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

nouns

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

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

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

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

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

Practical task No. 1

Which nouns are proper nouns?

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

Capital letters in proper names

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

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

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

Quotation marks for proper names

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Practical task No. 2

Which sentences contain proper nouns?

1. We decided to meet at the Ocean.

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

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

4. The rose was cut in the morning.

5. We are all Socrates in our kitchen.

6. This idea was first put forward by Socrates.

Classification of proper names

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

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

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

Proper names in the plural

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

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

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

Secondly, if namesakes are named:

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

- inconsistent definitions

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

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

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

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

Practical task No. 3

Which sentences have errors?

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

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

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

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

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

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 criteria. 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 the general name of 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 a name individual. 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 Yuryevich 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 are proper are various names of something - 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 "Chocolate Girl" cafe, the novel "War and Peace", the painting "Water", the magazine "Murzilka", the newspaper "Arguments and Facts", the sailing ship "Sedov", the Babaevsky plant, gas stove“Hephaestus”, “Consultant Plus” system, “Chardonnay” wine, “Napoleon” cake, “United Russia” party, “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 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. Such complex cases are not included in the school curriculum, and therefore even in the tasks of the Russian language textbook junior schoolchildren They can easily determine from the first letter in a word whether it is a proper or a common noun.

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 human values, designated 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. Master's name musical instruments Sax has become 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.

Common names. Stories of people we no longer remember, but whose names we still pronounce

The word "bully" was once the surname of an Irish family who lived in the London borough of Southwark. Its members were distinguished by their violent disposition: they were rowdy, took part in pogroms and robberies. The Hooligan Gang is mentioned in police reports from 1894 and newspaper accounts of late 19th century London. Some sources mention the leader of the gang, a young Irishman, Patrick Hooligan: he worked as a bouncer, and in his free time, together with his brothers, he robbed and beat people on the streets.

Hooligan Photo: Yuri Melnikov

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the image of Hooligans acquired humorous shades: in England, a funny song was written about an Irish family; in the USA, a representative of the family became the hero of newspaper comics, which were published in the New York Journal from 1900 to 1932, and then a film. The image of the “happy hooligan” became the most popular work of the artist Frederick Burr Opper.

In 1904, the phrase “hooligan acts” was used in his story by Arthur Conan Doyle (“The Six Napoleons”). The Hooligan Family is long gone, but the word has firmly entered the lexicon of many languages around the world.[

Pizza Margherita

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Her Majesty Margaret of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I of Italy, took an active part in the cultural life of Italy and strongly supported charitable institutions - especially the Red Cross. With her help, exhibitions were opened and new names were announced. But her own name soon began to sound in an unexpected context. The story passed down from mouth to mouth is as follows.

In 1889, King Umberto and his wife, while relaxing at their summer residence near Naples, suddenly expressed a desire to try what the people were eating. And the most common food of the poor was pizza. The court chef knew the secrets of more refined cuisine, but here he was powerless - he had to urgently bring in an outside magician.

It turned out to be the owner of the best pizzeria in Naples, Raffaello Esposito. He came to the royal couple with three pizzas: two traditional and a third made especially for the occasion - with red cherry tomatoes, green basil and white mozzarella, which corresponded to the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen liked this pizza the most and was named after Her Majesty.

Brutus

An ironic nickname for treacherous friends. Often used as part of the expression: “And you, Brutus!” Derived from the name of the Roman senator Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio, who, being a close associate and friend of Caesar, took part in a conspiracy against him and participated in the murder. When the attack began, Caesar tried to resist, but when he saw Brutus, according to legend, he said: “And you, Brutus!”, fell silent and no longer resisted. This plot became famous thanks to Shakespeare and his tragedy “Julius Caesar” - the name Brutus began to be perceived as synonymous with betrayal and deceit of loved ones.

Uncle Sam
The image of Uncle Sam is associated with both the US government and the United States as a whole. He is portrayed either as a kind, cheerful fellow, or as an evil old man - depending on his attitude towards America.

The prototype of this image, according to legend, was the meat supplier Samuel Wilson, who brought beef American soldiers to the base during the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815. He signed barrels of meat U.S., meaning United States. Once, when an Irish watchman was asked what these letters meant, he deciphered it by the name of the supplier: Uncle Sam. The soldiers really liked this answer and first became an army joke, and then, thanks to newspapers, it spread both in the United States and around the world.

The image of Uncle Sam depicted on a propaganda poster is especially famous. “I need you in the U.S. Army,” says the angry man, pointing his finger at the onlooker. The image was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917 and was used for recruiting during the First and Second World Wars. Subsequently, the author admitted that he drew Uncle Sam from himself. In 1961, the US Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing Samuel Wilson as the inspiration for Uncle Sam.

Grog

This drink, like its name, appeared in the 18th century thanks to the British admiral Edward Vernon, whom sailors behind his back called Old Grog (Old Grog) because of his cloak made of thick material - grogram. In those days, the daily ration of sailors of the British Royal Navy included a portion of undiluted rum - half a pint, which is slightly less than 300 ml. Rum was used as a preventative against scurvy and other diseases, and also served as an alternative to water supplies that quickly spoiled at sea.

Edward-Vernon

However, Admiral Vernon considered the legal half-pint to be too large a portion, especially since the British were losing the war with the Spaniards. In 1740, Old Grog decided to put an end to drunkenness and brawls on board and ordered the sailors to be served half-diluted rum with the addition of warmed or cold water and squeezed lemon juice. The drink was nicknamed “grog”, or “rum on three waters”. At first, the sailors were unhappy with the changes, but it soon became clear that grog helps prevent scurvy, which was scientifically proven by Scottish doctor James Lind in 1947. Soon after, Edward Vernon's drink officially became part of the diet of all sailors in the British Royal Navy.

Chauvinism

The word "chauvinism" comes from the name of the Napoleonic soldier Nicolas Chauvin, who served Napoleon and France especially zealously and had a habit of expressing his patriotism in pathetic, popular speeches. He became the hero of the 1821 play “The Soldier-Tiller”, the 1831 vaudeville “The Tricolor Cockade” and engravings by the draftsman Charlet. And in the 1840s, the word “chauvinism” was already firmly established as a common noun. In 1945, geographer, traveler and playwright Jacques Arago, the author of the article “Chauvinism,” wrote about him this way: “Nicholas Chauvin, the one who French Owing to the appearance of the word in the title of this article, he was born in Rochefort. At the age of 18 he became a soldier and has participated in every campaign since then. He was wounded 17 times, and wounded only in the chest and never in the back; three amputated fingers, a broken arm, a terrible scar on his forehead, a saber presented as a reward for courage, a red order ribbon, a 200-franc pension - this is what this old warrior earned during his long life... It would be difficult to find a more noble patron for chauvinism "

The private's surname comes from the word "bald" (Calvinus) and is common in France, nowadays it has become synonymous with nationalism, while the comic component has been almost forgotten.

Guppy

A small viviparous fish from South America named after the British Robert John Lechmere Guppy. This man lived an amazing life: at the age of 18 he left England and went on a sea voyage. However, the ship on which he sailed was shipwrecked off the coast of New Zealand. After this, the young man spent two years among the Maori and did not waste time: he made a map of the area. He then moved to Trinidad and Tobago, where he studied wildlife and paleontology and produced several scientific works and became president of the local scientific community, although he did not have special education. The Briton was extremely interested in the small fish that lived in the fresh waters of Trinidad. In 1866, a naturalist sent one of these individuals to London for cataloging and scientific description. The then curator of zoology at the British Museum, Karl Gunther, named the fish Girardinus guppii in honor of its discoverer. And although it soon became clear that Robert Guppy was not the discoverer of fish and they had already been described a little earlier by the German ichthyologist Wilhelm Peters, the name “guppy” had already taken hold and became international.

In 1886, Robert Guppy returned to England to report to members of the Royal Society. He also spoke about amazing fish, which, according to the residents of Trinidad, do not spawn, but give birth to live young. This caused ridicule from the scientific community - they considered Guppy a naive amateur who bought into the invention of the Trinidadians. But soon guppy fish were brought to England, and scientists could no longer deny the obvious.

Saxophone

The name of the Belgian music master Adolphe Sax is immortalized in the musical instrument saxophone. He invented it in the mid-19th century in Paris, converting it from a clarinet. But Sax did not come up with the name “saxophone” himself: at the Brussels industrial exhibition in 1841 he presented his development under the name “mouthpiece ophicleide”. The instrument was called a saxophone by a friend of the inventor, the French composer Hector Berlioz, in an article dedicated to the invention, and the word immediately became popular.

Sachs' competitors gave him no rest and, before he had time to patent the instrument and his name, they were already suing him, accusing him of fraud and falsification. The judges made an absurd decision: “a musical instrument called “saxophone” does not exist and cannot exist,” and five months later Sachs managed to prove the opposite and received a patent in August 1846. However, attacks on the talented inventor of musical instruments did not stop: competitors, provoking trials and accusations of plagiarism, brought Adolphe Sax to ruin. Having lived to the age of 80, the author of saxophones and saxhorns died in poverty long before the invention of jazz.

Masochism

The word “masochism” was formed on behalf of the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, who in his novels described oppressive women and weak men who take pleasure in humiliation and punishment (“The Divorced Woman,” “Venus in Fur”). The term was coined and proposed to be used in the emerging science of sexology by the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1866. By the way, an interesting fact: Sacher-Masoch comes from Lvov, which during the writer’s lifetime was Lemberg and belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 2008, two attractions appeared in Lviv in honor of the writer: “Masoch Cafe” and a monument.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

The cafe recreates the atmosphere of the masochistic works of Sacher-Masoch: the dominant color is red and objects of violence - chains, handcuffs, whips, etc. The monument to the writer, installed at the entrance to this establishment, has “piquant” details: a magnifying glass is mounted on the chest of the statue, which you can see changing erotic pictures. And hidden inside is a “secret”: if you put your hand in the pocket of the monument, you can touch his manhood... and rub it “for good luck.”

Sandwich

A sandwich with two slices of bread and a filling inside was named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu (1718-1792). According to one version, which is more reminiscent of an anecdote than a true story, the count was an avid gambler and during one of the long games in 1762 he asked the cook to fry a couple of pieces of bread and put roast beef between them - so he could hold a sandwich and play cards without getting them dirty. However, given the high position of John Montagu, who was an English diplomat and First Lord of the Admiralty, another legend seems more convincing.

In the 1770s, James Cook's expedition around the world took place, and it was the Earl of Sandwich who was involved in preparing this voyage. He probably had no time to be distracted by food, and hesimple and convenient fast food - sandwich. By the way, James Cook highly appreciated Montagu's contribution to the organization of the circumnavigation of the world, giving his name to three open geographical objects at once: the South Sandwich Islands, the main island of this archipelago - Montagu, as well as the Hawaiian Islands, which Cook initially dubbed the Sandwich Islands (this name was used until the middle of the 20th century).

Boycott

The word "boycott" owes its appearance to the British Charles Boycott, who worked as a steward for Lord Erne, a landowner in the west of Ireland. In 1880, workers refused to harvest the crops and went on strike under the leadership of the local trade union, the Land League of Ireland. Residents of County Mayo, where Boycott worked, sought fair rents, the right to remain on the land and the right to buy land freely. When the manager tried to stop their protests, the Irish began to ignore the Englishman in every possible way: they stopped greeting him, sat down from him in church, and local sellers refused to serve him in stores. The British press gave wide coverage to the campaign against Boycott, and although he soon left Ireland, his name had already become a household name, spread throughout the world and lived its own separate life. By the way, that harvest cost the government dearly: it was necessary to spend ten times more on protecting the fields and the workers sent than the cost of the harvest itself.

Stroganov

Among the generous people who donated their names are Russian heroes. Thus, in the word “beef Stroganoff” you can hear the name of Count Alexander Stroganov. The invention of this dish of beef and tomato-sour cream sauce belongs not to the count himself, but to his French cook - hence the word formation in the French manner: bœuf Stroganoff, that is, “beef Stroganoff style.” According to one legend, the cook came up with the dish personally for the count when he was old and had difficulty chewing food due to lack of teeth.

Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov

According to another, beef Stroganoff was invented in Odessa for those who dined at Stroganov’s. In the middle of the 19th century, the count became the Novorossiysk and Bessarabian governor-general, after which he received the title of honorary citizen of Odessa. Being such an important person, he organized an “open table”: anyone could come to his dinners educated person in a decent suit. At the count's behest, the cook came up with a convenient and quick way cooking meat, which, due to the fine cutting into pieces, was easy to divide into portions.

Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio was an Early Renaissance painter who lived and worked in the most independent of Italian cities - Venice. His cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of Saint Ursula is considered the most successful. In it, the master immortalized his hometown: gondolas, high arcades of bridges, majestic palazzos, squares filled with a motley crowd...

More than four centuries later, in 1950, a large exhibition of the artist was held in Venice. At this very time, in the famous Venetian "Harry's Bar" a new dish was served for the first time: beef fillet seasoned with a mixture olive oil With lemon juice, which came with Parmesan, arugula and cherry tomatoes. The recipe was invented by the owner of the establishment, Giuseppe Cipriani, especially for Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, who was forbidden by doctors to eat cooked meat. Remembering the many shades of red that Vittore Carpaccio used in his palette, Giuseppe decided to name the new dish in his honor. And so they were reunited - the artist and the beef fillet.

Attic

The son of carpenter François Mansart did not receive a systematic education, but his love for architecture and talent allowed him to become one of the greatest masters of the French Baroque. His professional reputation was undermined, oddly enough, by the desire for perfection: if Mansar was not satisfied with what had been done, he could demolish what had already been built and start doing it again, which is why he was accused of wastefulness and neglect of the interests of the customer. Thus, he lost the order to rebuild the Louvre and the royal tomb in Saint-Denis, and Louis XIV entrusted the construction of the famous palace at Versailles to his rival Louis Levo. Nevertheless, the name Mansar has been on everyone’s lips for four centuries.

Architect Francois Mansart

In most of his projects, the architect used the traditional French steep roof with a break, equipping it with windows for the first time in history. In this way, a double effect was achieved: decorative and practical. The rooms built under the rafters were transformed from dark closets into quite livable apartments. Having a residential attic (as the French called the premises) became not only fashionable, but also profitable: taxes were not taken from homeowners from the attic, which was not considered a full floor.

Nicotine

The French diplomat Jean Villeman Nicot was ambassador to Portugal from 1559 to 1561, where he had a mission to promote the marriage of Princess Margaret of Valois and the infant King Sebastian of Portugal. He did not succeed in his task, but he brought tobacco to his homeland and introduced the fashion of sniffing it at court. The novelty pleased the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Jean Parisot de la Valette. Soon the fashion spread throughout Paris, and the plant was named Nicotiana.

Subsequently, tobacco was repeatedly studied. The substances obtained by distillation were used for skin diseases, asthma and epilepsy. Nicotine itself was discovered in 1828 by German chemists Christian Posselot and Karl Reimann. The alkaloid was named after the enthusiastic ambassador who got the whole of Paris hooked on tobacco in the 16th century.

Cardigan

James Thomas Bradnell, aka the 7th Earl of Cardigan, was famous for his impeccable taste and was known as a fashionista. He did not lose these properties even military service, where he led a cavalry brigade that took part in the Battle of Balaklava in 1854. Believing that you need to look elegant even in battle, Lord Cardigan purchased at his own expense for the 11th Hussars new uniform. And in case of frost, he came up with a jacket without a collar or lapels, in a large knit, with buttons down to the very bottom, which was to be worn under a uniform. The innovation, which grateful warriors named after the commander, quickly gained fans in civilian life.

Later, the excitement died down, but a century later the fashion for cardigans was revived - now they have become a sign of belonging to bohemia. Their position was especially strengthened by Marilyn Monroe's photo shoot, where she poses on the beach in a rough knit cardigan over her naked body. And now these cozy clothes have not lost their relevance and are in almost everyone’s wardrobe.

Shrapnel

From a certain point on, the affairs of Lieutenant of the Royal Artillery of the British Army Henry Shrapnel quickly went uphill: in 1803 he was promoted to major, the next to lieutenant colonel, and ten years later he was assigned a salary of £1,200 by the British government. A little later, he was given the rank of general. This was preceded by some event.

In 1784, Henry invented a new type of projectile. The grenade was a strong, hollow sphere containing lead shot and a charge of gunpowder. What distinguished it from other similar ones was the presence of a hole in the body for the ignition tube. When fired, the gunpowder in the tube ignited. When it burned out during the flight, the fire transferred to the powder charge located in the grenade itself. An explosion occurred and the body shattered into fragments, which, along with the bullets, struck the enemy. Of interest was the ignition tube, the length of which could be changed immediately before the shot, thereby adjusting the range of the projectile. The invention quickly demonstrated its effectiveness - it won’t kill, it will maim - and was named shrapnel in honor of the inventor.

The noun is one of the most important parts of 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, animal names and geographical names.

Here 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 denote not the name of a specific person or the name of a specific locality, but the generalized name of a large group of objects. 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.

What dog names do you know?
What are your favorite girl names?
What is a cow's name?
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 a 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 a 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 the writing of 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 language 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 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 an animal's name or a person's nickname. For example, a black cat may be called “Gypsy”, and a faithful dog may be called “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 excess weight and looked like a donut, and Syrup - because he really liked to drink sweet water with syrup.

It is very important to distinguish proper names from common nouns. If younger students do not learn this, they will not 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.

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

Common noun

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

In linguistics, common nouns are also called appellatives.

Proper name

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

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

Onomastics

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

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

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

Transition of common nouns into proper nouns and vice versa

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rules for writing proper names

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

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

As you can see, quite simple rules. 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.