It seems that it is easy to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects to the indecent: it's like a game of life and inanimate. But those who are guided by this principle are very much mistaken. Animation, as well as inanimateness, respectively, is a separate category in the characteristic that has nothing to do with the external features of some object. Here's how to explain the fact that, according to the rules, the word "corpse" is considered inanimate, and "dead" - animated? Act randomly? In no case! We'll figure out.
For the little ones
Let's start with the very basics. Animate and inanimate objects answer different questions - "who" and "what" respectively. It can be said that the formulation of the question is the most primitive, albeit very unreliable, way of defining this category. Usually children are introduced to him in the first or second grade. In order to practice this method, you can fill in the gaps with the students in the following text:
« In sleepy oblivion flows great (what?). Around (what?) and (what?). (Who?) Slowly moved the skis, shook off (what?) Hats from the ears. (Who?) quickly made a hole, and began (what?). Soon he pulled out a huge (who?). His mirror (what?) shone brightly in the sun". Words to be inserted: ice, scales, fisherman, frost, river, carp, snow, fishing. One word is repeated twice.
Grammar explanation
But it's worth moving on, right? How to determine whether an animate or inanimate object is based on rules, and not on intuition? The difference between these two categories lies in the different case forms of the nouns. Inanimate nouns have the same nominative and plural form, while animate nouns have the same genitive and accusative in the same number. Of course, it will be much easier to understand specific examples.
We take the noun cat". We put it in the plural "cats" and begin to decline: nominative - " cats”, genitive - “ cats", accusative -" cats"- as you can see, the forms of the genitive and accusative cases coincide. Whereas for the noun table”, which, to define this category, becomes “ tables» when declining « tables-tables-tables» the accusative and
Thus, the rule allows to separate an animate and inanimate object only when they are put in the plural and the subsequent declension. And then, already by the coincidence of case forms, this category is determined.
Exceptions
But, as you know, there are very few rules in Russian that do not have any exceptions. So, it is sometimes possible to separate animate and inanimate objects logically. Yes, all living beings will be animate, but at the same time, mythical creatures belong to the same category ( goblin-goblin-goblin-goblin) and toy names ( matryoshka-matryoshka-matryoshka) - here you can still find a logical explanation. As well as card and chess suit-pieces ( spades, spades, pawns, pawns, pawns), which even in their forms do not fit into this category.
Move on. Inanimate nouns, in turn, include large groups of people ( crowd-crowd-crowd) and some living organisms ( embryos-embryos-embryos; germs-germs-microbes) - it is impossible to explain this phenomenon, you just have to accept and remember.
More difficulties
I would also like to add that animate and inanimate objects in the grammatical sense have their own characteristics. So, for example, for animate masculine nouns, the forms of the genitive and accusative cases coincide, and in singular: Anton-Anton-Anton, accountant-accountant-accountant, however, this phenomenon is observed only in nouns of the second declension (compare: Dima-Dima-Dima, although it is also an animate masculine noun). So, in principle, this pattern can be used as another simple, albeit not very well-known, way to determine the category of animation in nouns.
I want to confuse
It is worth noting that in Russian there is an image of an inanimate object as animated. This is usually associated with the use of the word as an analogy to a living being: There is a mattress in the barn - Yes, the mattress is weak-willed! or Great and mighty is the Russian language! - This language (= captive) will tell us everything.
Exactly the same phenomenon occurs with the use of animate nouns as inanimate ones: Soars in the blue sky kite; The fighter went down. Here the category of animation and inanimateness is determined based on the semantic content of the noun.
It is worth noting that, despite all the requirements of teachers to use the rules, most of the students continue to rely on intuition. As the above examples show, inner instinct is not always a reliable assistant in matters of philology. We can definitely say that the names of professions, the names of people by family affiliation, nationality and other groups will always be animated, and the names of animals can also be included here. By the way, among animate nouns, according to some researchers, there are only masculine and female, while the middle gender is already inanimate, like all the names of objects of nature and other objects.
Practice for the little ones
Now that we have figured out how to distinguish one category of nouns from another, it is worth summarizing all of the above. Animate and inanimate objects for preschoolers, who still have no idea what cases are, differ in terms of “who” and “what”, respectively. For practice, you can play with the kids in “living-non-living”, where the word is called, and the child must determine what this object is.
Or another interesting task for younger students is to offer a number of animate nouns that can be turned into inanimate ones by replacing one letter: fox (linden), goat (spit), heron (drop).
I would like to finish the article on how to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects by saying that, no matter how simple this topic may seem, it is better not to tempt fate and not act at random, trusting intuition. A minute spent checking the category of a noun can sometimes change the way you think about it. So spare no effort and practice in the great and mighty Russian language.
Since elementary school you have an idea about animate and inanimate nature. Nouns are also called objects of animate and inanimate nature. And nouns are divided into animate and inanimate. But not everything is so simple. Many interesting linguistic discoveries await you as you learn to distinguish between animate and inanimate nouns.
All common nouns in Russian are divided into two categories: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns answer the question “who?”, and inanimate nouns answer the question “what?”
For example, "who?" - boy, dog, bird; "what?" - book, stone, earth.
1. Category of animation - inanimateness - grammatical category
It seems that everything is simple: the category of animation - inanimateness is based on the distinction between the living and the inanimate. However, in Russian there are cases when grammar contradicts common sense. It is enough to remember the synonyms dead body and dead man.
The noun "corpse" is inanimate, and the noun "dead" is animate. The difference is found only in the form of B.p. unit: I see a dead person - I see a corpse, compare: I see an elephant - I see a chair.
Animated nouns have the same plural forms V.p. and R.p. (and for nouns m.r. of the 2nd declension and forms V.p. and R.p. singular), but for inanimate ones - no. Inanimate nouns have the same forms I.p. and V.p. plural.
I see (who?) Elephants, there are no (who?) Elephants; I see (who?) mice, there are no (who?) mice.
I see (what?) books, there are no (what?) books; see (what?) at homé, no (what?) houses.
Animated nouns include the names of people, animals, insects, etc., that is, living beings. Inanimate nouns are the names of objects, phenomena of reality that are not classified as living beings.
2. Should pay attention
Note:
- the names of chess and card pieces and the nouns "dead man", "dead man", as well as the names of dolls ( parsley, marionette) and the word “doll” itself are animated nouns;
- and the words that name the totality of living beings: army, people, crowd, flock, students, mankind etc. are inanimate nouns.
Basically, animate nouns include masculine and feminine nouns. There are few animate neuter nouns in Russian. This includes several nouns with the suffix -ische ( monster, bogeyman), separate nouns (formed from adjectives or participles): mammal, insect, animal and
nouns child, face(meaning "person").
3. Typical mistakes
Errors in the use of the category of animation - inanimate nouns can be divided into two groups:
First- the use of inanimate nouns as animate ones, for example: Everyone looked at him like ghost. Let's check by the formula “V.p. plural = R.p. plural ": (I see) ghosts- (No) ghosts. The endings don't match, hence the noun ghost - inanimate, so the sentence, according to the grammatical norms of the Russian language, should look like this: Everyone looked at him like ghost.
Second- the use of animate nouns as inanimate ones. For example: When he carried securities, two people were given to accompany him. Correctly: When he carried securities, he was given as an escorttwo people.
Remember: in constructions with compound numbers ending in two three four, V.p. numeral retains the Im.p. form, regardless of the category of animation. For example: The driver had to deliver twenty three athlete.
Bibliography
- Russian language. Grade 6 / Baranov M.T. and others - M .: Education, 2008.
- Babaitseva V.V., Chesnokova L.D. Russian language. Theory. 5-9 cells - M.: Bustard, 2008.
- Russian language. 6 cells / Ed. MM. Razumovskaya, P.A. Lekanta. - M.: Bustard, 2010.
- Terver.ru ().
- Hi-edu.ru ().
Homework
Exercise 1.
Write the words in 2 columns - animate nouns and inanimate nouns:
Creature, janitor, monster, tin, journalism, youth, insect, engine, coal, corpse, warmth, stubbornness, student, hazel grouse, mushroom, doll, peddler, midge, infantryman, spirit, Sakhalin, children, detachment, steel, coal, poverty, cap, infantry, small fry, general, herd, canned food, table, larva, aluminum, snake, red tape, crow, fox, humanity, relatives, boyar, Karakum, horse, young, genius, youth, bell, milk, chick, silk, scarecrow, pea, tentacle, pea, comrade, cooking, oil, dishes, cement, poor, relative, sugar, tea, honey, kettle, yeast, tea leaf, herd, whiteness, pity, stubborn, hero, furniture, radiance, delight, heroism, running, journalist, walking, pearls, generals, pearl, freshness, crow.
Exercise #2
Read the tale of L. Uspensky:
A raft floats on the river. A fat lazy cat sits motionless on the shore. The raft asks the Cat:
Are you alive?
What can you prove?
I'm moving.
I swim and you sit.
I want to - I will move.
I am a great raft, alive, and cats are inanimate. You are a thing and I exist.
The cat thought and said:
I will prove to you grammatically exactly who is who, and what is what. I'll kill you with the accusative case. Your nominative will not stand against my accusative.
Help the cat, prove that he is right. Using the elements of the essay-reasoning, complete the fairy tale.
Personal pronouns. in English language have two cases: nominative (usually as subject) and object (in a sentence as additions).
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Face |
Nominative case |
Object case |
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Singular |
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I [ aI] I |
me [ mJ] me, me |
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you [ jH] you |
you [ jH] you, you |
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he [ hJ] he she [ SJ] she is it [ It] he she it |
him [ hIm] him, him her [ hW] her, her it [ It] him, her, him, her |
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Plural |
||
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we [ wJ] we |
us [ As] us, us |
|
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you [ jH] you |
you [ jH] you, you |
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they [ DeI] they |
them [ Dem] them, them |
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| I [ aI] - I |
Pronoun I always written with a capital (capital) letter, regardless of the place it occupies in a sentence. If it is in the same sentence with other personal pronouns (or nouns), then it is placed after them:
| you [ jH] - you you |
In English, there is no distinction between a polite form of address You and more familiar - you like the Russian language. Pronoun you has one form for singular and plural, and the predicate after it is always plural.
Note: When they want to provide understanding of the pronoun you how plural numbers, then in British English they say: you two / three ..., you lot, you people, and in American - you folks, you all's, you guys (regardless of the gender of the interlocutors).
|
he [ hJ] - he she [ SJ] - she is |
Pronoun he replaces a noun denoting males. Pronoun she replaces a noun denoting females. Speaking of animals, pronouns he or she they use it only when they want to emphasize their gender, as well as in various fairy tales, fables, or in descriptions of the habits and character of their pets, thus distinguishing them from the general mass.
Exception: In England, when talking about a ship (of any size and purpose) or a car, they use the pronoun she(but speaking, for example, about an airplane - it). The names of most countries are also considered feminine nouns: England, Russia, etc.
| it [ It] - he she it |
Pronoun it replaces a noun denoting an inanimate object, abstract concept, animal or plant, and also replaces a noun baby, child – child if they do not focus on the field of the child. Translated into Russian by the words he she it depending on the gender of the corresponding noun in Russian.
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I looked at the window. It was closed. |
I took a look at window. It was closed. |
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Where is your cat? – It is on the sofa. It is sleeping. |
Where's your cat(your cat)? – He (she is) on the sofa. He (she is) is sleeping. |
| they [ DeI] - they |
Pronoun they replaces both animate and inanimate plural nouns:
Personal pronouns in the nominative case perform the function subject and nominal part of compound predicate.
1 As subject:
2 As nominal part of compound predicate it is possible to use personal pronouns in nominative, as well as in object cases. At the same time, the forms nominative case are considered book-official, and the forms of the objective case are colloquial.
Who is there? – It is I. = It is me . (colloquial form) Who's there? - It I.
|
Objective case. |
Pronouns without preposition.
Typical model: indirect object without preposition+ direct addition .
Personal pronouns in the objective case perform the function:
1 direct complement(accusative case, answer the question whom? what?)
|
He saw me in the street. |
He saw me on the street. |
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I love you. |
I love you. |
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Do you know him? |
You know his? |
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take it! |
Take her/it! (e.g. notebook) |
2 or unprepositional indirect object(dative case answering the question to whom?):
In the last example, "book" is a direct object. A pronoun without a preposition that answers a question whom? - to whom?, is a non-prepositional indirect object and always comes before a direct object (unlike a pronoun with a preposition).
3 and also used in short lines:
Who broke the vase? – Not me! / Me. Who broke the vase? - Not I! / I .
I am feeling tired. - Me too.I am (very) tired/(feeling tired). - I too.
Preposition pronouns.
Typical model: direct complement + indirect object with preposition .
Combining a pronoun in the objective case with a preposition is a prepositional indirect object and always comes after a direct object.
1 pronoun combination with a pretextto corresponds dative case in Russian ( to whom?):
2 pronoun combination with prepositionsby andwith corresponds in Russian creative case( by whom? how?):
3 Pronouns in the objective case, used with any prepositions, are translated into Russian by pronouns in various oblique cases (gen. who?, what?; dates to whom; to what?; creates. who?, what? and prepositional About who about what?) depending on the preposition followed by the pronoun:
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This letter is for you. |
This letter For you. |
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tell me everything about them. |
Tell me everything about them. |
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She looked at us in silence. |
She silently looked on us. |
After any preposition, you should use a pronoun in the form of an objective case, for example: From whom? From whom?-From me. From me .; To whom? To whom?- To me. Co. to me .; With whom? With whom?- With me. So me .
|
Polysemy of the pronoun it. |
Pronoun it may be personal, index and impersonal:
1 Personal pronoun. Translation: he she it or his her etc.
a) If the pronoun it comes first in a sentence, replacing the previously mentioned inanimate noun, then it translates nominative case - he she it , for example:
b) If the pronoun it follows the predicate, taking the place of the direct complement, then it is translated. object case pronouns, namely his her, to him etc.
2 index pronoun. translate as " this is ".
|
What is it ? - It is a tree. |
Whatthis is ? - it - wood. |
Can be used instead of the previously mentioned words:
Instead of the previously mentioned concepts and descriptions:
3 Impersonal service word. Does not translate.
a) If the pronoun it comes first in a sentence, but does not replace a previously mentioned noun, it is formal subject of an impersonal sentence It is typical for sentences that talk about weather, time, distance, various measurements, etc.
It is cold. It is dark. It is raining. It is snowing.Cold. Dark. It's raining. Snowing.
It was winter. It was winter.
Time, distances and various measurements:
What day of the week is it ? What day of the week is today?
It 's Saturday. It 's the 12th of February. = It 's February 12th.It's Saturday now. 12th of February.
It 's 10 o'clock. Ten o'clock.
It is two miles to the station.The station is two miles away.
And other impersonal suggestions:
It 's too late. Too late.
b) Pronoun it can be a formal subject when the present subject is expressed infinitive, gerund (-ing form) or subordinate clause and is at the end of the sentence: In Russian, in these cases, the formal subject is dispensed with:
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It is dark to read. |
|
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It was useless trying to see him. |
Was useless try to see him. |
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It 's hard to know what he really thought. |
It's hard to know what does he really think. |
in) in passive structures. With some verbs in passive voice as a formal subject:
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It is known… |
Known… |
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It is reported that the plane landed. |
Reportthat the plane has landed. |
4 Included in amplifying turnover composition it is (was) ... who / that(does not translate). Here it refers to the predicative (part of the compound predicate), which becomes the informational focus of the sentence.
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It was he who did it. |
Exactly hedid it. |
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It is here that we meet every Sunday. |
Exactly herewe meet every Sunday. |
Used in set expressions:
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It 's wonderful! |
Fabulous! |
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It 's great! It 's super! |
Great! Super! |
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It 's no use. It 's no good. |
Useless. |
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It doesn't matter. |
No matter. It does not matter. |
animated and nouns serve as the names of people, animals and answer the question who?(student, mentor, entertainer, peer).
Inanimate nouns serve as the names of inanimate objects, as well as objects of the plant world and answer the question what?(presidium, conference, landscape, mountain ash). This also includes nouns like group, people, crowd, flock, peasantry, youth, kids etc.
The division of nouns into animate and inanimate mainly depends on what object this noun denotes - living beings or objects of inanimate nature, but it is impossible to completely identify the concept of animation-inanimateness with the concept of living-inanimate. So, from a grammatical point of view birch, aspen, elm- nouns are inanimate, and with scientific point vision are living organisms. In grammar, the names of dead people - dead man, deceased- are considered animate, and only a noun dead body- inanimate. Thus, the meaning of animateness-inanimateness is a purely grammatical category.
- animate For nouns, the accusative plural form is the same as the genitive plural form:
(v.p. pl. = r.p. pl.)r.p. (no) people, birds, animals
c.p. (to love) people, birds, animals
- inanimate For nouns, the plural accusative form is the same as the plural nominative form:
In addition, for animate masculine nouns of the II declension, the accusative case coincides with the genitive also in the singular, for inanimate nouns - with the nominative: I see a student, an elk, a crane, but a detachment, a forest, a regiment.(w.p. pl. = im.p. pl.)i.p. (there are) forests, mountains, rivers
c.p. (see) forests, mountains, rivers
Most often, animate nouns are masculine and feminine. There are few animate nouns among neuter nouns. It - child, person (in the meaning of "man"), animal, insect, mammal, creature ("living organism"), monster, monster, monster and some others.
Animated nouns, used in a figurative sense, decline: admire "Sleeping Beauty".
Inanimate nouns, used in a figurative sense, get the meaning of a person and become animated: the tournament brought together all the table tennis stars.
The names of toys, mechanisms, images of a person refer to animated nouns: she was very fond of her dolls, nesting dolls, robots.
The names of pieces in games (chess, cards) are declined like animated nouns: sacrifice a knight, take an ace.
The name of the gods mythical creatures (goblin, mermaid, devil, water) refer to animate nouns, and the names of the planets by the name of the gods - to inanimate: looking at Jupiter, they begged Jupiter for help.
For a number of nouns, there are fluctuations in the expression of the category of animation-inanimateness (in the names of microorganisms, in nouns, the image, type, character, etc.): consider ciliates and ciliates, kill bacteria and bacteria; create vivid images, special characters.
| Animate and inanimate nouns | |
| animated | Inanimate |
| names of living things | names of inanimate objects |
| plant names | |
| names of gods | names of the planets by the names of the gods |
| names of mythical creatures | |
| names of figures in games | |
| names of toys, mechanisms, human images |
|
| dead man, deceased | dead body |
| names of microorganisms | |
| image, character | |