Friday is a proper name or common noun. Proper and common nouns

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 the most various items and phenomena, namely: 1) names of specific cabbage soup and objects (house, tree, notebook, book, briefcase, bed, lamp); 2) names of living beings (man, engineer, girl, youth, deer, mosquito); 3) names various substances(oxygen, gasoline, lead, sugar, salt); 4) names of various natural phenomena and public life(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)

Own 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 names nouns have a number of grammatical features: 1) are not used in plural(except for cases of designation various items and persons with the same names: In our class there are two Ira and three Olya); 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 (wool 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 inanimate objects, as well as items flora; 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 passed successfully state exams. - Students take an active part in the work 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 be called chemical elements, their compounds, alloys, medicines, various materials, types of food products and 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) nouns feminine (water, earth, dust, rye), 3) neuter nouns(face, sea, tribe, gorge).
In addition, there is a small group nouns general kind , 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 nominative case(table, horse, reeds, knife, crying); 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. New option articles of the law were 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're talking about 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, and are used mainly in colloquial speech, therefore, are not typical for scientific and official business styles of speech. Using them in 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 kind of invincible compound words in most cases, it is 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 (sr.), a 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 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 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 own juice; be in good standing. But: work hard, in sunlight; grammatical structure; V 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). Third declension nouns 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) suffix -en- in all forms except nominative and accusative cases 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 a 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 regular forms, except for the instrumental case, which is characterized by the ending -mi (the same ending is characteristic of the human form). Indeclinable nouns Indeclinable nouns do not have case forms, the endings of these words are not highlighted. 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) 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, means an animal, masculine, in a sentence is the object and subject. Morphological analysis of a noun Morphological analysis of a noun includes identifying four permanent signs(proper noun, animate-inanimate, gender, declension) and two non-constant 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 morphological analysis noun.

A noun is one of the most important parts speech both in Russian and in many other Indo-European languages. In most languages, nouns are divided into proper and common nouns. This division is very important, since these categories different rules spelling.

The study of nouns in Russian schools begins in the second grade. Already at this age, children are able to understand the difference between proper names and common nouns.

Students usually learn this material easily. The main thing is to choose interesting exercises in which the rules are well remembered. In order to correctly distinguish nouns, a child must be able to generalize and assign familiar objects to a specific group (for example: “dishes”, “animals”, “toys”).

Own

Towards proper names in modern Russian language It is traditionally customary to include names and nicknames of people, names of animals and geographical names.

Here are typical examples:

A proper name can answer the question “who?” if we are talking about people and animals, as well as the question “what?” if we are talking about geographical names.

Common nouns

Unlike proper names, common nouns nouns denote not the name of a specific person or the name of a specific locality, but a generalized name large group items. Here are classic examples:

• Boy, girl, man, woman;
• River, village, village, town, aul, kishlak, city, capital, country;
• Animal, insect, bird;
• Writer, poet, doctor, teacher.

Common nouns can answer both the question “who?” and the question “what?”. Typically, in discrimination exercises, primary schoolchildren are asked to choose suitable common noun for a group of proper names, For example:

You can build a task and vice versa: match proper names to common nouns.

1. What dog names do you know?
2. What are your favorite girl names?
3. What is a cow's name?
4. What are the names of the villages you visited?

Such exercises help children quickly learn the difference. When students have learned to distinguish one noun from another quickly and correctly, they can move on to learning spelling rules. These rules are simple, and students primary school absorb them well. For example, a simple and memorable rhyme can help children with this: “First names, last names, nicknames, cities - everything is always written with a capital letter!”

Spelling Rules

In accordance with the rules of the modern Russian language, all proper names are written only with capital letter. This rule is typical not only for Russian, but also for most other languages ​​of Eastern and Western Europe. Capital letter at the beginning names, surnames, nicknames and geographical names are used to emphasize respectful attitude towards every person, animal, locality.

Common nouns, on the contrary, are written with lowercase letter. However, exceptions to this rule are possible. This usually happens in fiction. For example, when Boris Zakhoder translated Alan Milne’s book “Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All,” the Russian writer deliberately used capital letters in the spelling of some common nouns, for example: “Big Forest”, “Great Expedition”, “Farewell Evening”. Zakhoder did this in order to emphasize the importance of certain phenomena and events for fairy-tale heroes.

This often occurs both in Russian and translated literature. This phenomenon can be seen especially often in adapted folklore - legends, fairy tales, epics. For example: “Magic Bird”, “Rejuvenating Apple”, “Dense Forest”, “ Gray Wolf».

In some languages, capitalization is capitalization- in writing names can be used in different cases. For example, in Russian and some European languages ​​(French, Spanish) it is traditional to write the names of months and days of the week with a small letter. However, in English These common nouns are always written with a capital letter only. Capitalization of common nouns is also found in German.

When proper names become common nouns

In modern Russian there are situations when proper names can become common nouns. This happens quite often. Here's a classic example. Zoilus is the name of an ancient Greek critic who was very skeptical about many works of contemporary art and frightened the authors with his caustic negative reviews. When antiquity became a thing of the past, his name was forgotten.

Once Pushkin noticed that one of his works was received very ambiguously by literary critics. And in one of his poems, he ironically called these critics “my zoiles,” implying that they were bile and sarcastic. Since then, the proper name “Zoil” has become a common noun and is used when talking about a person who unfairly criticizes or scolds something.

Many proper names from the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol have become household names. For example, stingy people are often called “pluskins”, and elderly women of narrow minds are often called “boxes”. And those who like to have their head in the clouds and are not at all interested in reality are often called “Manila”. All these names came into the Russian language from the famous work “ Dead souls", where the writer brilliantly showed a whole gallery of landowner characters.

Proper names become common nouns quite often. However, the opposite also happens. A common noun can become a proper noun if it turns into the name of an animal or a nickname for a person. For example, a black cat may be called "Gypsy", and faithful dog- "Friend".

Naturally, these words will be written with a capital letter, according to the rules for writing proper names. This usually happens if a nickname or nickname is given because a person (animal) has some pronounced qualities. For example, Donut was so nicknamed because he had overweight and looked like a donut, and Syrupchik - because he really loved drinking sweet water with syrup.

It is very important to distinguish proper names from common nouns. If junior schoolchildren If they don’t learn this, they won’t be able to correctly use capitalization when writing proper names. In this regard, the study of common and proper nouns should occupy an important place in the school curriculum of Russian as a native language and as a foreign language.

His definition is simple. Essentially, a common noun is a word that denotes people, animals, objects, abstract ideas and concepts. These do not include words meaning names of people, names of places, countries, cities, etc. These nouns are classified as proper nouns.

Thus, country is a common noun, and Russia is a proper name. Puma is the name of a wild animal, and in this case the noun puma is a common noun. And as the name of a well-known company that produces sportswear and shoes, Puma is a proper name.

Even in the first half of the last century, the word “apple” was unthinkable in the use of a proper name. It was used in its original meaning: that is, apple, fruit, fruit of the apple tree. Now Apple is both a proper noun and a common noun.

This happened after an unsuccessful three-month search by partners for a suitable name for the company, when, in despair, the founder of the company Steve Jobs I decided to name it after my favorite fruit. The name has become a truly iconic American brand producing tablet computers, phones, and software.

Examples of common nouns

Finding examples of common nouns will not be difficult. Let's start with the everyday objects around us. Imagine: you wake up in the morning. What do you see when you open your eyes? Of course, an alarm clock. An alarm clock is an object that wakes us up in the morning, and from a linguistic point of view, it is a common noun. Leaving the house, you meet your neighbor. There are a lot of hurrying people on the street. You notice that the sky has frowned. Get on the bus and go to the office. Neighbor, people, sky, office, bus, street - common nouns

Types of common nouns

In the Russian language, common nouns are divided into 4 main types:

1. Specific concepts (people, animals, objects, plants). These are designations of objects/persons in the singular: student, neighbor, classmate, seller, driver, cat, puma, house, table, apple. Such nouns can be combined with
2. Abstract concepts. This is a type of noun with an abstract abstract meaning. They can refer to phenomena scientific concepts, characteristic, condition, quality: peace, war, friendship, suspicion, danger, kindness, relativity.
3. Real nouns. As the name suggests, these nouns denote substances. These may include medicinal products, food products, chemical elements, building materials, coal, petroleum, butter, aspirin, flour, sand, oxygen, silver.
4. Collective nouns. These nouns represent a collection of persons or objects that are united and belong to a certain conceptual category: midges, infantry, foliage, relatives, youth, people. Such nouns are usually used in the singular. Often combined with the words a lot (a little), a little: a lot of midges, a little youth. Some of them can be used as people - peoples.

The use of terminology in defining parts of speech and their varieties is common among philologists. For common man Often all sorts of sophisticated names seem like something unclear and complex. Many schoolchildren are unable to understand abstract terms denoting types of parts of speech, and they turn to their parents for help. Adults have to look again at textbooks or search for information on the Internet.

Today we will try to talk in simple and understandable Russian about what proper and common nouns are, how they differ, how to find them and use them correctly in speech and text.

What part of speech?

Before determining the part of speech in Russian, you need to correctly ask a question about the word and determine what it means. If the word you chose matches the questions “who?” or “what?”, but it denotes an object, then it is a noun. This simple truth is easily learned even by schoolchildren, and many adults remember it. But the question of whether the noun in front of you is a proper or a common noun can already confuse a person. Let's try to figure out what these linguistic definitions mean.

The answer is in meaning

All words belonging to the part of speech we are considering are divided into several types and categories according to different signs. One of the classifications is the division into proper and common nouns. It is not so difficult to distinguish them, you just need to understand the meaning of the word. If an individual specific person or some single object is called, then it is proper, and if the meaning of the word indicates common name many similar objects, persons or phenomena, then this is a common noun.

Let's explain this with examples. The word "Alexandra" is proper because it denotes the name of an individual person. The words “girl, girl, woman” are common nouns because they represent a general name for all female persons. The difference becomes clear, and it lies in the meaning.

Names and nicknames

It is customary to classify several groups of words as proper nouns.

The first consists of the person’s first name, patronymic and last name, as well as his nickname or pseudonym. This also includes cat, dog and other animal names. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov, Murka, Pushinka, Sharik, Druzhok - these names distinguish one specific creature from others of their own kind. If we select a common noun for the same objects, we can say: poet, cat, dog.

Names on the map

The second group of words consists of names of various geographical objects. Let's give examples: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Washington, Neva, Volga, Rhine, Russia, France, Norway, Europe, Africa, Australia. For comparison, we also give a common noun corresponding to the given names: city, river, country, continent.

Space objects

The third group includes various astronomical names. These are, for example, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, Solar System, Milky Way. Each of the given names is a proper name, and you can choose a common noun generalized in meaning to it. Examples of named objects correspond to the words planet, galaxy.

Names and brands

Another group of words that belong to proper ones are various names anything - shops, cafes, literary works, paintings, magazines, newspapers and so on. In the phrase “Magnit store,” the first is a common noun, and the second is a proper noun. Let's give more similar examples: the cafe "Chocolate Girl", the novel "War and Peace", the painting "Water", the magazine "Murzilka", the newspaper "Arguments and Facts", the sailing ship "Sedov", the plant "Babaevsky", the gas stove "Hephaestus", "Consultant Plus" system, "Chardonnay" wine, "Napoleon" cake, batch " United Russia", "Nika" award, "Alenka" chocolate, "Ruslan" airplane.

Spelling features

Since proper names indicate a specific individual object, distinguishing it from all other similar ones, they also stand out in writing - they are written with a capital letter. Children learn this at the very beginning of their schooling: surnames, first names, patronymics, designations on the map, animal names, and other names of something are written with a capital letter. Examples: Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, Vanka, Ivan Kalita, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Novgorod, Angara, Cyprus, Turkey, Australia, Zhuchka, Pushok, Murzik.

There is another feature of writing proper nouns, it concerns the names of factories, firms, enterprises, ships, periodicals (newspapers and magazines), works of art and literature, feature films, documentaries and other films, performances, cars, drinks, cigarettes and other similar things. words Such names are not only written with a capital letter, but also enclosed in quotation marks. In philological science they are called by their proper names. Examples: Niva car, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, Mayak radio, poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, Chanel perfume, Za Rulem magazine, Troika cigarettes, Fanta drink, Prosveshcheniye publishing house , Abba group, Kinotavr festival.

A proper noun begins with a capital letter, and a common noun begins with a lowercase letter. This simple rule often helps a person in determining spelling standards. This rule is easy to remember, but sometimes there are difficulties. As you know, the Russian language is rich in its exceptions to every rule. IN school curriculum such complex cases are not included, and therefore in the assignments of the Russian language textbook, even primary schoolchildren can easily determine by the first letter in a word whether the noun before them is proper or common.

Conversion of a proper name into a common noun and vice versa

As noted above, a common noun is a generalized name for something. But the Russian language is a living, changing system, and sometimes various transformations and changes occur in it: sometimes common nouns become proper nouns. For example: earth - land, Earth - planet solar system. Universal values, denoted by the common nouns love, faith and hope, have long become female names- Faith, Hope, Love. In the same way, some animal nicknames and other names arise: Ball, Snowball, etc.

The reverse process also occurs in the Russian language, when proper nouns become common nouns. Thus, the unit of electrical voltage - the volt - was named after the Italian physicist Volta. The name of the master of musical instruments, Sax, became the common noun “saxophone”. The Dutch city of Bruges gave its name to the word "trousers". The names of the great gunsmiths - Mauser, Colt, Nagan - became the names of pistols. And there are many such examples in the language.