Animated and Mena nouns serve as names of people, animals and answer the question Who?(student, mentor, entertainer, peer).
Inanimate nouns serve as 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, children 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 animate-inanimate with the concept of living-inanimate. Yes, from a grammatical point of view birch, aspen, elm- nouns are inanimate, but from a scientific point of view they are living organisms. In grammar, the names of deceased people are dead man, deceased- are considered animate, and only a noun dead body- inanimate. Thus, the meaning of animate-inanimate is a purely grammatical category.
- among the animate nouns, the accusative plural form coincides with the genitive plural form:
(c.p. plural = r.p. plural)r.p. (no) people, birds, animals
v.p. (to love) people, birds, animals
- in inanimate nouns, the accusative plural form coincides with the plural nominative form:
In addition, for animate nouns of the masculine gender of the second 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.(v.p. plural = im.p. plural)i.p. (there are) forests, mountains, rivers
v.p. (I see) forests, mountains, rivers
Most often, masculine and feminine nouns are animate. Among neuter nouns there are few animate ones. This - child, person (meaning "person"), animal, insect, mammal, creature ("living organism"), monster, monster, monster and some others.
Animate nouns used figuratively are declined: admire "Sleeping Beauty".
Inanimate nouns used figuratively receive the meaning of a person and become animate: the tournament brought together all the table tennis stars.
The names of toys, mechanisms, human images refer to animate nouns: she loved her dolls, nesting dolls, and robots very much.
The names of figures in games (chess, cards) are declined like animate nouns: sacrifice a knight, take an ace.
Name of gods, mythical creatures ( goblin, mermaid, devil, merman) refer to animate nouns, and the names of planets named after gods refer to inanimate nouns: looking at Jupiter, they prayed to Jupiter for help.
A number of nouns exhibit fluctuations in the expression of the animate-inanimate category (in the names of microorganisms, in nouns 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 planets based on 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 | |
Since elementary school, you have an idea of animate and inanimate nature. Nouns also name objects of living and inanimate nature. And nouns are divided into animate and inanimate. But it's not that simple. Many interesting linguistic discoveries await you as you learn to distinguish animate nouns from inanimate ones.
All common nouns in the Russian language 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 animateness - inanimateness is based on the distinction between living and inanimate. However, in the Russian language there are often cases when grammar contradicts common sense. Suffice it 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 V.p. units: I see a dead man - I see a corpse, cf.: I see an elephant - I see a chair.
Animate nouns have the same plural forms V.p. and R.p. (and for nouns m.p. of the 2nd declension and forms V.p. and R.p. singular), but for inanimate ones - not. Inanimate nouns have the same I.p. forms. and V.p. plural.
I see (who?) elephants, but there are no (who?) elephants; I see (who?) mice, but there are no (who?) mice.
I see (what?) books, no (what?) books; I see (what?) at homé, there are no (what?) houses.
Animate 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. Please pay attention
Note:
- names of chess and card pieces and nouns “dead”, “dead”, as well as names of dolls ( parsley, puppet) and the word “doll” itself are animate nouns;
- and words that name a collection of living beings: army, people, crowd, flock, students, humanity etc. are inanimate nouns.
Basically, animate nouns include masculine and feminine nouns. There are few animate neuter nouns in the Russian language. This includes several nouns with the suffix -ishe ( monster, bogeyman), individual nouns (formed from adjectives or participles): mammal, insect, animal And
nouns child, face(meaning “person”).
3. Common mistakes
Errors in the use of the category of animation - inanimate nouns can be divided into two groups:
First- using inanimate nouns as animate ones, for example: Everyone looked at him like he was ghost. Let's check using the formula “V.p. plural = R.p. plural": (I see) ghosts- (No) ghosts. The endings don't match, so it's a noun ghost - inanimate, therefore the sentence, according to the grammatical norms of the Russian language, should look like this: Everyone looked at him like he was ghost.
Second- using animate nouns as inanimate ones. For example: When he was carrying securities, he was given two people to accompany him. Right: When he was carrying securities, they gave him a guidetwo people.
Remember: in constructions with compound numerals ending in two three four, V.p. the numeral retains the form Imp.p., regardless of the category of animation. For example: The driver needed to deliver twenty three athlete.
Bibliography
- Russian language. 6th grade / Baranov M.T. and others - M.: Education, 2008.
- Babaytseva V.V., Chesnokova L.D. Russian language. Theory. 5-9 grades - M.: Bustard, 2008.
- Russian language. 6th grade / 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, midges, foot soldier, spirit, Sakhalin, kids, squad, 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 animals, genius, youth, bell, milk, chick, silk, stuffed animal, pea, tentacle, peas, comrade, cooking, oil, dishes, cement, poor, relative, sugar, tea, honey, teapot, yeast, tea leaves, herd, whiteness, pity, stubborn, hero, furniture, radiance, delight, heroism, running, journalist, walking, pearls, generality, pearl, freshness, crow.
Exercise No. 2
Read the fairy tale by L. Uspensky:
A raft is floating along the river. A fat lazy cat sits motionless on the shore. The raft asks the cat:
Are you alive?
How can you prove it?
I'm moving.
I'm swimming and you're sitting.
If I want, 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 will kill you in the accusative case. Your nominative cannot resist my accusative.
Help the cat, prove that he is right. Using the elements of an argumentative essay, complete the fairy tale.
A word that denotes an object or a sign of an object, but does not name it, is called a pronoun. Pronouns are divided into several groups, each of which has its own grammatical characteristics.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns change by case: if they are used in a sentence as a subject, then they stand in nominative case; if they are used as a complement, then they stand in objective case.
| us | -us, us |
| you | -you, you |
| them | - to them, theirs |
The pronoun "I" is always capitalized. The pronouns "he / she" are used to refer to animate persons; "it" - in relation to inanimate objects, abstract concepts and animals. The pronoun "they" is used to refer to both animate and inanimate objects.
Possessive pronouns. (Possessive Pronouns)
Possessive pronouns serve as modifiers of nouns and always take place before the nouns they define. Unlike the Russian language, where there is a pronoun “svoy”, used with all persons, English possessive pronouns are used strictly in accordance with the pronouns. If there is a need to use a possessive pronoun without a noun, then there is a special form called the absolute form.
In English, possessive pronouns are used much more often and are simply obligatory with nouns denoting parts of the body, items of clothing and relatives, and possessive pronouns are used instead of a noun to avoid repetition
Julie's car is red. Mine is blue.
Possessive pronouns are used without an apostrophe.
The dog wagged its tail.
“It"s” is not a possessive pronoun or adjective — it means “it is”:
It's not my dog.
Reflexive pronouns. (Reflexive Pronouns)
Pronouns ending in “-self (-selves in the plural)” are called reflexive. Reflexive pronouns show that the action named in the sentence is directed at the person who performs it, therefore the reflexive pronoun must be related in form to the subject.
Forms of reflexive pronouns
| Personal Pronoun | Reflexive Pronoun |
|---|---|
| I | myself |
| you (singular) | yourself |
| you (plural) | yourselves |
| he | himself |
| she | herself |
| it | itself |
| we | ourselves |
| they | themselves |
Use
1. When the subject and object are the same:
I hurt myself. (I got hurt.)
The band call themselves “Dire Straits”.
He shot himself.
2. When a preposition is used
I bought a present for myself.
She did it by herself. (She did it alone.)
That man is talking to himself.
3. When we want to emphasize the subject
I"ll do it myself. (No one else will help me.) - I will do it myself.
They eat all the food themselves. (No one else had any.)
Demonstrative pronouns. (Demonstrative pronouns)
Demonstrative pronouns change according to numbers. Moreover, the pronoun “this” denotes an object located next to the speaker, and “that” - at a considerable distance; “that” can also be translated into Russian by the words “this, this”. In a sentence, demonstrative pronouns can be used as a subject, a noun modifier, or an object.
This is my father. And that is my uncle.
Its my father. And there is my uncle.
I don't like these apples. I don't like these apples.
They are too sour. They are too sour.
This is not salt. It's sugar. This is not salt. This is sugar.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns include all, each, either, neither, both, some, any, no, none, much, many, little, few, other, one.
Some, any, no
To indicate that they mean a certain number of (several) countable objects or a certain amount of substance, in English the pronoun “some” is used in affirmative sentences, and “any” in interrogative and negative sentences. These pronouns are usually pronounced without stress and do not allow any articles to be used before the noun.
Some - several, a little
Any- any amount
No - no, not at all
Take some glasses from that shelf. Take some glasses from that shelf.
Pour some water in them. Pour water into them.
Don't take any books from the case. Don't take books from the closet.
Have you got any money? Do you have any money?
The pronoun "any", in turn, can be used in affirmative sentences to mean "any", for example:
Take any cup you like. Take any mug you like.
The pronoun "no" has a negative meaning "no" and explains the noun, for example:
There is no milk in the jug. There is no milk in the jug.
He has no friends. He doesn't have (any) friends.
From the pronouns "some, any, no" complex pronouns can be formed: "somebody - anybody - nobody; something - anything - nothing; somewhere - anywhere - nowhere", and the same rules of use in different types of sentences apply to them as for "some, any, no". Pronouns formed with "-body" are used only in relation to people and are combined with a verb only in the singular. Pronouns formed with "-thing" are used to refer to inanimate objects and concepts.
There is somebody in the office. There is someone in the office.
Is there anyone at home? Is anyone at home?
I saw nobody in the garden. I didn't see anyone in the garden.
There is something wrong with him. Something happened to him.
He can do anything for you. He will do anything for you.
If you use negative pronouns "nobody, nothing" in a sentence, then the negative particle "not" is not required, since in English there can only be one negation.
Nobody knows anything about it. Nobody knows anything about this.
There is / There are
If they want to emphasize the presence or absence of an object or person in a certain place, the sentence begins with the construction “there is / there are (plural)”, followed by a noun denoting this person or object and the circumstance of the place. Translation of such a construction begins with the adverbial location:
There are many English books in his library. There are many English books in his library.
There is a chair at the table. There is a chair at the table.
The form of the verb "to be" in such constructions agrees with the first noun that follows it.
There is a dictionary and some books on the shelf. There is a dictionary and several books on the table.
There are flowers and a box of chocolates on the table. There are flowers and a box of chocolates on the table.
Are there any letters for me? Are there any letters for me?
Is there milk or juice in the jug? Is there milk or juice in the jug?
How many books are there in your library? How many books are in your library?
Negation can be formed in two ways: using the negative pronoun “no” or the negative particle “not” and the pronoun “any”.
There is no note for you. There is no note for you.
There isn't any news in her letter. There is no news in her letter.
Many, few, a few, much, little, a little.
Pronouns "many, few, few, several". The pronouns "many" - a lot and "few" - are rarely used only as definitions for countable nouns in the plural.
They have many friends in London. They have many friends in London.
He has few friends. He is very lonely. He has few friends. He is very lonely.
There are many ways to solve this problem. There are many ways to solve this problem.
The pronouns "much" - many and "little" - are rarely used with uncountable nouns (abstract concepts, substances...).
There is little milk in the cup. There is not enough milk in the cup.
We spend a lot of time on this experiment. We spend a lot of time on this experiment.
Do you have much money on you? Do you have a lot of money with you?
I have very little time. I do not have much time.
The combination “a few” means “several” and is used only with countable nouns; with uncountable nouns the combination “a little” is used, which means “little”.
Will you give me a little water? Can you give me some water?
I bought a few apples. I bought some (several) apples.
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns include the pronouns who who, what that, who (by profession), which, whose whose, which which. Interrogative pronouns are used to form special questions.
Who headed our delegation to the Trade Unions Conference? Who headed our delegation at the Trade Union Conference?
Doesn't always know what is what. He always knows what's what.
What do you know about the World Peace Council? What do you know about the World Peace Council?
If an interrogative pronoun is combined with a preposition, the preposition is usually placed at the end of the sentence:
What are you reading about? What are you reading about?
Whom are you speaking to? Who are you talking to?
The pronoun who refers to persons, the pronoun what refers to objects. But the pronoun what can also refer to persons when asked about profession or occupation:
Who is that? - That is Mister N. Who is this? - This is Mr. N.
What is Mister N.? - He is an officer. Who (by occupation, by profession) is Mr. N.? - He is an officer.
It seems that distinguishing between animate and inanimate objects is indecently simple: it’s like a game of animate and inanimate. But those who are guided by this principle are very mistaken. Animation, like, accordingly, inanimateness, is a separate category in the characteristic that has nothing to do with the external signs of a certain object. How can we explain the fact that, according to the rules, the word “corpse” is considered inanimate, and “dead” is considered animate? Acting at random? 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. We can say that asking a question is the most primitive, albeit very unreliable, way of defining this category. Usually children are introduced to it in the first or second grade. To practice this method, you can fill in the gaps in the following text with your students:
« The great (what?) flows in sleepy oblivion. Around (what?) and (what?). (Who?) slowly moved his skis, shook (what?) his hats from his ears. (Who?) quickly made a hole, and (what?) began. Soon he pulled out a huge one (who?). His mirror (what?) glittered 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 can you determine whether an object is animate or inanimate based on rules rather than 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 form in the same number. Of course, it will be much easier to understand with specific examples.
Let's 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 turns into " tables" when declension " tables-tables-tables» the accusative and the accusative are the same
Thus, the rule allows dividing an animate and an inanimate object only by placing them in the plural and subsequent declension. And then, based on the coincidence of case forms, this category is determined.
Exceptions
But, as you know, there are very few rules in the Russian language that do not have any exceptions. Thus, 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 names of toys ( matryoshka-matryoshka-matryoshka) - here you can still find a logical explanation. As well as card and chess suits ( pike-pike-pike, pawns-pawns-pawns), which even in their shapes do not fit this category.
Go ahead. Inanimate nouns, in turn, include large groups of people ( crowd-crowd-crowd) and some living organisms ( germs-germs-germs; microbes-germs-germs) - 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 in the singular: Anton-Anton-Anton, accountant-accountant-accountant However, this phenomenon is observed only in second declension nouns (compare: Dima-Dima-Dima, although this is also an animate masculine noun). So, in principle, this pattern can be used as another simple, albeit not very well-known, way of determining the category of animation in nouns.
I want to confuse
It is worth noting that in the Russian language there is an image of an inanimate object as an animate one. 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, it is a weak-willed mattress! or The Russian language is great and powerful! - This tongue (=captive) will tell us everything.
Exactly the same phenomenon occurs with the use of animate nouns as inanimate ones: A kite flies in the blue sky; The fighter began to descend. Here the category of animate and inanimate is determined based on the semantic content of the noun.
It is worth noting that, despite all the teachers’ demands to use the rules, most 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 names of professions, names of people by family affiliation, nationality and other groups will always be animate, and this also includes the names of animals. By the way, among animate nouns, as some researchers believe, there are only masculine and feminine words, while the neuter gender is already inanimate, like all names of natural objects 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 the questions of “who” and “what,” respectively. For practice, you can play “living-non-living” with your kids, where a word is called, and the child must determine what this object is.
Or another interesting task for younger schoolchildren - to offer a number of animate nouns that can be turned into inanimate by replacing one letter: fox (linden), goat (braid), 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 your intuition. Taking a minute to check the category of a noun can sometimes change the way you think about it. So spare no effort and practice the great and mighty Russian language.
The Internet has penetrated so deeply into people’s lives that it is now difficult to imagine how one can live without it, but even this was not enough for the best minds on the planet. In 1999, the concept of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) was formulated - a computer network between various physical objects, allowing them to interact with each other. Here are just a few of the fantastic opportunities that will open up for a person after bringing this concept to life.
1. Receiving a huge amount of data
The introduction of IoT technology will make it possible to systematize and analyze huge amounts of information - computers will be able to exchange information and perform calculations with virtually no human intervention.
According to Mary J. Cronin, a professor at Boston College and author of Smart Products, Smart Services, large companies will have to learn to process enormous amounts of information.
“This data must be carefully studied and analyzed to create an objective picture of the company's customers and market trends. Companies will be able to use the resources of the Internet of Things in their planning to remain competitive and respond in a timely manner to fluctuations in the market for goods and services,” says Cronin.
2. Tracking the location of things
“The IoT concept has enormous potential to increase business productivity and enable people to work much more efficiently,” says Professor Cronin.
The technology for tracking the location of things is already used in medical centers today: “beacons” are built into the equipment, which can be used to tell at any time where this or that device is located - this significantly saves the time and effort of doctors.
Mary J. Cronin is confident that this method will find wider use in the future: “Companies will be able to optimize everything from warehouse operations to direct fulfillment of customer orders if every industrial building, vehicle and even tool is marked on an electronic map and sent regularly report your location,” she states.
3. Accurate calculation of the route of movement
The Internet of Things will allow people to save time when traveling and moving around the city.
Engineers plan to equip vehicles with a variety of devices that will monitor the situation on the roads in real time, adjust the travel route and inform the driver about the technical condition of the car or other vehicle.
The largest companies in the world are currently developing such technologies, for example, BMW and General Motors. “Among other things, the cars are supposed to be equipped with LTE communications,” said Macario Namie, vice president of marketing at Jasper Wireless.
“Imagine that the entire road infrastructure will be connected to vehicles by a system of sensors, for example, analyzing traffic and controlling the operation of traffic lights - this will help save a lot of hours that we usually lose in traffic jams,” concludes Namie.
4. Increasing environmental friendliness of production
Thanks to IoT, it will be possible to combine all control and measuring instruments and sensors in any production into a single information network. In addition to efficient energy consumption, it will even be possible to quickly integrate alternative sources of environmentally friendly electricity into the system - for example, solar panels and wind generators.
According to Macario Namie: “Reducing production costs, efficient energy consumption, abandoning economically unprofitable assets - all this together will significantly reduce the cost of production, and the use of renewable sources of electricity will improve the environmental situation.”
5. Remote control of mobile devices
Remote control of electronic devices is not a new idea, and many IT specialists can provide themselves and others with this opportunity.
IoT Council member Roy Bashar predicts that people will soon be able to remotely control any device that has access to the Internet: game consoles, smartphones, tablets and almost any other gadget.
“Of course,” says Bashar, “telecommunications giants will play a major role in this interaction. Already at the beginning of 2014 we will see a new platform for managing IoT applications and several other developments.”
One of the companies involved in creating technologies for remote control of IoT devices is the startup “CommuniTake”, with which Roy Bashar is currently collaborating.
6. Complications of interaction with devices
Already, modern gadgets are crammed with many functions, which are sometimes difficult to understand, and in the future the situation will only get worse, says Bashar.
“When IoT technologies become familiar to us, smartphones will have such a function as monitoring the connection of IoT devices. We will control any devices with which a smartphone can establish communication,” this is how Roy sees the near future. “The many additional features will add significant complexity to operating systems and device platforms,” he adds.
Bashar believes that fundamentally new platforms will soon appear, different from Android and iOS.
7. Smartphones will learn to guess wishes
In addition to manipulating all sorts of devices, a smartphone will serve as a kind of remote control for people to control their own lives, says Brendan Richardson, co-founder and chief executive of the Charlottesville, Virginia-based startup PsiKick. PsiKick is developing wireless sensors that will be used in IoT.
According to Brendan, smartphones will become so smart that they will adapt to a specific person, simplifying some manipulations and reducing the time required to complete some operations. Gadgets through applications will be able to act on behalf of a person, ahead of his desires and “thinking” for the owner several steps ahead. For example, the gadget will be able to tell you where you can buy a cup of coffee without tiring lines and place an order in advance.
"There will be a lot of sensors built into iPhones and Android devices that will make this possible," Richardson explains.
8. The data sharing revolution
IoT technology will not only significantly optimize the work of millions of people around the world, but will also affect many other areas of activity, such as entertainment.
As an example of what humanity can expect in the near future, Brendan Richardson cites changes in the DVD movie industry over the past few years.
“Wide access to the Internet has virtually eliminated revenue from DVD rentals. Nowadays it is very easy to find thousands of films with just a few clicks of the mouse, so almost no one buys or rents DVDs, this business is gradually becoming just part of the story.”
Richardson is confident that changes associated with the implementation of the Internet of Things will affect almost all sectors of life, so people need to prepare for large-scale changes today.