A proper name is Name a noun expressed by the word or, naming a specific object or phenomenon. Unlike a common noun, which immediately denotes a whole object or phenomenon, Name own is intended for one, very specific object of this class. For example, "" is a common noun Name is a noun, whereas “War and Peace” is a proper noun. The word "river" represents Name a common noun, but “Cupid” is Name proper. Proper names can be names of people, patronymics, titles of books, songs, films, geographical names. Proper names are written with a capital letter. Some types of proper names require quotation marks. This applies to literary works ("Eugene Onegin"), paintings ("Mona Lisa"), films ("Only Old Men Go to Battle"), theaters ("Variety"), and other types of nouns. When translating proper names into other languages, transcription methods are used: Gogolya-street (Gogol Street), radio Mayak (Radio “Mayak”). Proper names are not specially distinguished. Proper names and common nouns are not separated from each other by an impenetrable wall. Proper names can turn into common nouns, and vice versa. For example, “avatar” was just a common noun until Avatar was made. Now this word, depending on the context, plays the role of a common noun or a proper noun. “Schumacher” is the surname of a certain racing driver, but gradually all lovers of fast driving began to be called “Schumachers.” Trademarks that are unique producers of a certain type of product or simply monopolists can become common nouns from proper names. A striking example is the company Xerox, which produces electrophotographic copiers. This company still exists today, but “copiers” are now called all copiers in general.

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• how to write proper names

Tip 2: How to determine whether a proper name or a common noun

Nouns name objects, phenomena or concepts. These meanings are expressed using the categories of gender, number and case. All nouns belong to the groups of proper and common nouns. Proper nouns, which serve as names of individual objects, are contrasted with common nouns, which denote generalized names of homogeneous objects.

Instructions

To determine proper nouns, determine whether the name is an individual designation of an object, i.e. does it make it stand out? Name» an object from a number of similar ones (Moscow, Russia, Sidorov). Proper nouns name first and last names of persons and names of animals (Nekrasov, Pushok, Fru-fru); geographical and astronomical objects (America, Stockholm, Venus); , organizations, print media (Pravda newspaper, Spartak team, Eldorado store).

Proper names, as a rule, do not change in number and are used only in the singular (Voronezh) or only in the plural (Sokolniki). Please note that there are exceptions to this rule. Proper nouns are used in the plural form if they denote different persons and objects that have the same name (both Americas, namesake Petrovs); persons who are related (the Fedorov family). Also, proper nouns can be used in the plural form if they name a certain type of people, “selected” according to the qualitative characteristics of a famous literary character. Please note that in this meaning, nouns lose the attribute of belonging to a group of individual objects, therefore it is acceptable to use both capital and lowercase letters (Chichikovs, Famusovs, Pechorins).

A spelling feature that distinguishes proper nouns is the use of capital letters and. Moreover, all proper names are always letters, and the names of institutions, organizations, works, objects are used as appendices and are enclosed in quotation marks (the motor ship “Fedor Chaliapin”, Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”). The application may include any part of speech, but the first word is always capitalized (Daniel Defoe’s novel “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe”).

The noun in Russian has various distinctive features. To show the peculiarities of the emergence and use of certain linguistic units, they are divided into common nouns and proper nouns.

Instructions

Common nouns are nouns that denote the name of certain objects and phenomena that have a common set of characteristics. These objects or phenomena belong to any class, but in themselves do not carry any special indications of this

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 consists of They denote the names of a class of objects or phenomena that have a number of characteristics by which they can be attributed to the specified class. For example, common nouns are: cat, table, corner, river, girl. They do not name a specific object or person or animal, but designate a whole class. Using 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 constitute 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, and countries. For example: Volga, Olga, Russia, Danube. They are always written with a capital letter and indicate a specific person or single object.

The science of onomastics deals with the study of proper names.

Onomastics

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

Onomastologists identify several directions in this science. Thus, anthroponymy studies the names of people, and ethnonymy studies the names of peoples. Cosmonymics and astronomy study the names of stars and planets. Zoonymics studies animal names. Theonymics deals with the names of gods.

This is one of the most promising areas in linguistics. Research on onomastics is still being conducted, articles are being published, and conferences are being held.

Transition of common nouns into proper nouns and vice versa

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

For example, if a person is called by a name that was previously part of the class of common nouns, it becomes a proper name. A striking example of such a transformation is the names Vera, Lyubov, Nadezhda. They used to be household names.

Surnames formed from common nouns also become anthroponyms. So, we can highlight the surnames Cat, Cabbage and many others.

As for proper names, they quite often move into another category. This often concerns people's last names. Many inventions bear the names of their authors; sometimes the names of scientists are assigned to the quantities or phenomena they discovered. So, we know the units of measurement ampere and newton.

The names of the heroes of the works can become household names. Thus, the names Don Quixote, Oblomov, Uncle Styopa came to designate certain traits of appearance or character characteristic of people. The names 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 means in order to avoid mistakes when writing the word. But often it is possible from the context. We think you understand what a common and proper name is. The examples we have given show this quite clearly.

Rules for writing proper names

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

1. Proper names are always written with a capital letter, for example: Ivan, Gogol, Catherine the Great.
2. People's nicknames are also written with a capital letter, but without the use of quotation marks.
3. Proper names, used in the meaning of common nouns, are written with a small letter: Don Quixote, Don Juan.
4. If next to a proper name there are function words or generic names (cape, city), then they are written with a small letter: Volga River, Lake Baikal, Gorky Street.
5. If a proper name is the name of a newspaper, cafe, book, then it is placed in quotation marks. In this case, the first word is written with a capital letter, the rest, if they do not refer to proper names, are written with a small letter: “The Master and Margarita”, “Russian Truth”.
6. Common nouns are written with a small letter.

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

Let's sum it up

All nouns are divided into two large classes - proper nouns and common nouns. There are much fewer of the former than the latter. Words can move from one class to another, acquiring a new meaning. Proper names are always written with a capital letter. Common nouns - with a small one.

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 noun” comes from “naming”, “criticism”, and is used for the general name of homogeneous, similar objects and phenomena, and “proper” means “feature”, an individual person or a single object. This naming distinguishes it from other objects of the same type.

For example, the common noun “river” defines all rivers, but the Dnieper and Yenisei are proper names. These are constant grammatical features of nouns.

What are proper names in Russian?

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

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

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 written with a capital letter. For example: Vanya, Morozko, Moscow, Volga, Kremlin, Russia, Rus', 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, companies, events, etc.

Compare: Bolshoi Theater, But the Sovremennik theater, the Don River and the novel Quiet Don, the play The Thunderstorm, the Pravda newspaper, the ship Admiral Nakhimov, the Lokomotiv stadium, the Bolshevichka factory, the Mikhailovskoye museum-reserve.

Please note: the same words, depending on the context, can be common nouns or proper words and are written according to the rules. Compare: bright sun and star Sun, native land and planet Earth.

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

Let's look at an example: Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote a poem that made him famous. This means that 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 an ancient Greek word and means “the art of naming”

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

Anthroponyms are the 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, city names, streets, which may reflect the specifics of the landscape, historical events, religious motives, lexical features of the indigenous population, and economic characteristics. For example: Rostov-on-Don, Kulikovo Field, Sergiev Posad, Magnitogorsk, Strait of Magellan, Yaroslavl, Black Sea, Volkhonka, Red Square, etc.

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

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

Common noun - what is it?

These nouns name any concept from many similar ones. They have a lexical meaning, that is, information content, 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 find out age and gender.

Examples of common nouns

All the realities of the world around us are called common names. These are words that express 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 determine proper or common noun

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

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

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

But if different persons or objects are named, they can be used in the plural ( Ivanov family, both Americas). They are written with a capital letter, if necessary in quotation marks.

Worth noting: There is a constant exchange between proper and common nouns; they tend to move into the opposite category. Common words faith, hope, love became proper names in the Russian language.

Many borrowed names were also originally common nouns. For example, Peter – “stone” (Greek), Victor – “winner” (Latin), Sophia – “wisdom” (Greek).

Often in history, proper names become common nouns: hooligan (English Houlihan family of ill repute), Volt (physicist Alessandro Volta), Colt (inventor Samuel Colt). Literary characters can become household names: Donquixote, Judas, Plyushkin.

Toponyms gave names to many objects. For example: cashmere fabric (Kashmir Valley of Hindustan), cognac (province in France). In this case, the animate proper name becomes an inanimate common noun.

And vice versa, it happens that generic concepts become non-common nouns: Lefty, cat Fluffy, Signor Tomato.