Грамматика русского языка. Часть 11. Пунктуация. Глава 3. Тире. Russian Grammar. Part 11. Punctuation. Unit 3. The Dash.

Dash, the 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.

Note: the dash is not normally used to indicate a missing copula when the subject is a pronoun, e.g.
Oн студeнт, He is a student.

Урок 23. Использование слова “свой”. Lesson 23. Use of the word “свой”.

Use of this word gives much difficulty to the English-speaker, because English has only one possessive pronoun for each person. Cвой declines like мой and agrees in gender, case and number with the noun it qualifies. It denotes possession by the person or thing which is the subject of the clause in which the possessive pronoun occurs irrespective of whether that subject is first, second or third person and  singular or plural. It might therefore translate any of the English possessive pronouns in the following variations:
I/you/he/she/we/they have/has lost my/your/his/her/our/their money.
Я/ты/он/онa/мы/вы/они потeрял(a/и) свои дeньги.

Часть 10. Перевод английских вспомогательных модальных глаголов. Глава 1. Перевод глагола CAN. Part 10. Translation of English modal auxiliary verbs. Unit 1. Translation of the verb CAN.

Modal verbs express the mood or attitude of the speaker towards an action. The English modals give rise to much difficulty for the English-speaking student trying to render their meaning in a foreign
language, as they do for the foreign student of English, because each modal is used in various ways and is more or less interchangeable with one or more other modals in some meanings (e.g. can/could, can/may, may/might). Moreover, the differences of meaning between certain
modals (e.g. must, should, ought, may, might) may be so subtle that English-speakers themselves will not agree on the verbs’ precise nuances.

Урок 10. Пропуск глагола ЕСТЬ. Lesson 10. Omission of the verb ЕСТЬ.

Прочитайте предложения:
Read the sentences:
 
У Кати много друзей. [U Kati mnoga druzey]
У меня много книг на английском и на испанском языках. [U minya mnoga knik na angliskam i na ispanskam yazykah]
У нашего города интересная история. [U nashiva gorada intiresnaya istoriya]

In the expression of quality or quantity of a person or thing we don't use the verb ЕСТЬ. 
In sentences containing an evaluation, the logical stress is shifted from the availability to the quality and quantity of the person or thing mentioned, which make the use of the verb  ЕСТЬ unnecessery.

Сравните диалоги:
Compare the dialogues: