In order to better understand foreign language speech, you need to learn to feel it, develop the so-called “linguistic sense”, that is, learn to intuitively select correct option. To do this, you need to be interested in the life of the country of the language you are learning, its traditions, its culture. But of course, you need to know the main differences in the grammar of English and Russian.
Let's analyze how sentences are constructed in Russian and in English.
1. Let's take Russian and English sentences:I am a manager - I am a manager. (I am the manager)
Cold - It is cold. (It's getting cold)
What is the difference? (in Russian there may be no subject or predicate, no articles)
Remember:
a) B English sentence Both main members of the sentence (subject and predicate) must be present. In Russian, a sentence can be without one of them. In English, a predicate cannot exist without a subject, since only with it does it coordinate its form.
B) In English, articles are used.
2.
Look at these two sentences:
In the yard, the cat caught a mouse.
A cat caught a mouse in the yard.
What is the difference? Has the meaning of the sentence changed? (No)
Now let’s compare two English sentences:
The cat caught the mouse in the yard.
The mouse caught the cat in the yard.
Has the meaning of the sentence changed? (Yes. The first one is translated: In the yard, the cat caught a mouse.
And second: A mouse caught a cat in the yard.) What conclusion can be drawn?
Conclusion:
Since there are no endings in English, when the order of words in a sentence is changed, its meaning changes.
Remember:
c) In English there is a strict order of words in a sentence. At the beginning of the thought, the object in question is indicated (subject), then comes the action (predicate), and after that - additions and circumstances.
3.
Compare:
If the Russians say: “It’s raining”, the British will say: “It’s raining” ( It rains)
We hear in Russian: “Help yourself,” and in English this phrase sounds like this: “Help yourself!” ( Help yourself, please!)
In English, many utterances include the verb to have:
To have breakfast- have breakfast (but not “have breakfast”);
Remember:
d) The same meaning in Russian and English languages transmitted different shapes, that is, different language models.
4.
Compare:
I found the dog - I found the dog.
I have found the dog! - I found a dog!
What is the difference?
The first sentence is a simple description of the fact.
In the second sentence, the person is happy about the accomplished fact.
Remember:
e) One of the important differences is that in Russian emotional condition is conveyed mainly using intonation; in English, the main role in a sentence belongs to the verb, therefore the emotional coloring is conveyed using verb form group Perfect.
I read the news:
“Philologists have added the expressions OMG!, IMHO and LOL to the Oxford Dictionary... The updated version of the Oxford Dictionary, in addition to the above-mentioned abbreviations, includes the expressions “flat white”, which means coffee with milk, and “muffin top”, that is, extending over skirts and low-waisted pants are part of body fat.” Gazeta.ru
The Oxford Dictionary is one of the most famous academic dictionaries of the English language. The 2005 edition contains approximately 301,100 articles.
Well, they turned it on and okay, it’s their business. (I would not approve of the inclusion in the “Big Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language” of such “words” as “Z.Y.” or “LJ”).
But I remembered that I recently read, which hooked me with one of the theses: they say, the English language is very rich in words, and Russian is very poor. And the main criterion chosen was precisely the comparison of the numbers of dictionary entries, words, in the main, largest dictionaries: “ English during the 20th century. increased its vocabulary several times, up to 750 thousand words, then the Russian language rather suffered losses and currently has, according to the most generous estimates, no more than 150 thousand lexical units" The article does not provide a source for estimating the number of words in English. However, apparently, the assessment of reality corresponds to: “ The English language contains about 490 thousand words and another 300 thousand. technical terms. This is more than in any other language"(Language Records), Webster's complete dictionary contains about 425 thousand words. The Russian language was assessed according to the “Large Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language.” At the same time, Epstein adds: “ and if without lexicographical additions, then only 40-50 thousand words" [In russian language].
So it was precisely the “lexicographical additions” in the Russian language dictionary that I remembered when I read the message about IMHO and LOL in the Oxford Dictionary. From my point of view, these are also postscripts! How many such and other postscripts are there in English dictionaries?
But it is not important. The main thing is that out of these hundreds of thousands of words (it doesn’t matter whether out of 750 thousand or 150 thousand) people use only a few tens of thousands, or even a few thousand in total! " It is unlikely that a person speaking English uses more than 60 thousand words. Even those who have passed the full 16 year educational course, use approximately 5 thousand words per oral speech and up to 10 thousand words when writing. Lexicon members of the International Philosophical Society averages 36,250 words. (Only those with an IQ greater than 148 can become members of this society.) Shakespeare used 33 thousand words in his works."(Language records).
So every developed language has enough for everything you need. It doesn’t matter how much stuff is put into dictionaries.
The languages are different. Different both in the meaning conveyed by the same word, when one word corresponds to many meanings in another language (truth - in Russian or truth or truth; blue - blue or blue), and in relation to the action (I, who know English extremely poorly , I can’t understand what the English mean by the present perfect tense of verbs - if done, then it’s already past, right?). One with short words, the other with long ones (high man). In one, words are easily glued together into a new word, in the other - not (aftershock). In one, “simple” concepts are easily used for new developments, in the other, “words cannot be said in simplicity,” and they cannot do without clarifications (lowcoster is a budget airline, blackout is a power outage).
And it’s in vain that Epstein counts words in dictionaries, that’s not the point.
But what he is right about, in my opinion, and this is more important than the “number of words in the language”, is that the development of the Russian language is slowing down, and this at a time when there is a rapid development of both society and technology (that aka Internet). Russians have lost the ability to create words.
« Meanwhile, large-scale public discussions about language flare up in Russia, as a rule, only in connection with projects of spelling reforms that affect the most minor and formal aspects in the life of the language. It’s as if the fate of a language depends on the spelling “tsi” or “qi” or on the use of a hyphen in adverbs, and not on how rich in concepts and meanings this language is and whether it is able to grow and branch from its own roots. Some kind of dogmatic inertia hangs over the topic of language in Russia. ...In disputes about the spelling of “and” and “s” after pinching, Russia may live to see that the Cyrillic alphabet will be archived as unnecessary and forgotten in one or two generations, so that our great-grandchildren will already have Pushkin, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy read in Latin. It's good if not English translation. Or in “Ruslish” (“Russian ing-lish”), which will become one of the provincial versions of English, with a small interspersment of native words like “toska” and “bespredel”. It is not spelling reforms that should concern Russian society, but the prospects for the creative evolution of the Russian language, its lexical richness and grammatical flexibility, the ability to absorb and multiply the subtlest shades of thought in order to become on par with the new century in enlightenment and mental fertility.» ().
That's right! But this is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Which of those who can influence global national issues in modern Russia I wonder what will happen in 30-50 years? “After us...” you know what. “We, they say, won’t be here anymore” (literally and figuratively). For example, a completely different topic is that . “Well, they say, I lost it and what the hell with it!”
But life goes on. And apocalyptic predictions, thank God, do not come true. But the path to progress in Russia goes through deep ravines, and this is reflected in the result. So we went through the ravine of the “(pseudo-)socialist path of development”, got out of it, but lost our strength and fell behind everyone else. So it is with language. We climbed into the ravine of borrowing and stopped developing. Over time the situation will change. But time will pass!
In Russian, gender is expressed using endings. But in English it is simply absent. There are no such concepts as masculine, feminine or neuter.
But what about “he” or “she”, you ask? This is not a gender, but only different words denoting female or male representatives. And these pronouns can only be used in relation to people. For example:
- A girl - she.
- A boy - he.
- A cat - it.
- A window - it.
Nouns, verbs, and adjectives have no gender:
- A tall girl.
- A tall boy.
- A tall tree.
As we can see, the word tall does not change.
Remembering this will remove one of the barriers in colloquial speech and you will be able to use adjectives easily.
2. Determining words always come before the noun
All defining words (adjectives, possessive pronouns, numerals) are placed before a noun in English.
In French, for example, the adjective comes after the noun. And in Russian - anywhere: and “ a handsome boy", and "the boy is beautiful", and "a handsome boy came to the store."
Remember the formula: which, whose, how much + noun.
For example:
- Interesting story - an interesting story.
- My family - my family.
- Three friends - three comrades.
3. English has a possessive case.
If something belongs to someone, in Russian it will be shown by cases. English also has a special case, but in a slightly different form - possessive noun.
4. English has articles
This grammatical category English needs to first forgive, and then try to understand. These are not just little words that complicate grammar for us, but a whole part of speech that cannot be ignored.
There are very few articles: definite and indefinite. And indefinite article there are two forms:
- a - is placed if the next word begins with a consonant;
- an - put if the next word begins with a vowel sound.
The indefinite article comes from the Old English word one and, under the influence of reduction, was reduced to one letter. But the meaning has not changed. Therefore, if you can mentally substitute “some one” in front of a noun, then this article should appear in English.
Definite article the derived from the English pronouns this (this) and that (that) and also shortened under the influence of reduction.
If you can put “this” or “that” in front of a noun, then in English you can safely put the article the.
For example:
- There is a book on the table. - There is (one) book on the table.
- The book on the table is very interesting. - (This) book on the table is very interesting.
Knowing this, you will remove 90% of the difficulties. The remaining 10% will have to be remembered.
5. English verb tense answers two questions: “When?” and “Which one?”
Let's start with statistics: 32 tense structures can be counted in the English language, 12 tenses are expected for the classical study of grammar, but only nine need to be known in order to feel confident in the country of the language being studied. They should be learned to the point of automaticity.
Time English verb- this is a more complex phenomenon than in Russian. It expresses when the action occurred, and from this point of view, just like in Russian, there is present (Present), past (Past) and future (Future).
Also, the tense of the English verb emphasizes what the action was: simple - Simple (usual, daily), long - Continuous (a certain period of time is required or the process of performing the action is emphasized), perfect - Perfect (it has already happened or should happen by a certain moment).
Combination of characteristics “When?” and “Which one?” and gives English Times. To form tenses, so-called auxiliary verbs are used. Having memorized them, it is very easy to form tenses according to the following scheme.
| When/what | Simple | Continuous | Perfect |
| Present | V 1; he, she, it Vs (do, does) I play/He plays |
Am Is Ving Are He is playing |
Have V 3/ed Has He has played |
| Past | V 2/ed; (did) He played |
Was Were Ving He was playing |
Had V 3/ed He had played |
| Future | Will V He will play |
Will be Ving He will be playing |
Will have V 3/ed He will have played |
*V (verb) - verb.
6. In English, word order determines meaning.
English belongs to the group of analytical languages, that is, with the use special means (auxiliary verbs, function words, a certain order words) to connect words in a sentence. In Russian, the word itself changes, but in English, the meaning is conveyed by word order or additional forms.
For example:
- The hunter killed the bear.
- The bear was killed by a hunter.
- A hunter killed a bear.
- A hunter killed a bear.
No matter how we rearrange the words in a sentence, the meaning does not change. We understand who killed whom, due to case endings(who? - hunter, whom? - bear).
But this trick won't work with English. The hunter killed the bear. If you swap the words in this proposal, the meaning will immediately change: the hunter will be dead, not the bear.
Strict word order is very important. Remember this diagram and use it.
How to use this knowledge in learning English
1. Treat grammar like math formulas.
Fix the rule in your mind in the form of a diagram or formula (drawing skills will help a lot with this) and simply substitute different words.
2. When learning the rules, focus on the differences between English and Russian
Ask yourself the question: “How is this in Russian?” If there are similarities, you will not feel discomfort when remembering, and if there are differences, you will concentrate on them better. Compare and Contrast - great way recording new information.
3. Rearrange Russian sentences in the English manner
Compose a sentence in Russian in accordance with the rules of the English language and only then translate it.
Mom washed the frame. → Who + verb (past continuous) + what + articles before nouns. → The mother was washing the window.
Before you start teaching English, it is important to generally understand the main differences between the models of constructing English and native languages. As children, we actively create our own experience, a model of the world that is around us, and at the same time develop ways of knowing and interacting with this world. One of essential tools interaction and knowledge of the world - a language that in itself is an integral separate model!
At a certain stage own development we begin to proceed more from the models we have created than from external reality. Therefore, when learning the next language (foreign), the “struggle” of the created and created language structures begins! To avoid your own and unjustified “losses”, it is important to build new model in constant relation (comparison) with what is available and already works well! In addition, many patterns of creating an existing model can be well adapted for the development of subsequent ones.
Everything stated here is also important for the development of linguistic intuition and a sense of language. Since approximate knowledge of how the model is structured, comprehension of the logic of its construction allows us to predict what is still unknown, based on general ideas.
Russian and English languages belong not only to different branches, but also to different language families. Therefore, one of the main mistakes of people studying this area, is an attempt at literal translation from one language to another. This leads to incorrect construction of sentences, and, accordingly, to a distortion of the interlocutor’s understanding of speech. In this regard, before you start learning a foreign language, we recommend that you first become familiar with the main differences foreign language from my native one. This will help you consciously develop your linguistic competence, develop a sense of language, master the key rules of sentence construction and word formation, thus creating the foundation for further construction of the building.
We recommend that you periodically (every two to three months) return to reading this section in order to compare the experience gained with the main patterns from time to time, paving the way to a combination of explicit and implicit methods of learning, a deeper generalization of the skills being developed, polishing the subtleties and nuances.
So, Russian and English belong to the Indo-European family of languages. The Russian language belongs to the East Slavic branch of languages, the English language to the Germanic branch.
1. Russian language is synthetic, that is, the main part of the work in the proposal is performed bygraduation, and each word has its own form.English - analytical, where the main role in the sentence belongs toverb(to the predicate). And the meaning of the sentence will depend on the form in which you use the verb, which, unlike the Russian language, showsHowaction takes place. For example:
Usually - No plays tennis
Now - He is playing tennis
For a while - Hehas been playing tennis
He usually plays to tennis.
Now he plays to tennis.
He's been around for some timeplays to tennis.
What can be expressed with a verb in English, in Russian, to express the same thought, more clarifying words are needed (usually, now, for some time).
2. In English there is a strict order of words in a sentence.
At the beginning of the thought, the object in question is indicated, then there is an action, then an indication of this object (object), and after this there follows a circumstance as an indication of the conditions of the action taking place.
For example:
The cat caught the mouse in the yard.
In the yard, the cat caught a mouse.
Since there are no endings in English, if you change the order of words in a sentence, its meaning will change.
Compare:
The mouse caught the cat in the yard.
A mouse caught a cat in the yard.
Anyone who studied English at school probably remembers how teachers asked you to translate sentences from the end. The fact is that in Russian, sentences, as a rule, begin with a circumstance, that is, with a description of the situation.
3. The third difference is that in the English language, both main members are necessarily present in a sentence - subject and predicate. In Russian, a sentence can have no predicate or no subject.
For example:
1.
He actor.
In English this sentence would sound like this:
He is an actor.
He is an actor.
2.Today weather hot.
In English we will say:
There is weather hot today.
The weather is hot today.
3. It gets dark.
In English it will be:
It's becoming darker.
It is getting dark.
The predicate in English cannot exist without a subject, since only with it does it coordinate its form.
4. The same meaning in Russian and English is conveyed in different forms, that is, by different language patterns.
If the Russians say: " It's raining". The British will say this: “It rains.”
We hear in Russian: “Help yourself!” In English, this phrase would sound like this: “Help yourself!” (Help yourself, please!)
In English, many utterances include the verb to have:
to have breakfast - to have breakfast;
to have a smoke - to smoke;
to have a break - go on a break;
to have smb"s hair cut - get a haircut;
to have a walk - to walk, take a walk.
The English and Russians spell (spell) words differently. Officially, they are spelled by pronouncing the names of the letters. In everyday life, Americans use the names of words, for example: Time - tennis, ice, mouse, elf.
Spelling an unfamiliar word in Russian will sound like this: Time - Vera, Raya, Elena, Maria, Yana.
5. In English, one part of speech can change into another without changing its form. The English say that any noun can be transformed into a verb, for example:
wave (wave) - to wave (wave hand);
shake (cocktail) - to shake (shake);
pocket (pocket) - to pocket (put something in your pocket);
deposit (contribution) - to deposit (give for storage);
arm (weapon) - to arm (arm);
shoe (shoe) - to shoe (shod).
If in Russian we take a word out of context, we can easily determine which part of speech it belongs to. In English, due to the lack of endings, we cannot always do this.
6. One of the important differences is that in Russian the emotional state is conveyed mainly through intonation. In the English language, the main role belongs to the verb, therefore emotional coloring is conveyed using the verb form of the Perfect group.
Compare: I found the dog. - I found a dog. (Simple description of fact).
I have found the dog. - I found a dog! (The person is happy about the accomplished event.)
I am waiting for you. - I'm waiting for you.
I have been waiting for you. - I've been waiting for you for some time. (The sentence is emotionally charged. The speaker wants to draw the interlocutor’s attention to the fact of expectation).
The English will always talk about some events using the perfect tense, for example, if they want to report that they visited a city or country:
I was in Paris! - I have been to Paris.
She was in Scotland. - She has been to Scotland.
IN in this case grammatical form emphasizes treating the trip as an event, and not as a secondary fact.
If someone says this using the simple past tense (I was in Paris.), then this can be interpreted as disrespect for the interlocutor from this city or country.
In our book, we offer you a series of exercises that will help you not only navigate the differences between Russian and English, but also build in basic “filters” that allow you to overcome barriers to language perception and optimize further learning.
From the book by A. Pligin, I. Maksimenko "Now Let's Play English", St. Petersburg publishing house "Prime - EUROZNAK", Moscow, "OLMA-PRESS", 2005.