In the world great amount a wide variety of phenomena. 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 homogeneous ones, then the language has for this purpose proper names.

nouns

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

• Each water stream can be called in one word - river.
• Any plant with a trunk and branches is a tree.
• All animals gray, big 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 most deep lake- 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 their own. 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:

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

Proper names in the plural

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

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

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

Secondly, if namesakes are named:

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

- inconsistent definitions

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

• Lermontov was not delighted with his poem “Demona” (poem “Demon”).
• Dostoevsky described 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.

A proper name is Name a noun expressed by the word or, naming a specific object or phenomenon. Unlike a common noun, which immediately denotes a whole object or phenomenon, Name own is intended for one, very specific object of this class. For example, "" is a common noun Name is a noun, whereas “War and Peace” is a proper noun. The word "river" represents Name a common noun, but “Cupid” is Name proper. Proper names can be names of people, patronymics, titles of books, songs, films, geographical names. Proper names are written with a capital letter. Some types of proper names require quotation marks. This applies to literary works ("Eugene Onegin"), paintings ("Mona Lisa"), films ("Only Old Men Go to Battle"), theaters ("Variety"), and other types of nouns. When translating proper names into other languages, transcription methods are used: Gogolya-street (Gogol Street), radio Mayak (Radio “Mayak”). Proper names are not specially distinguished. Proper names and common nouns are not separated from each other by an impenetrable wall. Proper names can turn into common nouns, and vice versa. For example, “avatar” was just a common noun until Avatar was made. Now this word, depending on the context, plays the role of a common noun or a proper noun. “Schumacher” is the surname of a certain racing driver, but gradually all fans of fast driving began to be called “Schumachers.” Trademarks that are unique manufacturers can become common nouns from proper names certain type goods or simply monopolists. A striking example The company Xerox, which produces electrophotographic copiers, can serve as a reference. This company still exists today, but “copiers” are now called all copiers in general.

Sources:

• how to write proper names

Tip 2: How to determine whether a proper name or a common noun

Nouns name objects, phenomena or concepts. These meanings are expressed using the categories of gender, number and case. All nouns belong to the groups of proper and common nouns. Proper nouns, which serve as names of individual objects, are contrasted with common nouns, which denote generalized names of homogeneous objects.

Instructions

To determine proper nouns, determine whether the name is an individual designation of an object, i.e. does it make it stand out? Name» an object from a number of similar ones (Moscow, Russia, Sidorov). Proper nouns name first and last names of persons and names of animals (Nekrasov, Pushok, Fru-fru); geographical and astronomical objects (America, Stockholm, Venus); , organizations, print media (Pravda newspaper, Spartak team, Eldorado store).

Proper names, as a rule, do not change in number and are used only in the singular (Voronezh) or only in the plural (Sokolniki). Please note that there are exceptions to this rule. Proper nouns are used in the plural form if they denote different persons and objects that have the same name (both Americas, namesake Petrovs); persons who are related (the Fedorov family). Also, proper nouns can be used in the plural form if they name a certain type of people, “selected” according to the qualitative characteristics of a famous literary character. Please note that in this meaning, nouns lose the attribute of belonging to a group of individual objects, therefore it is acceptable to use both capital and lowercase letters (Chichikovs, Famusovs, Pechorins).

A spelling feature that distinguishes proper nouns is the use of capital letters and. Moreover, all proper names are always letters, and the names of institutions, organizations, works, objects are used as appendices and are enclosed in quotation marks (the motor ship “Fedor Shalyapin”, Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”). The application may include any part of speech, but the first word is always capitalized (Daniel Defoe’s novel “The Life and Wonders of Robinson Crusoe the Sailor”).

The noun in Russian has various distinctive features. To show the peculiarities of the emergence and use of certain linguistic units, they are divided into common nouns and proper nouns.

Instructions

Common nouns are nouns that denote the name of certain objects and phenomena that have a common set of characteristics. These objects or phenomena belong to any class, but in themselves do not carry any special indications of this

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 placed in quotation marks ( Mariinskii Opera House, the Peugeot car, the 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, teams (Abba group, Grand Theatre);
• 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 separate category.

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

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

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 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. firearms.

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, names often become common nouns literary heroes. Yes, in honor of the hero work of the same name I.A. Goncharova, 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.

The noun is one of the most important parts of speech both in Russian and in many other languages 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 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 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 used to emphasize respectful attitude towards every person, animal, and 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 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 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 literary critics was received very ambiguously. 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 Russian from 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 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 Syrupchik - because he really loved drinking 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 school curriculum Russian as a native language and as a foreign language.

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 “discrimination”, “criticism”, and is used for common name homogeneous, similar objects and phenomena, and “own” means “peculiarity”, individual person or a single item. 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 Sovremennik Theatre, the Don River and the Romance Quiet Don", the play "The Thunderstorm", the newspaper "Pravda", the motor ship "Admiral Nakhimov", the stadium "Lokomotiv", the factory "Bolshevichka", the museum-reserve "Mikhailovskoye".

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 the star Sun, motherland 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 used to refer to proper first and last names. 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, names of cities, streets, which may reflect the specifics of the landscape, historical events, religious motives, lexical features of the indigenous population, 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 names celestial bodies, constellations, 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 they call different faces or objects, 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.