) a whole group of objects that have common features, and names these objects according to their belonging to this category: article, house, a computer etc.

An extensive group of common names is represented by terms of a scientific and technical nature, including terms physical geography, toponymy, linguistics, art, etc. If the spelling sign of all proper names is their spelling with a capital letter, then common nouns are written with a lowercase letter.

The transition of the onym to appellative without affixation in linguistics is called appeal (deonymization) . For example:

• (English Charles Boycott → English to boycott);
• peninsula Labrador → labrador (stone);
• Newfoundland → Newfoundland (dog breed) .

The transition of a common name to a proper name may be accompanied by the loss of its former meaning, for example:

• right hand (from other Russian. desn "right") → river "Desna". The Desna is a left tributary of the Dnieper.
• Velikaya → river Velikaya (a small river in the Russian North).

A common noun can denote not only a category of objects, but also any individual object within this category. The latter happens when:

1. The individual characteristics of the subject do not matter. For example: " If the dog is not teased, it will not bite."- the word" dog "refers to any dog, and not to any particular one.
2. In the described situation, only one item of this category. For example: " Meet me at the corner at noon”- the interlocutors know which corner will serve as a meeting point.
3. Individual attributes of an object are described by additional definitions. For example: " I remember the day I first set sail» - a specific day stands out among other days.

The boundary between common nouns and proper names is not unshakable: common nouns can turn into proper names in the form of names and nicknames ( onymization), and proper names - into common nouns ( deonymization).

Onimization(transition appellative in onym):

1. kalita (bag) → Ivan Kalita;

Deonymization. The following types of such transitions are noted:

1. person's name → person; Pechora (river) → Pechora (city)
2. person's name → thing: Kravchuk → kravchuchka, Colt → colt;
3. place name → item: Kashmir → cashmere (fabric);
4. person's name → action: Boycott → boycott;
5. place name → action: Earth → land;
6. person's name → unit of measurement: Ampere → ampere , Henry → henry , Newton → newton ;

Proper names, which have become common nouns, are called eponyms, sometimes they are used in a playful sense (for example " Aesculapius"- a doctor," Schumacher"- a lover of fast driving, etc.).

A vivid example of the transformation before our eyes own name in eponym is the word kravchuchka - the name of a handcart, widespread in Ukraine, named after the 1st president Leonid Kravchuk, during whose reign the shuttle business became widespread, and the word kravchuchka in everyday life, it practically supplanted other names for a handcart.

it independent part speech that designates the subject and answers the questions who? what?
The value of the object expressed nouns, combines the names of the most various items and phenomena, namely: 1) the names of specific cabbage soup and objects (house, tree, notebook, book, briefcase, bed, lamp); 2) the names of living beings (man, engineer, girl, youth, deer, mosquito); 3) names various substances(oxygen, gasoline, lead, sugar, salt); 4) the names of various natural phenomena and public life(storm, frost, rain, holiday, war); 5) the names of abstract properties and signs, actions and states (freshness, whiteness, blueness, illness, expectation, murder).
initial form noun- nominative singular.
Nouns are: own (Moscow, Russia, Sputnik) and common nouns (country, dream, night), animate (horse, elk, brother) and inanimate (table, field, dacha).
Nouns belong to the masculine (friend, young man, deer), feminine (girlfriend, grass, dry land) and middle (window, sea, field) gender. Names nouns change in cases and numbers, that is, they decline. Three declensions are distinguished for nouns (aunt, uncle, Maria - I declension; horse, gorge, genius - II declension; mother, night, silence - III declension).
In a sentence nouns usually act as a subject or object, but can be any other members of the sentence. For example: When the soul in chains, in the soul screams yearning, and the heart longs for boundless freedom (K. Balmont). I was lying in the scent of azaleas (V. Bryusov)

Proper and common nouns

Proper nouns- These are the names of individuals, single objects. Proper nouns include: 1) names, surnames, nicknames, nicknames (Peter, Ivanov, Sharik); 2) geographical names(Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia); 3) astronomical names (Jupiter, Venus, Saturn); 4) names of holidays ( New Year, Teacher's Day, Defender of the Fatherland Day); 5) names of newspapers, magazines, works of art, enterprises (Trud newspaper, Resurrection novel, Enlightenment publishing house), etc.
Common nouns they call homogeneous objects that have something in common, the same, some kind of similarity (a person, a bird, furniture).
All names own are written with capital letter(Moscow, the Arctic), some are also quoted (cinema "Cosmos", the newspaper "Vechernyaya Moskva").
In addition to differences in meaning and spelling proper nouns have a number grammatical features: 1) are not used in plural(except for the designations various items and persons with the same name: We have two Ira and three Olya in our class); 2) are not combined with numerals.
Proper nouns can become common nouns, and common nouns- in own, for example: Narcissus (the name of a handsome young man in ancient Greek mythology) - narcissus (flower); Boston (city in the USA) - boston (wool), boston (slow waltz), boston (card game); work - the newspaper "Trud".

Animate and inanimate nouns

Animated nouns serve as the names of living beings (people, animals, birds); answer the question who?
Inanimate nouns serve as the names of inanimate objects, as well as objects flora; answer the question what? Initially, in the Russian language, the category of animation-inanimateness developed as a semantic (semantic) category. Gradually, with the development of the language, this category became grammatical, so the division of nouns into animated and inanimate does not always coincide with the division of everything that exists in nature into living and non-living.
An indicator of the animateness or inanimateness of a noun is the coincidence of a number of grammatical forms. Animated and inanimate nouns differ from each other in the form of the accusative plural. At animate nouns this form is the same as the form genitive, and at inanimate nouns- with the nominative case, for example: no friends - I see friends (but: no tables - I see tables), no brothers - I see brothers (but: no lights - I see lights), no horses - I see horses (but: no shadows - I see shadows), no children - I see children (but: no seas - I see seas).
For masculine nouns (except for nouns ending in -а, -я), this difference is preserved in the singular, for example: there is no friend - I see a friend (but: there is no home - I see a house).
To animate noun may include nouns that should be considered by value inanimate, for example: "our nets dragged a dead man"; discard a trump ace, sacrifice a queen, buy dolls, paint matryoshkas.
To inanimate noun may include nouns that, according to the meaning they express, should be attributed to animated, for example: to study pathogenic microbes; neutralize typhoid bacilli; observe the embryo in its development; collect silkworm larvae, believe in your people; Gather huge crowds, arm armies.

Concrete, abstract, collective, real, singular nouns

According to the features of the expressed meaning, nouns can be divided into several groups: 1) specific nouns(chair, suit, room, roof), 2) abstract, or abstract, nouns(struggle, joy, good, evil, morality, whiteness), 3) collective nouns (beast, foolishness, foliage, linen, furniture); four) real nouns(cycle: gold, milk, sugar, honey); 5) singular nouns(pea, grain of sand, straw, pearl).
Specific nouns are called, which denote phenomena or objects of reality. They can be combined with cardinal, ordinal and collective numbers and form plural forms. For example: boy - boys, two boys, second boy, two boys; table - tables, two tables, the second table.
abstract, or abstract, are nouns that denote some abstract action, state, quality, property or concept. abstract nouns have one form of number (only singular or only plural), do not combine with cardinal numbers, but can be combined with words many, few, how many, etc. For example: grief - a lot of grief, little grief. How much grief!
Collective nouns are called, which denote a set of persons or objects as an indivisible whole. Collective nouns have the form of only the singular and are not combined with numerals, for example: youth, old people, foliage, birch forest, aspen. Wed: The old people talked for a long time about the life of the young and the interests of the youth. - Whose are you, old man? The peasants, in essence, always remained owners. In no country in the world has the peasantry ever been truly free. On the first of September all children will go to school. - The children gathered in the yard and expected the arrival of adults. All students successfully passed state exams. - Students take an active part in the work of charitable foundations. Nouns old people, peasantry, children, students are collective, the formation of plural forms from them is impossible.
real nouns are called, which denote a substance that cannot be divided into its component parts. These words may be chemical elements, their compounds, alloys, drugs, various materials, types food products and agricultural crops, etc. Real nouns have one form of number (only singular or only plural), are not combined with cardinal numbers, but can be combined with words that name units of measure kilogram, liter, ton. For example: sugar - a kilogram of sugar, milk - two liters of milk, wheat - a ton of wheat.
singular nouns are a variety real nouns. These nouns name one instance of those items that make up the set. Compare: pearl - pearl, potato - potato, sand - grain of sand, pea - pea, snow - snowflake, straw - straw.

gender of nouns

Genus- this is the ability of nouns to be combined with the forms of agreed words defined for each generic variety: my house, my hat, my window.
By sign gender nouns divided into three groups: 1) masculine nouns(house, horse, sparrow, uncle), 2) feminine nouns(water, earth, dust, rye), 3) neuter nouns(face, sea, tribe, gorge).
In addition, there is a small group common nouns, which are able to serve as expressive names for both male and female persons (cry-baby, touchy, good fellow, upstart, grabber).
The grammatical meaning of gender is created by a system of case endings given noun in the singular (thus noun gender distinguished only in the singular).

Male, female and neuter gender nouns

To masculine include: 1) nouns with a base on a hard or soft consonant and a zero ending in the nominative case (table, horse, reed, knife, crying); 2) some nouns ending in -а (я) like grandfather, uncle; 3) some nouns ending in -o, -e such as saraishko, bread, house; 4) noun apprentice.
To feminine applies: 1) most nouns with the ending -а (я) (grass, aunt, earth) in the nominative case; 2) part of nouns with a base in a soft consonant, as well as in w and w and a zero ending in the nominative case (laziness, rye, silence).
To neuter include: 1) nouns ending in -o, -e in the nominative case (window, field); 2) ten nouns per -mya (burden, time, tribe, flame, stirrup, etc.); 3) the noun "child".
The nouns doctor, professor, architect, deputy, guide, author, etc., naming a person by profession, occupation, are masculine. However, they can also refer to females. The coordination of definitions in this case is subject to the following rules: 1) an unseparated definition must be in the form of the masculine gender, for example: A young doctor Sergeev appeared on our site. A new version of the article of the law was proposed by the young deputy Petrova; 2) a separate definition after a proper name should be put in the feminine form, for example: Professor Petrova, already known to the trainees, successfully operated on the patient. The predicate should be put in the feminine form if: 1) there is a proper name in the sentence before the predicate, for example: Director Sidorova received a prize. Guide Petrova led the students through the oldest streets of Moscow; 2) the form of the predicate is the only indicator that we are talking about a woman, and it is important for the writer to emphasize this, for example: The principal of the school turned out to be a good mother. Note. Such constructions should be used with great care, since not all of them correspond to the norms of book and written speech. General nouns Some nouns with the endings -а (я) can serve as expressive names for both male and female persons. These are nouns of the general gender, for example: crybaby, touchy, sneak, slob, quiet. Depending on the gender of the person they designate, these nouns can be assigned either to the feminine or to the masculine gender: little crybaby - little crybaby, such a wretch - such a wretch, a terrible slob - a terrible slob. In addition to such words, nouns of the general gender can include: 1) invariable surnames: Makarenko, Malykh, Defier, Michon, Hugo, etc.; 2) colloquial forms of some proper names: Sasha, Valya, Zhenya. The words “doctor”, “professor”, “architect”, “deputy”, “tour guide”, “author”, which name a person by profession, type of activity, do not belong to nouns of the general gender. They are masculine nouns. General nouns are emotionally colored words, have a pronounced evaluative meaning, are used mainly in colloquial speech, therefore, are not characteristic of scientific and official business style speech. By using them in work of art, the author seeks to emphasize the colloquial nature of the statement. For example: - You see how it is, on the other side. She turns everything shameful with us. Whatever he sees - everything is not right, everything is not like mom's. So right? - Oh, I don't know! She's a crybaby, and that's all! Aunt Enya laughed a little. Such a kind laugh, light sounds and unhurried, like her gait. - Well, yes! You are our man, knight. You won't shed tears. And she is a girl. Tender. Mom's dad (T. Polikarpova). Gender of indeclinable nouns Foreign common nouns indeclinable nouns are distributed by gender as follows: The masculine gender includes: 1) names of male persons (dandy, maestro, porter); 2) names of animals and birds (chimpanzee, cockatoo, hummingbird, kangaroo, pony, flamingo); 3) the words coffee, penalties, etc. The feminine gender includes the names of females (miss, frau, lady). The middle gender includes the names of inanimate objects (coats, mufflers, necklines, depots, metro). Indeclinable nouns of foreign origin denoting animals and birds are usually masculine (flamingos, kangaroos, cockatoos, chimpanzees, ponies). If, according to the conditions of the context, it is required to indicate the female of the animal, the agreement is carried out according to the feminine gender. The nouns kangaroo, chimpanzee, pony are combined with the past tense verb in the feminine form. For example: Kangaroo carried a kangaroo in a bag. The chimpanzee, apparently a female, was feeding the cub a banana. The mother pony was standing in a stall with a small foal. The noun tsetse is an exception. Its gender is determined by the gender of the word fly (feminine). For example: Tsetse bit a tourist. If it is difficult to determine the gender of an indeclinable noun, it is advisable to refer to spelling dictionary. For example: haiku (Japanese three-line) - cf., takku (Japanese five-line) - f.r., su (coin) - cf., flamenco (dance) - cf., taboo (prohibition) - cf. .R. Some indeclinable nouns are fixed only in dictionaries of new words. For example: sushi (Japanese dish) - cf., taro (cards) - pl. (genus not defined). The gender of indeclinable foreign geographical names, as well as the names of newspapers and magazines, is determined by the generic common word, for example: Po (river), Bordeaux (city), Mississippi (river), Erie (lake), Congo (river), Ontario (lake), "Humanite" (newspaper). The genus of the indeclinable compound words in most cases it is determined by the type of the stem word of the phrase, for example: Moscow State University (university - m.r.) MFA (academy - f.r.). The gender of complex nouns written with a hyphen The gender of compound nouns written with a hyphen is usually determined: 1) by the first part, if both parts change: my chair-bed - my chair-bed (cf.), new amphibious aircraft - new amphibious aircraft (m.r.); 2) for the second part, if the first does not change: a sparkling firebird - a sparkling firebird (female), a huge swordfish - a huge swordfish (female). In some cases, the gender is not determined, because compound word used only in the plural: fabulous boots-walkers - fabulous boots-walkers (plural). Number of nouns Nouns are used in the singular when talking about one subject (horse, stream, crack, field). Nouns are used in the plural when talking about two or more objects (horses, streams, cracks, fields). According to the features of the forms and meanings of the singular and plural, the following are distinguished: 1) nouns that have forms of both the singular and the plural; 2) nouns that have only the singular form; 3) nouns that have only the plural form. The first group includes nouns with a concrete-objective meaning, denoting counted objects and phenomena, for example: house - houses; street - streets; person people; city ​​dweller - city dwellers. The nouns of the second group include: 1) the names of many identical objects (children, teachers, raw materials, spruce forest, foliage); 2) names of objects with a real value (peas, milk, raspberries, porcelain, kerosene, chalk); 3) the names of a quality or attribute (freshness, whiteness, dexterity, melancholy, courage); 4) names of actions or states (mowing, felling, delivery, running around, surprise, reading); 5) proper names as names of single objects (Moscow, Tambov, St. Petersburg, Tbilisi); 6) the words burden, udder, flame, crown. The nouns of the third group include: 1) the names of compound and paired items (scissors, glasses, watches, abacus, jeans, trousers); 2) names of materials or waste, residues (bran, cream, perfume, wallpaper, sawdust, ink, 3) names of time intervals (holidays, days, weekdays); 4) names of actions and states of nature (troubles, negotiations, frosts, shoots, twilight); 5) some geographical names (Lyubertsy, Mytishchi, Sochi, Carpathians, Sokolniki); 6) the names of some games (blind-seek, hide-and-seek, chess, backgammon, money). The formation of plural forms of nouns is mainly done with the help of endings. In some cases, there may also be some changes in the stem of the word, namely: 1) softening of the final consonant of the stem (neighbor - neighbors, devil - devils, knee - knees); 2) alternation of final consonants of the stem (ear - ears, eye - eyes); 3) adding a suffix to the plural stem (husband - husband\j\a], chair - chair\j\a], sky - heaven, miracle - miracle-es-a, son - son-ov \j\a]) ; 4) loss or replacement of formative suffixes in the singular (master - gentlemen, chicken - chickens, calf - tel-yat-a, bear cub - cubs). For some nouns, plural forms are formed by changing the stem, for example: person (singular) - people (plural), child (singular) - children (plural). For indeclinable nouns, the number is determined syntactically: a young chimpanzee (singular) - a lot of chimpanzees (plural). Case of nouns A case is an expression of the relationship of an object called a noun to other objects. In Russian grammar, six cases of nouns are distinguished, the meanings of which are generally expressed using case questions: The nominative case is considered direct, and all the rest are indirect. To determine the case of a noun in a sentence, you need to: 1) find the word to which this noun refers; 2) put a question from this word to a noun: to see (whom? what?) a brother, to be proud (of what?) of success. Homonymous endings are often found among the case endings of nouns. For example, in the forms of the genitive case from the door, the dative case to the door, the prepositional case about the door, there is not the same ending -i, but three different homonym endings. The same homonyms are the endings of the dative and prepositional cases in the forms around the country and about the country. Declension types of nouns Declension is a change of a noun in cases and numbers. This change is expressed using a system of case endings and shows the grammatical relationship of this noun to other words in the phrase and sentence, for example: School\a\ is open. The construction of the school\s\ is completed. Graduates send greetings to schools \ e \ According to the peculiarities of case endings in the singular, a noun has three declensions. The type of declension can only be defined in the singular. Nouns of the first declension The first declension includes: 1) feminine nouns with the ending -а (-я) in the nominative singular (country, land, army); 2) masculine nouns, denote people, with the ending -а (я) in the nominative singular (uncle, young man, Petya). 3) nouns of general gender with the endings -а (я) in the nominative case (cry-baby, sleepyhead, bully). Nouns of the first declension in indirect cases of the singular have the following endings: It is necessary to distinguish between the forms of nouns in -ya and -iya: Marya - Maria, Natalya - Natalia, Daria - Daria, Sophia - Sofia. Nouns of the first declension in -iya (army, guard, biology, line, series, Maria) in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases end in -и. In writing, confusion of the endings of nouns of the first declension into -ey and -iya often causes errors. Words ending in -ey (alley, battery, gallery, idea) have the same endings as feminine nouns with a soft consonant stem such as earth, will, bath, etc. Nouns of the second declension The second declension includes: 1) nouns masculine with a zero ending in the nominative singular (house, horse, museum); 2) masculine nouns ending in -о (-е) in the nominative singular (domishko, saraishko); 3) neuter nouns ending in -o, -e in the nominative singular (window, sea, gorge); 4) noun apprentice. Masculine nouns of the second declension have the following endings in the oblique singular: In the prepositional singular of masculine nouns, the ending -e predominates. The ending -у (у) is accepted only by inanimate masculine nouns if: a) they are used with prepositions в and на; b) have (in most cases) the character of stable combinations denoting the place, state, time of action. For example: an eyesore; stay in debt on the edge of death; grazing; go about; boil in their own juice; be in good standing. But: work hard, in sunlight; grammatical structure; in right angle; in some cases, etc. It is necessary to distinguish between the forms of nouns: -ie and -e: teaching - learning, treatment - treatment, silence - silence, torment - torment, radiance - radiance. Nouns of the second declension ending in -й, -е in the prepositional case have the ending -и. Words on -ey (sparrow, museum, mausoleum, hoarfrost, lyceum) have the same endings as masculine nouns with a base on a soft consonant such as horse, elk, deer, fight, etc. Nouns of the third declension The third declension includes names feminine nouns with a zero ending in the nominative singular (door, night, mother, daughter). Nouns of the third declension in the indirect cases of the singular have the following endings: The words mother and daughter, related to the third declension, when changed in all cases, except for the nominative and accusative, have the suffix -er- in the stem: Declension of nouns in the plural B case endings plural differences between individual types of declension of nouns are insignificant. In the dative, instrumental and prepositional cases, the nouns of all three declensions have the same endings. In the nominative case, the endings -i, -ы and | -а(-я) predominate. The ending -e is less common. You should remember the formation of the genitive plural of some nouns, where the ending can be zero or -ov. This includes words that name: 1) paired and compound objects: (no) felt boots, boots, stockings, collars, days (but: socks, rails, glasses); 2) some nationalities (in most cases, the stem of words ends in n and r): (no) English, Bashkirs, Buryats, Georgians, Turkmens, Mordvins, Ossetians, Romanians (but: Uzbeks, Kirghiz, Yakuts); 3) some units of measurement: (five) amperes, watts, volts, arshins, hertz; 4) some vegetables and fruits: (kilogram) apples, raspberries, olives (but: apricots, oranges, bananas, tangerines, tomatoes, tomatoes). In some cases, plural endings perform a meaningful function in words. For example: dragon teeth - saw teeth, tree roots - fragrant roots, sheets of paper - tree leaves, scratched knees (knee - “joint”) - compound knees (knee - “dance technique”) - pipe knees (knee - “ joint at the pipe"). Variable nouns Variable nouns include: 1) ten nouns per -mya (burden, time, udder, banner, name, flame, tribe, seed, stirrup, crown); 2) noun path; 3) noun child. Variable nouns have the following features: 1) the ending -i in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases of the singular - as in the III declension; 2) the ending -em in the instrumental case of the singular as in the second declension; 3) the suffix -en- in all forms, except for the nominative and accusative cases of the singular (only for nouns in -mya). The word way has case forms of the third declension, with the exception of the instrumental case of the singular, which is characterized by the form of the second declension. Wed: night - nights, way - ways (in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases); the steering wheel - the steering wheel, the way - the way (in the instrumental case). The noun child in the singular retains the archaic declension, which is currently not actually used, and in the plural it has the usual forms, except for the instrumental case, which is characterized by the ending -mi (the same ending is characteristic of the form people). Indeclinable nouns Indeclinable nouns do not have case forms, these words do not have endings. The grammatical meanings of individual cases in relation to such nouns are expressed syntactically, for example: drink coffee, buy cashews, Dumas novels. Indeclinable nouns include: 1) many nouns of foreign origin with final vowels -о, -е, -и, -у, -ю, -а (solo, coffee, hobby, zebu, cashew, bra, Dumas, Zola); 2) foreign surnames denoting females ending in a consonant (Michon, Sagan); 3) Russian and Ukrainian surnames ending in -o, -ih, -y (Durnovo, Krutykh, Sedykh); 4) complex abbreviated words of an alphabetic and mixed character (Moscow State University, Ministry of Internal Affairs, head of the department). syntax function Indeclinable nouns are defined only in context. For example: The walrus asked the Kangaroo (R.p.): How can you stand the heat? I'm shivering from the cold! - Kangaroo (I.p.) said Walrus. (B. Zakhoder) Kangaroo - indeclinable noun, denotes an animal, masculine, in the sentence is complement and subject. Morphological analysis of a noun Morphological analysis of a noun includes the selection of four permanent signs(proper-common, animate-inanimate, gender, declension) and two inconstant (case and number). The number of constant features of a noun can be increased by including such features as concrete and abstract, as well as real and collective nouns. Scheme morphological analysis noun.

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" comes from "reprimand", "reproach", and is used for the general name of homogeneous, similar objects and phenomena, and "own" means "feature", an individual person or a single object. This naming distinguishes it from other objects of the same type.

For example, the common word "river" defines all rivers, but the Dnieper, Yenisei are proper names. These are constant grammatical features of nouns.

What are proper names in Russian

A proper name is an exclusive name for an object, phenomenon, person, different from others, standing out from other multiple concepts.

These are the names and nicknames of people, the names of countries, cities, rivers, seas, astronomical objects, historical events, holidays, books and magazines, animal names.

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 capitalized. For example: Vanya, Morozko, Moscow, Volga, Kremlin, Russia, Russia, 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, firms, events, etc.

Compare: Big theater, but the Sovremennik theater, the Don River and the Quiet Don novel, the play Thunderstorm, the Pravda newspaper, the Admiral Nakhimov motor ship, the Lokomotiv stadium, the Bolshevichka factory, the Mikhailovskoye Museum-Reserve.

Note: the same words, depending on the context, are common or proper and are written according to the rules. Compare: bright sun and star Sun, motherland and planet Earth.

Proper names, consisting of several words and denoting a single concept, are underlined as one member of the sentence.

Let's look at an example: Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov wrote a poem that made him famous. So, 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 the ancient Greek word and means "the art of giving names"

This area of ​​linguistics deals with the study of information about the name of a specific, individual object and identifies several types of names.

Anthroponyms are called proper names and surnames of 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 signs. For example: Rostov-on-Don, Kulikovo field, Sergiev Posad, Magnitogorsk, Strait of Magellan, Yaroslavl, Black Sea, Volkhonka, Red Square, etc.

Astronyms and cosmonyms analyze the appearance of names celestial bodies, constellations, galaxies. Examples: Earth, Mars, Venus, Halley's Comet, Stozhary, Ursa Major, Milky Way .

There are other sections in onomastics that study the names of deities and mythological heroes, the names of nationalities, the names of animals, etc., helping to understand their origin.

Common noun - what is it

These nouns name any concept from a set of similar ones. They have lexical meaning, that is, informative, 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 learn the age and gender.

Common noun examples

Common names are all the realities of the world around us. These are words expressing 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 define a proper or common noun

A common noun can be distinguished by meaning, since it names an object or phenomenon related to homogeneous, and grammatical feature, because it can vary by numbers ( year - years, man - people, cat - cats).

But many nouns (collective, abstract, real) do not have a plural form ( childhood, darkness, oil, inspiration) or the only one ( frosts, weekdays, darkness). Common nouns are written with a small letter.

Proper nouns are the distinctive name of single objects. They can only be used in the singular or plural ( Moscow, Cheryomushki, Baikal, Catherine II).

But if they call different persons or objects, they can be used in the plural ( Ivanov family, both Americas). Capitalized, enclosed in quotation marks if necessary.

It is worth noting: between proper and common names there is a constant exchange, they tend to move into the opposite category. common words Faith Hope Love became proper names in Russian.

Many borrowed names were also originally common nouns. For example, Peter - "stone" (Greek), Victor - "winner" (Lat.), Sophia - "wisdom" (Greek).

Often in history, proper names become common nouns: hooligan ( English family the infamous Houlihan), Volt (physicist Alessandro Volta), Colt (inventor Samuel Colt). Literary characters can acquire a common noun: donquixote, Judas, plushkin.

Toponyms have given names to many objects. For example: cashmere fabric (Kashmir Valley of Hindustan), cognac (province in France). At the same time, an animate proper name becomes an inanimate common noun.

And vice versa, it happens that generic concepts become uncommon: Lefty, cat Fluff, signor Tomato.

The use of terminology in defining parts of speech and their varieties is a common thing for philologists. For a simple person, often all sorts of tricky names seem to be something unclear and complicated. Many schoolchildren are not given abstract terms denoting varieties of parts of speech, and they turn to their parents for help. Adults have to look again in textbooks or search for information on the Internet.

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

What is the part of speech?

Before determining the part of speech in Russian, you need to correctly ask a question to the word and determine what it means. If the word you have chosen 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, many adults remember. But the question of whether a proper or common noun is in front of you can already confuse a person. Let's try to figure out what these linguistic definitions mean.

Answer 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 between them, you just need to understand the meaning of the word. If a separate specific person or some single object is called, then it is your own, and if the meaning of the word indicates the common name of many similar objects, persons or phenomena, then you have a common noun.

Let's explain this with examples. The word "Alexandra" is proper because it denotes the name of an individual. The words "girl, girl, woman" are common nouns because they are a common name for all females. The difference becomes clear, but it lies in the meaning.

Names and nicknames

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

The first is the name, patronymic and surname of a person, as well as his nickname or pseudonym. This also includes cat, dog and nicknames of other animals. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, Murka, Pushinka, Sharik, Druzhok - these names distinguish one particular creature from others of their own kind. If we pick up a common noun for the same objects, then we can say: a poet, a cat, a dog.

Names on the map

The second group of words are the names of various geographical objects. Let's give examples: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Washington, Neva, Volga, Rhine, Russia, France, Norway, Europe, Africa, Australia. For comparison, let's 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, the Solar System, the Milky Way. Each of the above names is a proper name, and you can pick up a common noun generalized in meaning to it. Examples of these objects correspond with the words planet, galaxy.

Names and brands

Another group of words that belong to their own are various titles anything - shops, cafes, literary works, paintings, magazines, newspapers and so on. In the phrase "shop" Magnet "" the first is a common noun, and the second is a proper noun. Let us give more similar examples: the Chocolate Girl cafe, the novel War and Peace, the painting Pond, the Murzilka magazine, the Arguments and Facts newspaper, the Sedov sailboat, the Babaevsky plant, the Gefest gas stove, Consultant Plus system, Chardonnay wine, Napoleon cake, United Russia party, Nika award, Alyonka chocolate, Ruslan plane.

Spelling Features

Since proper names indicate a specific single object, marking 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 schooling: last names, first names, patronymics, symbols on the map, animal names, other names of something are capitalized. Examples: Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, Vanka, Ivan Kalita, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Novgorod, Angara, Cyprus, Turkey, Australia, Zhuchka, Fluff, Murzik.

There is one more 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 words. Such names are written not only with a capital letter, but also enclosed in quotation marks. In philological science, they are called their own names. Examples: Niva car, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, Mayak radio, Ruslan and Lyudmila poem, Chanel perfume, Za Rulem magazine, Troika cigarettes, Fanta drink, Enlightenment publishing house , Abba group, Kinotavr festival.

A proper noun begins with a capital letter, a common noun begins with a lowercase letter. This simple rule often helps a person in determining spelling norms. 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. AT school curriculum such complex cases are not included, and therefore in the tasks of the textbook on the Russian language, even younger students can easily determine by the first letter in a word whether a proper or common noun is in front of them.

Transition 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 take place in it: sometimes common nouns become proper ones. For example: earth - land, Earth - planet solar system. Universal human values, denoted by the common nouns love, faith and hope, have long been 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 Russian, when proper nouns become common nouns. So, from the own name of the Italian physicist Volta, the unit was named electrical voltage- volt. The name of the master of musical instruments Saks became a common noun "saxophone". The Dutch city of Bruges gave its name to the word "pants". The names of the great gunsmiths - Mauser, Colt, Nagant - became the names of pistols. And there are many such examples in the 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 are They denote the names of a class of objects or phenomena that have a number of features by which they can be attributed to the specified class. For example, common nouns are: cat, table, corner, river, girl. They do not name any specific object or person, animal, but denote whole class. When we use 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 make up 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, countries. For example: Volga, Olga, Russia, Danube. They are always capitalized and refer to a specific person or single object.

The science of onomastics is engaged in the study of proper names.

Onomastics

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

Onomast scientists distinguish several directions in this science. So, the study of the names of people is engaged in anthroponymy, the name of peoples - ethnonymy. Cosmonymics and astronomy study the names of stars and planets. Animal nicknames are explored by zoonymy. Theonymy deals with the names of the gods.

This is one of the most promising branches in linguistics. Until now, research on onomastics is being carried out, articles are being published, conferences are being held.

Transition of common nouns to proper names, and vice versa

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

For example, if a person is called by a name that was previously included in the class of common nouns, it becomes its own. A vivid example of such a transformation is the names Vera, Love, Hope. Previously, they were common nouns.

Surnames formed from common nouns also pass into the category of anthroponyms. So, you can highlight the names Kot, Cabbage and many others.

As for proper names, they quite often pass into another category. Often this refers to the names of people. Many inventions bear the names of their authors, sometimes the names of scientists are assigned to quantities or phenomena discovered by them. So, we know the units of ampere and newton.

The names of the heroes of the works can become common nouns. So, the names Don Quixote, Oblomov, Uncle Styopa became the designation of certain features of appearance or character characteristic of people. Names and surnames 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 has in mind in order to avoid mistakes when writing the word. But often you can from the context. We think you understand what a common noun and a proper name are. The examples we have given show this quite clearly.

Rules for writing proper names

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

1. Proper names are always capitalized, for example: Ivan, Gogol, Catherine the Great.
2. Nicknames of people are also capitalized, but without quotation marks.
3. Proper names used in the meaning of common nouns are written with a small letter: donquixote, donjuan.
4. If service words or generic names (cape, city) stand next to a proper name, then they are written with a small letter: the Volga River, Lake Baikal, Gorky Street.
5. If a proper name is the name of a newspaper, cafe, book, then it is taken in quotation marks. In this case, the first word is written with a capital letter, the rest, if they do not belong to proper names, are written with a small letter: "Master and Margarita", "Russian Truth".
6. Common nouns are written with a small letter.

As you can see, quite simple rules. Many of them are known to us since childhood.

Summing up

All nouns are divided into two large classes - proper nouns and common nouns. The first is much less than the second. Words can move from one class to another, while acquiring a new meaning. Proper names are always capitalized. Common nouns - with a small one.