Common noun - what is it?

These nouns name any concept from many similar ones. They have a lexical meaning, that is, information content, in contrast to proper names, which do not have such a property and only name, but do not express the concept, do not reveal its properties.

The name doesn't tell us anything Sasha, it only identifies a specific person. In the phrase girl Sasha, we find out age and gender.

Examples of common nouns

All the realities of the world around us are called common names. These are words that express specific concepts: people, animals, natural phenomena, objects, etc.

Examples: doctor, student, dog, sparrow, thunderstorm, tree, bus, cactus.

Can denote abstract entities, qualities, states or characteristics:courage, understanding, fear, danger, peace, power.

How to determine proper or common noun

A common noun can be distinguished by its meaning, since it names an object or phenomenon related to the homogeneous, and by its grammatical feature, because it can vary in numbers ( year - years, person - people, cat - cats).

But many nouns (collective, abstract, real) do not have a plural form ( childhood, darkness, oil, inspiration) or singular ( frost, weekdays, darkness). Common nouns are written with a small letter.

Proper nouns are the distinctive names of individual objects. They can only be used in singular or plural ( Moscow, Cheryomushki, Baikal, Catherine II).

But if different persons or objects are named, they can be used in the plural ( Ivanov family, both Americas). They are written with a capital letter, if necessary in quotation marks.

It is worth noting: There is a constant exchange between proper and common nouns; they tend to move into the opposite category. Common words Faith Hope Love became proper names in the Russian language.

Many borrowed names were also originally common nouns. For example, Peter – “stone” (Greek), Victor – “winner” (Latin), Sophia – “wisdom” (Greek).

Often in history, proper names become common nouns: hooligan (English Houlihan family of ill repute), Volt (physicist Alessandro Volta), Colt (inventor Samuel Colt). Literary characters can become household names: Donquixote, Judas, Plyushkin.

Toponyms gave names to many objects. For example: cashmere fabric (Kashmir Valley of Hindustan), cognac (province in France). In this case, the animate proper name becomes an inanimate common noun.

And vice versa, it happens that generic concepts become non-common nouns: Lefty, cat Fluffy, Signor Tomato.

§1. General characteristics of a noun

A noun is an independent significant part of speech.

1. Grammatical meaning- "item".
Nouns include words that answer questions:
Who? , What?

2. Morphological characteristics:

• constants - common/proper nouns, animate/inanimate, gender, type of declension;
• changeable - number, case.

3. Syntactic role in a sentence any, especially frequently: subject and object.

Guys love vacations.

As an address and introductory words, the noun is not a member of the sentence:

- Sergey!- Mom calls me from the yard.

(Sergey- appeal)

Unfortunately, it's time to go do homework.

(Unfortunately- introductory word)

§2. Morphological features of nouns

Nouns have a set of morphological features. Some of them are permanent (or unchangeable). Others, on the contrary, are impermanent (or changeable). Unchangeable features relate to the entire word as a whole, and changeable features refer to the forms of the word. So noun Natalia- animate, own, f.r., 1 text. No matter what form it takes, these signs will remain. Noun Natalia may be in the form of units. and many more numbers, in different cases. Number and case are inconsistent features of nouns. In the illustration, dotted lines lead to such unstable or variable morphological characters. It is necessary to learn to distinguish which signs are constant and which are not constant.

§3. Common nouns - proper nouns

This is the division of nouns according to their meaning. Common nouns denote homogeneous objects, i.e. any object from their series, and proper nouns name a separate specific object.
Compare nouns:

• child, country, river, lake, fairy tale, turnip - common nouns
• Alexey, Russia, Volga, Baikal, “Turnip” - own

Common nouns are varied. Their ranks by value:

• specific: table, computer, document, mouse, notebook, fishing rod
• abstract (abstract): surprise, joy, fear, happiness, miracle
• real: iron, gold, water, oxygen, milk, coffee
• collective: youth, foliage, nobility, spectator

Proper nouns include names of people, names of animals, geographical names, names of works of literature and art, etc.: Alexander, Sashka, Sashenka, Zhuchka, Ob, Ural, “Teenager”, “Kolobok” and so on.

§4. Animation - inanimateness

Animate nouns name “living” objects, while inanimate nouns name non-living objects.

• Animated: mother, father, child, dog, ant, Kolobok (fairy tale hero acting as a living person)
• Inanimate: orange, ocean, war, lilac, program, toy, delight, laughter

For morphology it is important that

• in plural in animate nouns
  Near the school I saw familiar girls and boys (vin. fall. = born. fall.), and for inanimate nouns wine form pad. matches the form. pad.: I love books and films (vin. pad. = im. pad.)
• singular in animate nouns of the masculine gender wine form pad. coincides with the form of the genus. pad.:
  The fox saw Kolobok (vin. fall. = born. fall.), and for inanimate nouns the masculine gender wine form pad. matches the form. pad.: I baked a bun (vin. pad. = named pad.)

The remaining nouns have the forms im., vin. and family cases differ.

Means, sign of animate-inanimate can be determined not only based on the meaning, but also on the set of word endings.

§5. Genus

Gender of nouns- This is a constant morphological feature. Nouns do not change according to gender.

There are three genders in Russian: male, female And average. The sets of endings for nouns of different genders differ.
In animate nouns, classification as masculine or feminine is motivated by gender, since words denote male or female persons: father - mother, brother - sister, husband - wife, man - woman, boy - girl etc. The grammatical sign of gender is correlated with gender.
For inanimate nouns, the belonging of a word to one of the three genders is not motivated. Words ocean, sea, river, lake, pond- of different kinds, and the gender is not determined by the meaning of the words.

The morphological indicator of the genus is the endings.
If the word ends:

a, y or a, ohm, e in the singular and s, ov, am, s or ow, ami, ah in plural , then it is a masculine noun

a, s, e, y, oh, e singular and s, am or s, ami, ah in the plural, it is a feminine noun

oh, a, y, oh, ohm, e in the singular and a, am, a, ami, ah in the plural, it is a neuter noun.

Do all nouns belong to one of the three genders?

No. There is a small group of amazing nouns. They are interesting because they can refer to both male and female persons. These are the words: smart girl glutton, sleepyhead, greedy, crybaby, ignorant, ignorant, mean, bully, slob, mean, bungler, scoundrel, daredevil and so on. The form of such words coincides with the form of feminine words: they have the same set of endings. But the syntactic compatibility is different.
In Russian you can say:
She's so smart! AND: He's so smart! The meaning of the gender of an animate person can be determined by the form of the pronoun (as in our example) or adjective or verb in the past tense: Sonya woke up. AND: Sonya woke up. Such nouns are called common nouns.

Common nouns do not include words that name professions. You may already know that many of them are masculine nouns: doctor, driver, engineer, economist, geologist, philologist and so on. But they can designate both male and female persons. My mother is a good doctor. My father is a good doctor. Even if the word names a female person, then adjectives and verbs in the past tense can be used in both the masculine and feminine gender: The doctor has arrived. AND: The doctor has arrived.

How to determine the gender of unchangeable words?

There are unchangeable nouns in the language. All of them are borrowed from other languages. In Russian they have a gender. How to determine the genus? It's not difficult if you understand what the word means. Let's look at examples:

Monsieur - Madame- for words denoting an animate person, gender corresponds to gender.

Kangaroo, chimpanzee- words naming animals, male.

Tbilisi, Sukhumi- words - names of cities - male.

Congo, Zimbabwe- words - names of states - neuter.

Mississippi, Yangtze- words - names of rivers - female.

Coat, muffler- words denoting inanimate objects are more common neuter.

Are there any exceptions? Eat. Therefore, it is recommended to be careful about unchangeable words and remember how they are used. Gender is expressed not by the ending (indeclinable words do not have endings), but by the form of other words that are related to the unchangeable noun in meaning and grammatically. These can be adjectives, pronouns or verbs in the past tense. For example:

Mississippi wide and deep.

Short adjectives in the form of zh.r. indicate that the word Mississippi w.r.

§6. Declension

Declension is a type of word change. Nouns change according to number and case. Number and case are variable morphological features. Depending on what forms a word has in different numbers and cases, based on the totality of all possible forms, nouns belong to one of the declensions.

Nouns have three declensions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The vast majority of Russian nouns are nouns of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd declension. The type of declension is a constant, unchangeable morphological feature of nouns.

The 1st declension includes feminine and masculine words with endings A, I in initial form.
Examples: mom, dad, grandpa, water, earth, Anna, Anya, lecture - ending [a].

The 2nd declension includes masculine words with zero endings and neuter words with endings O, e in initial form.
Examples: father, brother, house, Alexander, sea, lake, building - ending [e] , genius, Alexey.

The 3rd declension includes feminine words ending in zero in initial form.
Examples: mother, mouse, night, news, rye, lie.

Initial form- this is the form of the word in which it is usually recorded in dictionaries. For nouns, this is the nominative singular form.

Pay attention to the words traditionally called nouns on yeah, yeah, th : lecture, building, genius.

How to correctly mark the endings in such words?

Do you remember that the letters I And e, which are written at the end of such feminine and neuter nouns after vowels, and the letter And - does a vowel represent two sounds? Lecture- [iya’a], building- [iy’e], and the sound [y’] is the last consonant of the base. So, in words like lecture ending [a], in words like building- [e], and in words like genius- zero ending.

Therefore, feminine nouns: lecture, station, demonstration belong to the 1st declension, and masculine: genius and average: building- to the 2nd.

One more group of words requires comment. These are the so-called neuter nouns me , words way and child. These are indeclinable nouns.

Indeclinable nouns- these are words that have endings characteristic of forms of different declensions.
There are few such words. They are all very ancient. Some of them are common in today's speech.

List of nouns on My name: stirrup, tribe, seed, burden, udder, crown, time, name, flame, banner.

For their spelling, see All spelling. Spelling nouns

§7. Number

Number- this is a morphological feature, changeable for some nouns and unchangeable, constant for others.
The overwhelming number of Russian nouns vary according to number. For example: house - houses, girl - girls, elephant - elephants, night - nights. Nouns that vary in number have both singular and plural forms and endings corresponding to these forms. For a number of nouns, the singular and plural forms differ not only in endings, but also in the stem. For example: person - people, child - children, kitten - kittens.

The minority of Russian nouns do not change in number, but have the form of only one number: either singular or plural.

Singular nouns:

• collective: nobility, children
• real: gold, milk, curdled milk
• abstract (or abstract): greed, anger, goodness
• some of our own, namely: geographical names: Russia, Suzdal, St. Petersburg

Nouns that have a plural form:

• collective: shoots
• real: cream, cabbage soup
• abstract (or abstract): chores, elections, twilight
• some proper, namely geographical names: Carpathians, Himalayas
• some specific (object) watches, sleds, as well as a group of nouns denoting objects that consist of two parts: skis, skates, glasses, gates

Remember:

Most objects denoted by nouns that have only singular or plural forms cannot be counted.
For such nouns, number is an unchangeable morphological feature.

§8. Case

Case- this is a non-constant, changeable morphological feature of nouns. There are six cases in Russian:

1. Nominative
2. Genitive
3. Dative
4. Accusative
5. Instrumental
6. Prepositional

You need to firmly know the case questions, with the help of which it is determined which case form the noun is in. Since, as you know, nouns can be animate and inanimate, there are two questions for each case:

• I.p. - who what?
• R.p. - who?, what?
• D.p. - to whom; to what?
• V.p. - who?, what?
• etc. - by whom?, what?
• P.p. - (About who about what?

You see that for animate nouns the questions vin.p are the same. and family etc., and for the inanimate - them. p. and wine. P.
To avoid mistakes and correctly determine the case, always use both questions.

For example: I see an old park, a shady alley and a girl and a young man walking along it.
I see (who?, what?) a park(vin. p.), alley(vin. p.), girl(vin. p.), person(vin. p.).

Do all nouns change by case?

No, not all. Nouns, which are called unchangeable, do not change.

Cockatoo (1) sits in a cage in a store. I approach the cockatoo (2). This is a big beautiful parrot. I look at the cockatoo (3) with interest and think: -What do I know about the cockatoo (4)? I don't have a cockatoo (5). It's interesting with a cockatoo (6).

Word cockatoo occurred in this context 6 times:

• (1) who?, what? - cockatoo- I.p.
• (2) approaching (to) whom?, what? - (to) cockatoo- D.p.
• (3) looking (at) who?, what? - (on) a cockatoo- V.p.
• (4) know (about) whom?, what? - ( o) cockatoo- P.p.
• (5) no who?, what? - cockatoo- R.p.
• (6) interesting (with) who?, what? - (from cockatoo)- etc.

In different cases, the form of unchangeable nouns is the same. But the case is determined easily. Case questions help with this, as well as other parts of the sentence. If such a noun has a definition expressed by an adjective, pronoun, numeral or participle, i.e. a word that changes according to cases, then it will be in the form of the same case as the unchangeable noun itself.

Example: How long can you talk about this cockatoo?- (about) whom?. how? - P.p.

§9. Syntactic role of nouns in a sentence

Mother sits by the window. She flips through a magazine, looking at photographs of people and nature. My mother is a geography teacher. “Mom,” I call her.

Mother - subject

Near the window - circumstance

Magazine- addition

Photos- addition

Of people- definition

Nature- definition

Mother- subject

Teacher- predicate

Geographies- definition

Mother- addresses, like introductory words, prepositions, conjunctions, particles are not members of the sentence.

Test of strength

Check your understanding of this chapter.

Final test

1. What nouns denote individual specific objects, rather than groups of homogeneous objects?

   • Proper names
   • Common nouns

2. Which group of nouns has the most variety in meaning?

   • Proper names
   • Common nouns

3. Is animate-inanimate expressed grammatically: by a set of endings?

4. How can you find out the gender of a noun?

   • By value
   • By compatibility with other words (adjectives, pronouns, past tense verbs) and by endings

5. What are the names of nouns that have endings characteristic of different declensions?

   • Unbowed
   • Divergent

6. What is the sign of number in nouns? good, evil, envy?

   • Permanent (unchangeable)
   • Impermanent (changeable)

7. 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:

   1. Nominative- assigning names to objects or phenomena.
   2. Identifying- selecting a specific item from a variety.
   3. Differentiating- the difference between an object and similar objects within the same class.
   4. Expressive-emotional function- expression of a positive or negative attitude towards the object of the nomination.
   5. Communicative- nomination of a person, object or phenomenon during communication.
   6. 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:

   1. 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 look at these phenomena from different angles, sometimes arriving at contradictory results. Despite this, specific features of onyms are identified:

   1. Onims name objects within a class, while common nouns name the class itself.
   2. 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.
   3. The object of the nomination is always specifically defined.
   4. 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.
   5. 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:

   1. Use reference materials (encyclopedias, atlases, reference books) to clarify words;
   2. Try to make a translation based on the most accurate possible pronunciation or meaning of the name;
   3. 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 learning it.