On enterprises and measures. Take Action Attempt Speech Error

On September 15, during a meeting in the Kremlin of Dmitry Medvedev with representatives of the business community, the President stated the following:

We will take measures to protect the property of our business abroad. In general, the protection of interests Russian business, not only within the country, but also abroad, is one of the priorities of the state.

Here Dmitry Medvedev made (and not for the first time!) a common mistake. According to the norms of the Russian language, of course, it is necessary to say “accept”, and not “take measures”. Still, they are making an effort. And yet, many, especially in spontaneous speech, confuse these verbs.

“Apparently, we need to start with dictionaries,” the deputy director of the V.V. Vinogradova Leonid Krysin. - According to the dictionaries, "undertake" and "accept" differ as follows. "To undertake" is to start doing something, to start something: to undertake new research, so that we can undertake this? Here are some examples. And "accept" - this verb has many meanings, and in one of the meanings - to commit, implement, make a decision (that is, decide), take part (that is, participate), take an oath (swear) and take action. Please note that in the latter case, no verb can be put in place of the phrase. Maybe because of this, this mistake is often made - "take action" instead of "take action". Of course, you cannot interchange "undertake" and "accept". You can't say 'accept new research' instead of 'undertake' and vice versa you can't say 'take part'."

- I think that they are often mistaken, because in appearance they are similar.

Yes, they are similar. But, in general, if we talk about this a little more generally, we must say about such a property of the language as selectivity, selectivity in the combination of words. She is very whimsical, whimsical. We say "assist", "attack", or "make a mistake", but we cannot say "attack", or "make a mistake", or "make a help".

- This is what is called a stable phrase.

Yes. Linguists also call it idiomatic, that is, the originality of such a combination - “feel ashamed”, but “feed hope”, “make an inspection”, but “hold a meeting”, and so on. All these verbs are somehow very selective, although they actually mean the same thing. They are almost empty in terms of meaning.

Yes, in order to understand to what extent, let's remember that in Russian there are verbs that are not devastated - for example, to chop. It is clear that this is a very specific action.

Well, yes, cut. A number of verbs formed from nouns - "help", "influence", "resist" (instead of "resist") cannot be called devastated. But these “commit”, “provide”, “conduct”, “produce”, of course, mean almost nothing. They sound like a noun.

If it is useless to appeal to the meaning here, because you said that many of these verbs mean almost the same thing, and all together mean little at all, therefore, the only recommendation for those who want to speak correctly is to remember how to speak correctly ?

A native speaker does not remember this, he seems to absorb it as he learns mother tongue as he gets used to hearing from childhood. And in the course of this process, he learns to combine words correctly. As soon as an error occurs, the speaker notices it. Not being a linguist at all, he understands that it is impossible to say so.

This is if language environment, in which the child grows, is of high quality. And if he hears that on TV the head of state says "take action"...

Yes. This mistake is very common. Many people simply don't notice it.

A fine connoisseur of the Russian language, Nora Gal, in her extremely practical book "Poetry of Translation" advised, if possible, to avoid those very devastated words that Leonid Krysin spoke about. And indeed, it sounds much more natural to “punish” than “impose a penalty”; "help", not "help". This does not apply to the idiomatic expression "take action". Here, if you want the speech to not have a hint of officialdom, officialdom, you need not to look for another word, but to change the whole sentence.

The title of this article uses a simple pun based on the consonance of verbs undertake / undertake and accept / accept. This technique is very popular: you can find it, for example, in the titles of numerous online medical forums ( "What to accept or undertake?» ) or the text of a standard postcard addressed to "dear entrepreneur": “You have a holiday today, but you still have nothing undertook... to have something accepted. And we have taken! So that accept from us sincere wishes of prosperity, good mood and strong, like alcohol, health!”(www.voicecards.ru).

In such cases, first of all, the consonance of the verbs we are interested in is played out, but since the consonance is based on their etymological connection, the meanings of the words are also included in the game.

For the verb to accept, the four-volume Dictionary of the Russian Language (the so-called Small Academic Dictionary, or MAS; M., 1957-1984) gives eighteen meanings, and the Comprehensive Normative Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language (St. Petersburg, 2011) expands their number to twenty one (introducing, among other things, the meaning of “drink alcohol”, which is characteristic of colloquial speech). List of word meanings undertake-undertake much more modestly: “To start, to decide to carry out some new business, to start doing something significant. We are undertaking a steamship service, are planning, intend or want to arrange "(" Dictionary living Great Russian language” V.I. Dahl); “To start doing something, to decide to do something.” (“Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language”, ed. by D.N. Ushakov, 1939); "Start to do smth., start to do smth." (“Dictionary of the modern Russian literary language” in 17 vols., hereinafter - BAS); “Start doing something. || To do, to carry out, to accomplish" (MAS).

An extensive list of stable combinations with the verb accept is also given in the MAC: accept a fight (or battle, blow) - do not evade the fight that arose at the initiative of the enemy; take action - take action take as a rule- make it a rule, etc.

And everything, it would seem, is quite understandable. True, it is not very easy to find out which of the meanings of the word given by the dictionaries correspond to the verb in combination take measures. However, in the description given by the IAU, this may be the value 9: “With some nouns, it forms combinations with the meaning of this or that action, depending on the meaning of the noun. Make a decision (decide). Accept death (die). Take an exam (examine)"; in the "Complex Dictionary" - meaning 13: "To do, to carry out what is expressed by the noun. Make a decision. Accept death. Take part in the discussion. Take an oath. Take necessary action».

In other words, the verb to accept as part of certain combinations can be used in the meaning of "to carry out, to commit" - that is, in the sense that the verb to undertake by the middle of the 20th century acquired, which previously denoted only an intended or barely begun action.

Again, nothing strange. This is a common property of paronyms - similar in sound and spelling of the same root words of one part of speech, which can sometimes have partially coinciding meanings ( colorful - flowery; guilty - guilty - guilty etc.).

Many specialists in orthology (the science of the culture of speech, that is, language norm and deviations from it) insist that turnover is a purely speech error- violation of lexical compatibility.

So, in the manual D.E. Rosenthal, I.B. Golub and M.A. Telenkova “Modern Russian Language” notes: “In speech, there are cases of contamination of the components of phraseological combinations: plays a role plays a role(instead of matters - plays a role), take action- take steps(instead of take measures- to take steps)". Consecrated by the name of Rosenthal, an example of the contamination of expressions take action take steps (actions, efforts etc.) was subsequently included in numerous manuals and collections of exercises, signed by the names of other authors. For an incorrect combination take action the orthological dictionary "Difficulties of modern use" by E.D. Golovina (Kirov, 2011), however, this source takes into account only one meaning of the verb to undertake ("to start some business"), therefore, citing newspaper articles ( What measures are still being taken? etc.), the author strictly indicates: “it is necessary - they are accepted”.

Marina Koroleva and Olga Severskaya dedicated to expression take - take action as many as two programs from the “We Speak Russian” cycle (radio “Echo of Moscow”), and in the article “On Enterprises and Events” Olga Severskaya substantiates in detail her belief in the fallacy of this turnover: “Firstly, everyone knows the word event, and event so far it can only be dreamed of in a terrible dream about the fate of the language. Secondly, earlier, as recorded by Ushakov's dictionary, there was a turnover take measures, and this, in turn, is a tracing paper from the French prendre les mesures (there is a corresponding expression in English to take measures). Thirdly, the meanings of the verbs accept and undertake are still different from each other, which determines the possibility of the linguistic existence of the measures taken and attempts, steps, efforts, but not vice versa. ‹…› The logic of expression contamination do something and take action is clear, but, in my opinion, vicious.

L.P. Krysin, in an interview with Lilia Pavelieva, also appeals to the meanings of the verbs undertake and accept: “Apparently, we need to start with dictionaries. According to dictionaries, undertake and accept differ as follows. To undertake is to start doing something, to start something: to undertake new research, so that we can undertake this? Here are some examples. And to accept - this verb has many meanings, and in one of the meanings - to commit, implement, make a decision (that is, decide), take part (that is, participate), take an oath (swear) and take action. Please note that in the latter case, no verb can be put in place of the phrase. Maybe because of this, this error is often allowed − take action take action instead."

Recall that it was “starting with dictionaries” that we were convinced of the coincidence of one of the meanings of the verbs to undertake and accept ...

Dictionaries, of course, cannot be the only argument in this orthological dispute. Therefore, further L.P. Krysin notes that the expression take - take action it is also incorrect for the reason that it violates the idiom of the combination take action: “... It must be said about such a property of the language as selectivity, selectivity in the combination of words. She is very whimsical, whimsical. We say "assist", "attack" or "make a mistake", but we cannot say "attack" or "make a mistake" or "make a help".

We constantly hear, for example, "take action" or "raise a toast" and do not even think about the fact that it is wrong to say so.

"It doesn't matter"

Violation of the lexical compatibility of words is a very common mistake. We constantly hear, for example, "take action" or "raise a toast" and do not even think about the fact that it is wrong to say so.

As a rule, this error is caused by the fact that we mix combinations that are similar in meaning. For example, the combinations "take action" and "take steps" result in an erroneous "take action". "Play a role" and "make a difference" - "make a difference".

It would seem that what is the problem, because we understand what is being said. However, the language has its own norms and laws that must be observed in order to remain literate people and preserve the “great mighty Russian language” for future generations. So let's remember:

Take action - take steps, take action

play a role play a role play a role

Doesn't matter - doesn't matter, doesn't matter

give support - give support

Raise a toast - make a toast, raise a glass for ...

To win the championship - to win, to win the championship

To be in the field of attention - to be in the field of view, to be in the center of attention

Rapidly creeping up / down - rapidly rising / falling

Pay the fine - pay the fine

Cheap prices - low prices

Increase output - increase output

Improve the level (for example, well-being) - increase the level (well-being)

Economic growth - growth of economic indicators

Gain Respect - Earn Respect

To show care is to show care. published

Total found: 15

Hello. In the sentence *We don't/we don't have enough information to do something.* Is the "NOT" particle written separately or together with the word "enough"? Or can it be written this way and that, depending on what they want to convey? (Personally, it seems to me that it is separate, since here "enough" is an adverb in the role of a predicate, but I'm not sure.)

AT this case correct spelling.


	Question #293225

Comma question. Is it necessary in the area of brackets: "but he could not stand it any longer, he should have done something () and immediately"? If needed, why?