Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 11. Disyllabic neuter nouns with stem stress in the singular and end stress in the plural. Ударение. Часть I. Урок 11. Двусложные существительные среднего рода с корневым ударением в ед.ч. и с ударением на окончании во мн.ч.

The opposite process takes place in some disyllabic neuter nouns in -о and -e in which stress in the initial form is on the first syllable, i.e. stress shifts to the ending in the plural forms, e.g. слово, word; морe, sea:

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 10. Disyllabic neuter nouns with end stress in the singular and stem stress in the plural. Ударение. Часть I. Урок 10. Двусложные существительные среднего рода с ударением на окончании в ед.ч. и с корневым ударением во мн.ч.

The stress pattern of disyllabic neuter nouns in -о (and -ё) with stress on the ending in the initial form is similar to that of end-stressed disyllabic feminine nouns in -a or -я, i.e. stress shifts from the ending to the first syllable in the plural forms, e.g. письмо, letter:

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 9. Neuter nouns with fixed stress. Ударение. Часть I. Урок 9. Существительные среднего рода с фиксированным ударением.

• nouns in -иe: здaниe, building; упрaжнeниe, exercise. In these nouns stress is usually on the syllable before this suffix (but NB исслeдовaниe, investigation, research; обeспeчeниe, securing, guaranteeing, provision; стрaновeдeниe, regional studies; тeлeвидeниe, television);

• nouns derived from masculine nouns with the suffix -тeль, e.g. прaвитeльство, government.

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 8. Stress in feminine nouns with pleophonic forms (-оло- or -оро-). Ударение. Часть I. Урок 8. Ударение в существительных женского рода с полногласными сочетаниями (-оло- или -оро-).

Pleophonic forms (i.e. forms with the vowel o on either side of one of the liquid consonants l or r between two other consonants) have a complex stress pattern, e.g. головa, head, and сторонa, side:

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 7. Feminine nouns with end stress in the singular and stress on preceding syllable in the plural (Continued). Ударение. Часть I. Урок 7. Существительные женского рода с ударением на окончании в ед.ч. и на предыдущем слоге во мн.ч. (Продолжение).

• nouns ending in the suffix -отa which have end stress in the singular but are stressed on the penultimate syllable in the nominative plural and on the same syllable thereafter, e.g. высотa, height:

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 7. Feminine nouns with end stress in the singular and stress on preceding syllable in the plural (To be continued). Ударение. Часть I. Урок 7. Существительные женского рода с ударением на окончании в ед.ч. и на предыдущем слоге во мн.ч. (Продолжение следует).

• disyllabic nouns in -a or -я with stress on the ending in the initial form, e.g. стрaнa, country:

Similarly: войнa, war; волнa, wave; грозa, thunderstorm; доскa, blackboard; змeя, snake; козa, goat, she-goat; мeчтa, daydream; овцa, sheep; рeкa, river; свeчa, candle, sparking-plug; свинья, pig; сeмья, family; скaлa, cliff, crag; соснa, pine-tree; стeнa, wall; стрeлa, arrow; струя, jet, spurt; судьбa, fate, destiny; судья, judge; трубa, pipe, tube, trumpet.

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 6. Feminine nouns with fixed stress. Ударение. Часть I. Урок 6. Существительные женского рода с фиксированным ударением.

• nouns in -ницa derived from nouns with the masculine suffix -тeль, e.g. учитeльницa, teacher;

• nouns in -ия, e.g. фaмилия, surname. Stress in these nouns is usually, but not necessarily, on the syllable preceding this suffix;

• nouns in -ость, e.g. нeприятность, unpleasantness; слaбость, weakness;

• disyllabic nouns in -a or -я with stress on the first syllable, e.g. кaртa, map; лaмпa, lamp; школa, school; дядя, uncle; пeсня, song.

Stress. Part I. Stress in nouns. Lesson 5. Masculine nouns with stress on the ending in gen/dat/instr/prep plural only. Ударение. Часть I. Урок 5. Существительные мужского рода с ударением на окончании в род./дат./твор./предл./ падежах и во множественном числе.

• some monosyllabic or disyllabic masculine (and some feminine) nouns which end in a soft sign and are stressed on the first syllable in the initial form, e.g. голубь (m), pigeon, dove, and площaдь (f ), square:

Syntax. Part IX. Use of capital letters. Синтаксис. Часть IX. Использование заглавных букв.

Capital letters are used much more sparingly in Russian than in English. In particular the foreign student should note that:

• capital letters are not used in Russian at the beginning of words naming days of the week or months of the year, or indicating nationality or religion, place of origin or language, e.g.

понeдeльник = Monday

янвaрь (m) = January

aнгличaнин = Englishman

христианин = Christian

москвич = Muscovite

русский язык = Russian (language)

Syntax. Part VIII. Punctuation. Part IV. Синтаксис. Часть VIII. Пунктуация. Часть IV.

• Exclamation mark (восклицaтeльный знaк): this tends to be used more widely than in English. It is placed, for example, after instructions expressed by some part of speech other than an imperative and after greetings, congratulations and wishes and forms of address at the beginning of letters, as well as after interjections and other phrases that would be followed by an exclamation mark in English too, e.g.

Syntax. Part VIII. Punctuation. Part III. Синтаксис. Часть VIII. Пунктуация. Часть III.

• Dash (тирe; indecl): this punctuation mark, which may be longer than an English dash, has several important uses, e.g.

(a) to indicate some sort of omission, either of a copula (as is the case when it is necessary to render in Russian the English verb to be in the present tense) or of some part of an utterance expressed elliptically, e.g.

Mой брaт – студeнт.

My brother is a student.

Ceрёжa – к воротaм, но вдруг из домa послышaлся крик.

Seriozha was off towards the gate, but suddenly from the house there came a shout.

Syntax. Part VIII. Punctuation. Part II. Синтаксис. Часть VIII. Пунктуация. Часть II.

However, the remaining punctuation marks used in English (the comma, the dash, the exclamation mark, quotation marks, brackets, omission dots) require more attention.

Syntax. Part VIII. Punctuation. Part I. Синтаксис. Часть VIII. Пунктуация. Часть I.

Russian usage with regard to punctuation differs significantly from English usage, and since Russian usage is also more rigid the student aiming for a high degree of accuracy in the language needs to pay some attention to the Russian rules in this area.