It is unlikely that anyone will argue with the statement that punctuation is a very complex section of the Russian language. Moreover, not only foreign citizens who decide to learn Russian, but also native speakers themselves face many difficulties in this section.
There are many punctuation marks in Russian. But we will devote this article to quotation marks. Let's try to figure out why such a punctuation mark is needed, what function it has and how to use it correctly. And in order to better understand everything, it will not be superfluous to turn to some facts regarding the origin of the quotes themselves.
Quotation marks are a relatively young punctuation mark. Their appearance in Russian dates back to around the end of the 18th century. And here it is worth noting that since the 16th century quotation marks have already been used - but as a musical sign. And what is the origin of this very word - "quotation marks"?
Interestingly, there is no consensus among linguists on this matter. The vast majority of scholars argue that this word comes from such a verb in the southern Russian dialect as “kavykat”, that is, “waddle”, “limpe”. Strange association, isn't it?
And this is explained quite simply: in this very dialect, the word “kavysh” is translated as “duckling” or “gosling”. And the quotation marks were presented as some kind of squiggles or, in other words, traces from the paws of ducklings or goslings.
Did you know that there are several types of quotes? An interesting fact is that their name depends directly on the country from which they originated. An important role in their name was also played by the similarity with some objects.
One kind of quotation marks that are used in Russian are called French "herringbones". Another type of this punctuation mark, which can also be found in Russian written speech, is called the German "paws".
There are other types of quotation marks that are not typical of Russian punctuation, but for some reason some people still mistakenly use them in written Russian. We are talking about "single" or "double" quotes, which are used in English writing. The norm in Russian punctuation is considered to be the use of only French "Christmas trees" (which are used as ordinary quotation marks) and German "paws" (which are used when writing text by hand or as quotation marks inside quotation marks: "... " ... "...").
Exist certain rules use of any punctuation marks, and quotation marks are no exception. What are quotation marks? Quotation marks are a paired character that we use in a letter where there is a need to highlight in a letter:
1. Certain types of speech:
Direct speech;
Quotes from any sources;
2. Meanings of words:
Names of organizations, firms, enterprises, varieties, brands, etc.;
With an indirect, figurative meaning, including an ironic and (or) reverse meaning (for example: "clever", that is stupid man or a person who has committed a rash act).
- (Quotation marks, Quotes) Paired punctuation marks [period, comma, colon, dash, ellipsis, etc.], used to highlight names, direct speech, quotes, etc. There are several types of quotation marks used depending on ... ... Font terminology
- (quotes are wrong), quotes, units. no. The sign (or ") to highlight other people's words, quotes, direct speech of characters in a literary work, as well as the names of lit. and other works and words, upotr. in ironic or conditional, improper ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
A paired punctuation mark (. or) used to highlight direct speech in the text (including quotations and titles), as well as words that are not used in the usual sense ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
QUOTATION MARKS, check, units chka, and, wives. Signs (, or ) to highlight direct speech, quotations, titles, as well as words used in a conventional or ironic sense. Take a quote in k. Scientist in quotation marks (not deserving of this title, the so-called; iron.) ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
Quotes- A pattern in which your message is included in a quote, as if someone else said it. A linguistic pattern in which your message is expressed as if it were being spoken by someone else. Brief explanatory psychological and psychiatric dictionary ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia
Quotes- a paired punctuation mark used to highlight names, direct speech, quotations, to emphasize the ironic use of a word or phrase, etc. In the typographical set of K., there are usually two drawings: "" so-called. Christmas trees and t. paws. ... ... Publishing Dictionary
Punctuation mark. They are used in constructions with direct speech, with quotations and single words. The quoting marks the called various reasons foreignness of words for the author of the statement. Sometimes the use of quotation marks can be explained ... Literary Encyclopedia
quotes- a punctuation mark in the form of a double comma is used when transmitting someone else's speech, titles, conditional names, highlighting concepts and words. When writing quickly, quotation marks look like scribbles. They arose from an almost universally forgotten word ... ... Entertaining etymological dictionary
Check, check; pl. (singular quotation mark, and; f.). Typographic signs (, etc.) to highlight direct speech, quotations, titles; words used not in their own, but in an ironic or conditional sense, as well as words and expressions from a lexicon alien to the author. ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
A paired punctuation mark, which is used to highlight direct speech, quotations, the names of literary works, newspapers, magazines, enterprises, as well as individual words, if they are not included in the text in their usual meaning, are used in ... ... Dictionary of linguistic terms
Books
- Homeless Day. Put in quotation marks, Bazarova Nadezhda Vasilievna. The work of the St. Petersburg writer Nadezhda Bazarova is presented in this book with fascinating stories with a slight accent of the criminal genre and an intriguing plot.…
- Homeless day. Put in quotation marks, Bazarova Nadezhda Vasilievna. The work of the St. Petersburg writer Nadezhda Bazarova is presented in this book with fascinating stories with a slight accent of the criminal genre and…
, - and, in particular, English spelling - you just need to learn the rules for using quotation marks.
The main purpose of using quotation marks in English is to highlight and represent direct speech (both oral and written) coming from a specific person. Very often quotes can be found in fiction and poetry, where they are used to frame the statements of the characters in the work.
It is equally important to use quotation marks when quoting. Indeed, in this case, you will protect yourself from plagiarism and achieve scientific reliability.
So, let's look at the main cases when quotes should be used in English.
Direct speech
With the help of direct speech, you can quote the exact statements of another person in your narrative. Remember the following rules:
Rule 1: Quotes always "go in pairs": one opens the quote, the second closes it. If you opened quotation marks and wrote a statement, be sure to check whether you put a closing quotation mark at the end of direct speech.
Rule 2: A sentence opening sentence in direct speech always begins with a capital letter. Example:
- Mr. Smith, who was walking near that beautiful lake that morning, said, "A huge fish jumped out of the water and rushed away into the depth, before I understood anything." “Mr. Smith, who was passing by this beautiful lake that morning, said, “A huge fish jumped out of the water and rushed into the depths before I could understand anything.”
Rule 3: If you quote only a fragment or even part of a sentence of the original text in a letter, then the quote should begin with a lowercase letter. Example:
- Although Mr. Smith has seen many odd happenings in his life, he stated that the huge fish "had unbelievably bright and goldish scale". “Although Mr. Smith had seen many strange things in his life, he claimed that the fish “had incredibly bright and golden scales.”
Rule 4: In the case when the remark is interrupted by the words of the author, the subsequent part of the statement continues with a lowercase letter. Example:
- "I haven"t ever seen such a strange and wonderful fish," Mr. Smith said, "even though I"m keen on fishing for thirty years already." “I have never seen such a strange and wonderful fish,” said Mr. Smith, “although I am an avid fisherman with thirty years of experience.”
Rule 5: As you have already noticed, in all examples, punctuation marks such as a period or a comma referring to a quote are always placed before the closing quote. It is noteworthy that this rule may change in the documentation of the MLA (Association for the Advancement of Language and Literature) and a number of other materials.
Imagine that you find a spelling or grammatical error in a quote. Now, in order to designate it, the rule will help you, according to which, immediately after the found error, you should put the sign sic, be sure to put it in square quotes. The term sic comes from the Latin language and is translated as "so", "thus" or "as is". This sign allows you to tell the reader that the error in the quote corresponds to the original source and is not your error. Example:
- Mr. Smith says of the experience, " I "m not sure but possibly that fish was something extraterestrial." - Mr. Smith talks about the incident: " I'm not sure, but perhaps this fish is of extraterrestrial origin".
Rule 6: It is most effective to use quotes in the text only where they are really needed, and to make them as concise as possible. For example, if you are writing a scientific paper and have used too many quotations in the text, it may seem that you have not delved into the subject yourself by quoting so many words from other authors.
Indirect speech
Indirect speech is not the exact statement of the author, but rather an excerpt or paraphrase of his words. In this case, you do not need to use quotation marks to mark indirect speech. Example:
- Mr. Smith, a local farmer, reported that he saw a huge and goldish fish walking near the lake yesterday morning. 'Mr Smith, a local farmer, reported that he saw a huge golden fish as he passed the lake yesterday morning.
Even writers have not come to a consensus on when it is better to use direct speech, and when indirect. However, the most "popular" rules can still be distinguished:
Use direct speech when quoting a really outstanding and famous statement. After all, by changing it, you can distort the meaning that the author put into it. Example:
- Martin Luther King Jr. said of the Emancipation Proclamation, "This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice." - Martin Luther King said in the Emancipation Proclamation: "This momentous decree has become a great beacon of hope for millions of Negro slaves, devoured by the flames of destructive injustice."
Although the following statement in indirect speech reflects the general meaning of the first, it clearly does not reflect the thought of Martin Luther King so clearly and emotionally:
- Martin Luther King Jr. believed that the end of slavery was significant and of great hope to millions of black slaves done horribly wrong. “Martin Luther King believed in the importance of abolishing slavery, which was hoped for by millions of abused black slaves.
Indirect speech is best used where you want to paraphrase or emphasize the details of the source text.
What are quotation marks? What is the difference between quotation marks of different patterns?
Quotation marks - double distinguishing mark punctuation. They mark the left and right boundaries of a word or a segment of text; thus, quotation marks can be opening and closing quotation marks, with opening and closing quotation marks usually distinguished by pattern.
In Russian writing, the following types of quotation marks are most common:
"Christmas trees" (used in printed texts);
“paws” (used, as a rule, in handwritten texts);
‘Marr’ quotes’ (used to describe the meaning of a word and when translating the meaning of a foreign word, for example: the word “skimmer” is borrowed from the Polish language, in which it goes back to the verb szumować ‘remove foam’ from szum ‘foam’);
"computer quotation marks" are a special type of quotation marks in which the pattern of opening and closing quotation marks is completely indistinguishable. Such quotes are found in texts typed on a computer keyboard.
offtopic
Little technical trick. In any text typed on a computer, you can arrange "Christmas trees" yourself. To do this, remember the following key combinations: press Alt, type 0171, release Alt - we get “. Press Alt, type 0187, release Alt - we get ".
About quotes inside quotes
If inside the words enclosed in quotation marks there are other words, in turn enclosed in quotation marks, it is recommended (provided that there are technical possibilities for this) to use quotation marks of different patterns: external - "herringbones", internal - "paws" (or - in texts typed on a computer - "computer quotes"). If this is not possible, then closing quotes are placed only once. The quotation marks of the same picture are not repeated side by side. For example:
Preferably: V. I. Lenin’s work “On Caricature of Marxism and “Imperialist Economism””, CJSC “Publishing House “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, LLC “Company “Metallinvest””.
Permissible (if it is not technically possible to use quotation marks of different patterns): the work of V. I. Lenin “On the caricature of Marxism and on “imperialist economism”, CJSC Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House, Metallinvest Company LLC.
Not properly References: V. I. Lenin’s work “On the Caricature of Marxism and “Imperialist Economism”, CJSC Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House, Metallinvest Company LLC.
When are quotation marks used?
In modern Russian, quotation marks perform the following functions:
1. Highlighting non-paragraph direct speech and quotations.
2. Allocation of conditional (own) names.
3. Highlighting words that are used in an unusual, ironic, special meaning.
Quotation marks for words that are not used in their usual meaning
Quotation marks for words used in an unusual, special, conditional, ironic meaning not only help the author of the text to draw the reader's attention to a particular word or expression, but also make it possible to use lexical units belonging to a different style, for example, to use a colloquial word in journalistic text (often in such cases, quotes are used by the author for "reinsurance").
The first thing to note: quotation marks for unusually used words are considered as an optional sign (in contrast to the mandatory use of quotation marks for proper names and direct speech).
Quotes are allocated:
1) unusual, little-used words that the author wants to draw attention to;
2) words used in a special, unusual meaning;
3) words that are little-known terms;
4) words are obsolete or, conversely, completely new, if this feature is emphasized;
5) words used in an ironic sense;
6) words used in conditional value(applied to the situation or context).
It is often very difficult to distinguish between "usual" and "unusual" meanings of a word:
Firstly, for this it is necessary to have a highly developed linguistic instinct,
Secondly, there are often cases when "usual" for one native speaker is "unusual" for another.
Finally, the "unusual" meaning of a word can become "habitual" over time. That is why putting quotation marks on unusually used words raises so many questions.
What, then, should be guided by when answering the question about quotation marks? Here are two simple rules:
Focus on dictionary entries in explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language: if the word (phrase) is already fixed in them, therefore, the meaning is not unusual and quotes are not needed;
Consider the style of the text in which such lexical units occur. Of course, most often they can be found in newspaper and magazine texts, but at the same time in "serious" media, offering readers materials on socio-political and social significant topics, quotation marks for unusually used words are more appropriate than, for example, in newspapers and magazines aimed at a youth audience and writing on “light” topics, since when a word is used in an “unusual” meaning, it often has a colloquial or colloquial coloring.
Words and phrases that do not require quotation marks
star ("famous person, artist")
gold ("award of the highest standard")
zest ("charm, sharpness")
zipper ("quick pull fastener")
tail ("exam debt")
the Velvet season
white salary
White gold
great mute
blue fuel
luxury hotline
round table
bags under the eyes
gray salary
stronger sex
weaker sex
helpline
black gold
black box
The words following the phrase so-called are not enclosed in quotation marks. The exception is when these words are used in an unusual or ironic sense.
Quotation marks for own names
To answer the question of when names are enclosed in quotation marks, it is necessary to find out what kinds of proper names exist. Names can be divided into two large groups:
1. Compound names that are not conditional are real proper names. In such names, all words are used in their direct meaning. Such names are not marked with quotation marks; in them, the first word and the proper nouns that are part of the name are written with a capital letter.
For example: State Russian Museum, Ostankino Museum of Serf Art, Moscow Drama Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, St. Petersburg State University, Moscow Printing House No. 2, Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, Russian Football Union, State Prize, Guinness Book of Records, Great Patriotic War, Peter the Great.
2. Conditional (symbolic) names enclosed in quotation marks.
Real proper names and conditional names differ primarily in syntactic compatibility (roughly speaking, one word depends on another: a noun and an adjective, a noun and a noun in the genitive case).
Compare: Bolshoi Theatre, Theater of Satire, Theater in the South-West- these are real proper names, they have syntactic compatibility, quotes are not needed.
But: theater "Sovremennik", theater "School of modern play"- conditional names that are not combined syntactically with the generic word. They are enclosed in quotation marks. Similarly: Friendship Park, but: Sokolniki Park, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but: Yabloko Party, etc.
We list the main groups of conditional names enclosed in quotation marks:
Names of firms, institutions, organizations, societies: hotel "Russia", hotel "Metropol", confectionery factory "Red October", publishing house "Nauka".
Titles political parties: the parties "Yabloko", "Civil Force", "United Russia", "Fair Russia".
Names of domestic news agencies: Interfax news agency, RIA Novosti. The names of foreign news agencies are traditionally not enclosed in quotation marks: Agence France Presse, United Press International.
Names of entertainment enterprises and institutions (theaters, cinemas, exhibition centers, etc.): the Formula Kino and Cinema Star cinema chains, the Five Stars cinema, the Sovremennik theater, the School of Modern Play, the Central Exhibition Hall "Manezh", Center for Children's Art "Theater on the Embankment", Theater Center "On Strastnoy", festival "Kinotavr".
Names of musical groups: Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Factory, Strelki, Gorod 312.
Names of sports societies, teams, clubs: football clubs Spartak, Zenit, Lokomotiv, Barcelona, Manchester United, Lazio, Beitar, Anderlecht, hockey teams Salavat Yulaev, Severstal, Ak Bars. However, the names-abbreviations are written without quotes: CSKA, SKA.
Names of orders, medals, awards, insignia: the order "Mother Heroine", the medal "Veteran of Labor", the Golden Mask award, the Oscar award.
Names of periodicals (newspapers, magazines): newspapers "Arguments and Facts", "Moskovsky Komsomolets", magazines "Spark", "Russian Language Abroad", including titles that include generic names: "Newspaper", "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" , "Russian Journal".
Names of documents: Federal Law of December 23, 2003 N 177-FZ "On insurance of deposits of individuals in banks of the Russian Federation", Federal constitutional law "On the national anthem of the Russian Federation".
Names of literary and scientific works, works of art: the novel "War and Peace", the painting "The Apotheosis of War", the opera "The Queen of Spades", the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", the television series "Staying Alive", including titles that include generic titles: "A Novel Without Lies", "A Tale of a Real Man", "An Optimistic Tragedy". Please note: if the name of a work of art consists of two names connected by the union or, then a comma is placed before the union, and the first word of the second name is capitalized: “Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”.
Museum names: Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, Krasnaya Presnya Museum. Please note: the names of foreign museums and art galleries are written without quotes, such as: the Prado Museum, the Orsay Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, etc.
Names of natural disasters (hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes): typhoon Judy, hurricane Katrina, storm Noel, cyclone Cider.
Names of production brands of technical products: Volga, Toyota cars, Indesit washing machine, Ardo gas stove.
Names of aircraft and means of space conquest; military equipment: Ruslan, Boeing-747 aircraft, Discovery shuttle, Atlantis shuttle, Node-2 docking module; ballistic missile "Topol", strike complex "Iskander-M".
Names associated with the sphere information technologies(IT), including the names of Internet resources and web services: Izvestiya.Ru, Slovari.Ru, Strana.Ru, Yandex, Rambler, Yandex.Fotki, Yandex .Dictionaries", reference and information systems and computer programs: "ConsultantPlus", "1C: Enterprise" systems, names of tariff plans and services provided by companies - cellular operators and Internet providers: tariff plans "Single", "Mobile", "Profi 1300 VIP", "Challenge Xtreme", "Stream 6", services "Who called?", "Account Analyzer", "MegaFon.Bonus", "Service Guide".
drug names, medical preparations. Please note: when used as a trademark of the name medicines should be written with a capital letter in quotation marks: “Agri”, “Influvak”, “Aflubin”, “Fervex”, and in everyday use - with a lowercase letter without quotes, for example: drink Fervex, take Viagra. Also, some names of drugs that have come into wide use as a result of many years of use (validol, analgin, aspirin) are also written with a lowercase letter without quotes.
Names of food products, including alcoholic beverages. Please note: when used as a trademark, the names of food products are written with a capital letter in quotation marks: Cream waffles, Potato cake, Chinese salad, Amateur carbonade, Mozzarella cheese, Tartar sauce, liquor Baileys, Beaujolais Nouveau wine, Cinzano Bianco vermouth, Black Card coffee. The names of products in everyday use are written with a lowercase letter without quotes: amateur sausage, Borodino bread, Olivier salad, potato cake. Without quotation marks, the names of varieties of wines, mineral waters and other drinks are also written with a lowercase letter: Merlot, Chardonnay, Riesling, Port wine, Borjomi.
The names of species and varieties of crops, vegetables, flowers, etc. are terms of agronomy and horticulture. Unlike the names listed above, these names are written in quotation marks with a lowercase letter: Victoria strawberry, Chardonnay grape, Black Prince tulip.
Particularly difficult is the spelling of car names.
Reference books recommend writing the names of car brands in quotation marks with a capital letter: Volga, Volvo, Nissan, Skoda cars, and the names of the cars themselves as technical products - with a lowercase letter in quotation marks (except for names that coincide with their own names - personal and geographic). For example: "Cadillac", "Moskvich", "Toyota", "Nissan", but: "Volga", "Oka" (coincide with proper names, therefore they are written with a capital letter).
Exceptions: "Zhiguli", "Mercedes" (coincide with proper names, but are written with lowercase). However, in practice, it is often difficult to distinguish in which case the name is the name of the brand of the car, and in which the name of the technical product: He prefers “Toyota” / “Toyota” to all cars. In disputable cases, the decision to write with an uppercase or lowercase letter is made by the author of the text.
Names written in Latin are not quoted: Toyota Yaris, Peugeot 306, Daewoo Matiz, Škoda Fabia, Lada Priora.
Ambiguous names (make and model of car) written in Cyrillic are written with a hyphen, while all parts of the name are written with a capital letter: "Lada-Priora", "Toyota Corolla", "Renault Megan", "Nissan-Teana", Hyundai Getz, Nissan Almera Classic, Suzuki Grand Vitara. But: "Volkswagen beetle" (roll call with a common noun).
Abbreviated names are written without quotes: ZIL, VAZ, KamAZ.
In everyday use, the names of vehicles are written without quotes, for example: I arrived in an old Muscovite (in a luxurious Cadillac). Without quotes, colloquial names of cars with diminutive suffixes are also written, for example: Muscovite, Ford, UAZ.
Numerous questions also arise when writing names and nicknames of people, nicknames of animals, as well as geographical names. We will try to answer the most frequently asked questions.
Nicknames are written without quotes both in cases where the nickname is after the name (Vsevolod the Big Nest, Richard the Lionheart), and when the nickname is located between the name and surname: Garik Bulldog Kharlamov, Pavel Snezhok Volya, Dwayne Skala Johnson;
The nicknames of animals are not enclosed in quotation marks and are written with a capital letter: the dog Barbos, the cat Matroskin, the kitten Woof, the lion Boniface. However, if individual names are used as generalized names of animals, they are written with a lowercase letter: murka, bug, barbos, savraska, cow. With a lowercase letter without quotes, the names of animal breeds are also written: a hillock cow, a poodle dog.
The names of railway stations, railway stations are written without quotes, all words are written with a capital letter, except for generic designations: stations Fili, Uzlovaya, Podsolnechnaya, 125 km, Stroitel, Dachnaya, Rabochy Poselok.
Reference books recommend writing the names of airports without quotation marks, but for last years there is a strong tendency to enclose these names in quotation marks. Perhaps soon such a spelling will be recognized as normative. However, now it is better to write without quotes: Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Pulkovo, Borispol airports.
The names of metro stations are enclosed in quotation marks (in texts, but not on maps and diagrams and not at the stations and stops themselves!), the first word of such names is written with a capital letter (it can be the only one), as well as all those words that are written with capital letter as part of the corresponding toponyms: metro stations "Fili", "Pionerskaya", "Sviblovo"; Vyborgskaya, Avtovo, Electrosila; "Prospekt Mira", " Kuznetsky Most", "Okhotny Ryad"; "Gostiny Dvor", " Old village»; "Street of 1905", "Sparrow Hills", "Sretensky Boulevard", "Filyovsky Park"; "Ligovsky Prospekt", "Technological Institute".
The names of districts, microdistricts (city microtoponymic names) are written without quotation marks: the districts of Marfino, Kurkino, Lyublino, Moskvorechye-Saburovo, Biryulyovo Zapadnoye. However, the conditional names of residential areas, arrays and individual houses are enclosed in quotation marks, accompanied by the words housing estate, HOA (association of homeowners), SZD (social residential building), etc., for example: Parus residential area, Pobeda residential area, residential complex "Breeze", HOA "Novobrodovsky", SZD "Mitino", farm "Stolyarovo", substation "Dachnaya".
The names of directions, routes, trains are subject to next rule: when designating spatial limits, a dash is placed between geographical names. Names are capitalized without quotes. For example: the Kyiv-Simferopol route, the Moscow-Kyiv train, the Moscow-Uglich-Moscow route, the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. However, conditional names of roads and routes are enclosed in quotation marks; oil pipelines, gas pipelines, etc.: Kholmogory, Caspian, Don, Ural, Crimea, Ussuri highways, the Blue Stream gas pipeline, the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Quotation marks in abbreviated names of institutions, organizations, firms
Compound names
The use of quotation marks for complex abbreviated words depends primarily on the semantics of the name. Names not enclosed in quotation marks public institutions, among them:
Unofficial names of legislative and executive authorities (ministries, federal agencies, federal services, committees, etc.), for example: State Duma, Moscow City Duma, Rosobrnadzor, Central Election Commission, Ministry of Economic Development, Moscow Heritage Committee;
Names of state institutions that act without a generic word, for example: Mosgortrans, Mosvodokanal. However, when used with a generic word, quotation marks are put: GUP Mosgortrans, MGUP Mosvodokanal.
Unlike the names of state institutions, the complex abbreviated names of commercial organizations are written in quotation marks (both in the presence of a generic word and in its absence): Rosgosstrakh and the Rosgosstrakh company, Technopromexport and Technopromexport OJSC, Stroymontazh and CJSC " Stroymontazh, Metrogiprotrans and OAO Metrogiprotrans, Gazprom Neft and OAO Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz and OAO Surgutneftegaz, Lukoil and OAO Lukoil (also OAO Oil Company Lukoil) .
It should be noted that some names of the largest companies, such as Gazprom, AvtoVAZ, etc., experience fluctuations in spelling when used without a generic word; in the presence of a generic word, the quotation marks are beyond doubt: OAO Gazprom, OAO AvtoVAZ.
Note about money. The name Sberbank of Russia is written without quotes. This example can be considered unique: the absence of quotation marks for this name is explained both by the history of its use and by extralinguistic reasons. Despite the fact that Sberbank of Russia is currently a commercial organization, for many native speakers it is still associated with a state institution (in Sberbank you can get a pension, pay utility bills, etc.).
Names are initial abbreviations
The names, which are abbreviations of the initial type, are also formatted differently. Do not quote abbreviations formed from real proper names. Among them:
Initial abbreviations are the names of state structures, including ministries, law enforcement agencies (modern and historical), etc. Special Purpose Police Detachment), FSB (Federal Security Service), SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service), PFR (Pension Fund of Russia);
Names of political parties: Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), SPS (Union of Right Forces), BYuT (Yulia Timoshenko Bloc);
Names of educational, scientific, entertainment institutions: IRL RAS (Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences), MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), RUDN University (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia), MARCHI (Moscow Architectural Institute), Moscow Art Theater (Moscow Art Theater), State Tretyakov Gallery (State Tretyakov Gallery);
Names of international organizations: WTO (World Trade Organization), WHO (World Health Organization), IOC (International Olympic Committee), IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).
At the same time, abbreviations of the initial type are written in quotation marks, which are an abbreviation of the conditional name. Among them:
Names of periodicals: RG (Rossiyskaya Gazeta), AiF (Arguments and Facts), MK (Moskovsky Komsomolets), NG (Nezavisimaya Gazeta), SE (SE). Sport-express"), etc.;
Names of political parties: "PR" ("Patriots of Russia"), "SR" ("Fair Russia"); the abbreviation "ER" ("United Russia") is in quotation marks inconsistently.
Names of commercial organizations that act in combination with a generic word: MTT OJSC (Interregional TransitTelecom OJSC), Russian Railways OJSC (Russian Railways OJSC), MTS OJSC (Mobile TeleSystems OJSC).
As for the abbreviated names of commercial organizations used without a generic word (MTT, MTS, Russian Railways), in modern written speech they behave extremely inconsistently: in some cases they are enclosed in quotation marks, in some cases they are written without quotation marks. However, it should be recognized that it is preferable to enclose such names in quotation marks, since this makes it easier for the reader to understand the text.
Note. Abbreviated names of sports teams are not enclosed in quotation marks (both in the presence and in the absence of a generic word): SKA, CSKA, PFC CSKA. The tradition of not putting abbreviated names of sports teams in quotation marks dates back to the first third of the 20th century, when the number of such names was much larger.
For clarity, all the recommendations formulated above are shown in the following table.
Quotation marks in names written in Latin
Introductory remarks. None of the modern spelling guides recommends the use of quotation marks in names written in Latin. The recommendations below are based on observations of contemporary written language.
In modern Russian texts, the names are very often written in the letters of the Latin alphabet or in two alphabets (Cyrillic and Latin). This mainly concerns the names of foreign brands of equipment and electronics products, in which the Latin spelling is often combined with official serial designations, which are complex complexes of numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters ( Voxtel RX11, Sony Ericsson K610i red, Nokia 6131, Samsung D520, Canon A410 camera, BBK DV311SL DVD player, Honda Civic, Mazda 323, Mitsubishi Colt). In addition, the names of some media are written in Latin in modern texts ( magazines Automobil Review, Total DVD, Russian Mobile, newspapers Moscow Times, PC Week), commercial firms and banks ( British Airways, Bank of America), as well as various urban facilities - shops, restaurants, cafes, clubs, hairdressers, etc. At the same time, writing the name in Latin does not always indicate that we are talking about a foreign brand (such as McDonald's or Ikea), often the names of domestic organizations, enterprises, trademarks are written in the Latin alphabet ( N-Joy cafe, XL shopping center, Bolero store, Click-Net computer club, Glamor beauty salon), whose owners seek in this way - writing in Latin - to attract the attention of potential customers.
Examples from modern journalistic texts (published both in print and electronic media) indicate that a stable tradition has developed in Russian writing not to enclose proper names written in Latin in quotation marks. At the same time, the absence of quotes is determined precisely by the Latin alphabet; as a rule, it does not depend either on the number of words in the title, or on the presence or absence of a generic word in the title.
The absence of quotation marks in Latin-formatted names can be recommended in relation to all groups of names used in Russian texts. Among them:
Names of organizations, institutions, banks, firms, for example: Intel, Fashion LLC, Air France, British Airways, California Cleaners, Carven beauty salon, American Express Bank, Netland Internet Center, La Fontana restaurant, Tabula Rasa club, design bureau Phoenix Design by LG Electronics.
Names of sports societies, musical groups, for example: Lordi, Rammstein, Bee Gees, Rolling Stones, PSV Eindhoven football club.
Names of electronic resources, for example: KM-News news agency, Delfi portal, search system Yahoo.
Trademark names, conventional names for food, perfumery and other products, medicines, alcoholic beverages, for example: Christian Lacroix Rouge perfume water, Palmolive shower gel, Triple Blade shaving system, Armani jeans, Dolce & Gabbana jacket, Global Village juice, Tuborg Green beer, Oro Verde olives.
Brand names of technical products and the products themselves, for example: Kraftway Idea personal computers, Apple iMac, Mitsubishi Colt cars, Chevrolet Lacetti, Daewoo Matiz, Mazda 323, Peugeot 207, Volvo S80, Canon A410 camera, Multiquick System mixer system, Campaver heated towel rail Bains.
However, when there are two (or more) names written in Latin in the text, it is preferable to use quotation marks to prevent the reader from misunderstanding the text. For example: new series microwave ovens by Samsung Aqua.
It is debatable whether it is appropriate to use quotation marks in the names of literary and scientific works, works of art, documents, periodicals, etc.: newspapers Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Moscow News, magazines Bravo, Classic Rock, People, song Believe me, film Tomorrow Never Dies. Because of the semantics of these names, enclosing them in quotation marks may be preferable. The final decision on quotation marks in such cases is made by the author of the text.
Offered for the first time or, conversely, as obsolete and the like.
Story
One of the earliest attempts to establish rules for the use of quotation marks in Slavic languages(and, consequently, in Russian) was undertaken by the 15th-century Slavic scholar Konstantin the Philosopher in chapter 17 of his treatise On Writings. The quotation marks recommended by Konstantin looked in fact the same as modern Christmas trees, and were used to quote phrases from pseudographic writings. Slavic quotation marks, like most additional signs of Slavic writing, have their origins in the practice of writing Greek manuscripts of that time.
The main types of quotes
According to their pattern, the following types of quotation marks are distinguished:
Quotation marks used in Russian
Nested quotes
Example with nested quotes:
Correctly: “My Gypsies are not for sale at all,” Pushkin complained. Not properly: “My Gypsies are not for sale at all,” Pushkin complained.
If for technical reasons it is not possible to set quotation marks of another picture, the quotation marks of one picture are not repeated side by side. Therefore, let's say (although not desirable - it's better to separate the quote in some way that allows you to remove the outer quotes) the following option:
Allowed: My Gypsies are not for sale at all,” Pushkin complained.
Quotation marks at the end of a sentence
If, when quoting, the quoted text ends with a period, then the latter is taken out of the text and placed after the closing quote. If the text ends with an ellipsis or a question or exclamation mark, and the quotation is an independent sentence (and not a member of the sentence in which it is included), then the period after the quotation mark is not put. For example :
A. N. Sokolov writes: "Misunderstanding is the absence of association." Pechorin admitted: “I sometimes despise myself ...”English single quotes
An example for indicating the etymology of a Russian word:
A lady of high society, baring her ankle, threw to the society of the 17th century. a stronger challenge than today's young lady who appears topless on the beach (from the English. topless‘without top’), i.e. in a bathing suit from only one lower part.
It is also acceptable to separate a word and text in English single quotes with a dash:
Linguistics, from lat. lingua- 'language' .
It is not necessary to preface such a word with an indication of the language, if this already follows from the context:
In German the elements Frieden‘peace’ and kampf‘struggle’ combine as morphemes. If necessary, in German you can distinguish ... color shades, say, with the help of definitions himmelblau‘sky blue’ and dunkelblau'dark blue' .
The clarification of the meaning of a word can be textually separated from it:
The patient cannot, for example, identify the word carrot, but without difficulty gives a definition of the word knowledge, defining it as 'making oneself mentally familiar with a subject' .
An example of using common and English single quotes:
The phrase "Are you leaving?" in a bus or trolleybus means ‘please let me pass’.
Quotation marks used in other languages
British English uses 'English single' for first-level quotation marks and 'English double' for 'inside' quotation marks, American English does the opposite. Also in English (especially in its American version), a period and a comma are often placed before the closing quote, and not after, as in Russian.
| Special quotation marks (along with "Christmas trees") exist in Polish; the same quotation marks are used in Romanian and Dutch. | "Cytować ‚wewnętrzny' cytować" |
| In French, "single Christmas trees" are sometimes found. Quotation marks, as well as brackets, exclamation and question marks in French are beaten off with spaces. | « Son ‹ explication › n "est qu" un mensonge » |
| In some European languages (e.g. Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden, in books in Germany and Austria) the opening quote looks like a French closing quote and vice versa. | »citirati« |
| Some countries (such as Finland) use unpaired quotation marks. | ”lainata” or ”noteerata” |
| In hieroglyphic writing, there are quotation marks. | 『 引 號 』 |
| In Japanese, a simpler analogue of the previous quotation marks is more often used. | 「こんばんは」 |
| Language | Commonly used | Alternative | Distance, in points |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | domestic | main | domestic | ||
| Albanian | «…» | ‹…› | “…„ | ‘…‚ | |
| English | “…” | ‘…’ | ‘…’ | “…” | 1-2 |
| Arab | «…» | ‹…› | “…” | ‘…’ | |
| Afrikaans | „…” | ‚…’ | |||
| Belorussian | «…» | „…“ | „…“ | 1 | |
| Bulgarian | „…“ | ‚…‘ | |||
| Hungarian | „…” | »…« | |||
| Greek | «…» | ‹…› | “…” | ‘…’ | 1 |
| Danish | »…« | ›…‹ | „…“ | ‚…‘ | |
| Hebrew | "…" / "…" | "…" / <<…>> | |||
| Irish | “…” | ‘…’ | 1-2 | ||
| Icelandic | „…“ | ‚…‘ | |||
| Spanish | «…» | “…” | “…” | ‘…’ | 0-1 |
| Italian | «…» | “…” | ‘…’ | 1-2 | |
| Chinese | “…” | ‘…’ | 《…》 | ||
| Latvian | „…“ | „…“ | "…" | "…" | |
| Lithuanian | „…“ | ‚…‘ | "…" | "…" | |
| Dutch | „…” | ‚…’ | “…” | ’…’ | |
| Deutsch | „…“ | ‚…‘ | »…« | ›…‹ | |
| Norwegian | «…» | ‘...’ | „…” | ,...’ | |
| Polish | „…” | «…» | »…« | ||
| Portuguese | “…” | ‘…’ | «…» | ‹…› | 0-1 |
| Romanian | „…” | «…» | |||
| Russian | «…» | „…“ | “…” | ‘…’ | |
| Serbian | „…“ | ‚…‘ | »…« | ›…‹ | |
| Slovak | „…“ | ‚…‘ | »…« | ›…‹ | |
| Slovenian | „…“ | ‚…‘ | »…« | ›…‹ | |
| Turkish | “…” | ‘…’ | «…» | ‹…› | 0-1 |
| Ukrainian | «…» | „…“ | „…“ | ||
| Finnish | ”…” | ’…’ | »…» | ›…› | |
| French | « … » | ‹ … › | “ … ” | ‘ … ’ | ¼ |
| Croatian | »…« | ›…‹ | |||
| Czech | „…“ | ‚…‘ | »…« | ›…‹ | |
| Swedish | ”…” | ’…’ | »…» | ›…› | |
| Estonian | „…” | „…” | |||
| Japanese | 「…」 | 『…』 | 1 | ||
Other uses
In a number of popular programming and markup languages (Basic, C, HTML, PHP), quotes on both sides enclose the value assigned to a string (usually double) or character (usually single) variable (despite the fact that the text between the quotes is a "string" , the outermost quotes are not included in the string).
In accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, when naming varieties plants in English, as well as in Russian, after the name of the genus or species varietal epithet it is recommended to enclose in single quotes ( Rosa‘New Dawn’), or use an apostrophe ( Rosa"New Dawn" [the significance of the fact?] .
Quote codes
| View | Function | Unicode | HTML Mnemocode | Compose | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Russian | In English | Name | The code | ||||
| hex | dec | ||||||
| « | opening | - | LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK | 00AB | 0171 | « | Composite +< + < |
| ‹ | opening | - | SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK | 2039 | 8249 | ‹ | Composite + . +< |
| » | closing | - | RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK | 00BB | 0187 | » | Compose + > + > |
| › | closing | - | SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK | 203A | 8250 | › | Composite + . + > |
| „ | opening | - | DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK | 201E | 8222 | „ | Compose + , + " Compose + " + , |
| ‚ | opening | - | SINGLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK | 201A | 8218 | ‚ | Compose + , + " Compose + " + , |
| “ | closing | opening | LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK | 201C | 8220 | “ | Composite +< + " Compose + " +< |
| ‟ | - | opening | DOUBLE HIGH-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK | 201F | 8223 | ‟ | |
| ‘ | closing | opening | LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK | 2018 | 8216 | ‘ | Composite +< + " Compose + " +< |
| ‛ | - | opening | SINGLE HIGH-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK | 201B | 8219 | ‛ | There is no default keyboard shortcut, but you can customize your own. |
| ” | - | closing | RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK | 201D | 8221 | ” | Compose +> +" Compose + " + > |
| ’ | - | closing | RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK | 2019 | 8217 | ’ | Compose +> +" Compose + " + > |
| " | universal | QUOTATION MARK | 0022 | 0034 | " | Typed directly from the keyboard. | |
Keyboard input
There are alternative keyboard layouts optimized for entering typographic characters, including quotation marks (see, for example, Ilya Birman's typographic layout, official and unofficial versions of which are available for various operating systems). In most text editors, such as the proprietary Microsoft Office, the free OpenOffice and LibreOffice, and many others, it is possible to set the automatic conversion of "simple quotes" to "Christmas trees" or "paws".
X Window System
In the X Window System (which is often used in UNIX-like operating systems, in particular those based on the Linux kernel), to type a French quote character, first press Compose , then twice< или два раза >, depending on which way the quotation marks should be directed.
Windows
In Windows, you need to enable Num Lock , after which typing on the numeric keypad Alt + 0171 , Alt + 0187 for « » , and Alt + 0132 , Alt + 0147 for „ “ respectively. To set the English double closing quote ( ” ) use Alt + 0148 , for single ( ‘ ’ ) are Alt+0145 and Alt+0146 respectively.
In some European layouts, entering Christmas trees is possible using the combinations AltGr + [ and AltGr + ] (American international), AltGr + z and AltGr + x (Canadian international).
MacOS X
In the standard Russian layout of Mac OS X, quotes are typed with the following keyboard shortcuts:
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Notes
- I. V. Yagich The Book of Konstantin the Philosopher and Grammar about Writings // Reasonings of the South Slavic and Russian antiquity about the Church Slavonic language. - St. Petersburg. : Printing house of the IAN, 1885-1895. - T. 1. - S. 429, 502.
- Karsky E.F. Slavic Kirillov paleography. - 2nd ed., facsimile. - L., M. (fax.): From the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; from "Nauka" (fax), 1928, 1979 (fax). - S. 227.
- , With. 129.
- . // Website Gramota.ru. Retrieved 26 August 2012. .
- , With. 134-135.
- Kuznetsov A. M.// Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 685 p. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.- S. 257-258.
- Lopatina L. E.// Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 685 p. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.- S. 469-470.
- Stepanov Yu. S.// Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 685 p. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.- S. 175-176.
- Kubryakova E. S., Pankrats Yu. G.// Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 685 p. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.- S. 59-60.
- , With. 26.
- , With. 9.
- , With. 27.
- , With. 22.
- , With. 117.
- , With. 47.
- , on the website of the Academy of the Hebrew Language: the standard form of the main quotation marks is recognized, to choose from, the sign “Merchaot kfulot” (“…”) or “Merchaot bodedot / yechidot” (“…”).
- , on the website of the Academy of the Hebrew Language: the standard for internal quotation marks is any form of quotation marks other than the main quotation marks, for example, "Merchaot bodedotʹ / Yechidot" ("...") as internal quotation marks with "Merchaot kfulot" ("...") as the main quotes.
- . - Scripta Horticulturae. - International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), 2009. - Vol. 151. - P. 19. - 204 p. - ISBN 978-90-6605-662-6.
- Used extremely rarely.
- The so-called "typewritten" or "programming" is not usually used in typography. Used in typewriters.
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Zaliznyak A. A.// Proceedings of the International Seminar Dialogue'2007 on Computational Linguistics and its Applications. - M., 2007.
- Kasevich V. B. Introduction to linguistics. 3rd ed. - M .: Publishing house. Center "Academy", 2012. - 240 p. - ISBN 978-5-7695-9013-9.
- Milchin A. E., Cheltsova L. K. Directory of the publisher and author: Editorial ed. edition layout. - M .: Olimp: LLC "Firm" Publishing House "AST", 1999. - 688 p. - ISBN 5-237-02942-6.
- Milchin A. E., Cheltsova L. K.. - 2nd ed., corrected. and additional - M .: OLMA-Press, 2003. - 800 p. - ISBN 5-224-04565-7.
- Norman B. Yu. Theory of language. Introductory course. 3rd ed. - M .: Flint; Science, 2009. - 296 p. - ISBN 978-5-02-002994-1.
Links
- Lebedev, Artemy.// Leadership (electronic version) / Artemy Lebedev. - May 17, 2004 - § 104.
An excerpt characterizing Quotes
“Ah, he is in a terrible position,” said the mother to her son, as they got back into the carriage. He barely recognizes anyone.- I don’t understand, mother, what is his relationship with Pierre? the son asked.
“The testament will say everything, my friend; our destiny depends on it...
“But why do you think he would leave anything for us?”
- Ah, my friend! He is so rich and we are so poor!
“Well, that’s not enough reason, mother.
- Oh my god! My God! How bad he is! mother exclaimed.
When Anna Mikhailovna went with her son to Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhy, Countess Rostova sat alone for a long time, putting a handkerchief to her eyes. Finally, she called.
“What are you, dear,” she said angrily to the girl, who kept herself waiting for several minutes. You don't want to serve, do you? So I will find a place for you.
The countess was upset by the grief and humiliating poverty of her friend and therefore was not in a good mood, which was always expressed in her by the name of the maid "dear" and "you".
“Guilty with,” said the maid.
“Ask the Count for me.
The count, waddling, approached his wife with a somewhat guilty look, as always.
- Well, Countess! What a saute au madere [saute in Madeira] of grouse will be, ma chere! I tried; I gave a thousand rubles for Taraska not for nothing. Costs!
He sat down beside his wife, valiantly leaning his hands on his knees and ruffling his gray hair.
- What do you want, countess?
- Here's what, my friend - what do you have dirty here? she said, pointing to the vest. "That's sauté, right," she added, smiling. - Here's the thing, Count: I need money.
Her face became sad.
- Oh, Countess! ...
And the count began to fuss, taking out his wallet.
- I need a lot, count, I need five hundred rubles.
And she, taking out a cambric handkerchief, rubbed her husband's waistcoat with it.
- Now. Hey, who's there? he shouted in a voice that only people shout, confident that those whom they call will rush headlong to their call. - Send Mitenka to me!
Mitenka, that noble son, brought up by the count, who was now in charge of all his affairs, entered the room with quiet steps.
“That’s what, my dear,” said the count to the respectful young man who entered. “Bring me…” he thought. - Yes, 700 rubles, yes. Yes, look, don’t bring such torn and dirty ones as that time, but good ones, for the countess.
“Yes, Mitenka, please, clean ones,” said the countess, sighing sadly.
“Your Excellency, when would you like me to deliver it?” Mitenka said. “If you please, don’t worry, don’t worry,” he added, noticing that the count had already begun to breathe heavily and quickly, which was always a sign of anger. - I was and forgot ... Will you order to deliver this minute?
- Yes, yes, then bring it. Give it to the Countess.
“What gold I have this Mitenka,” added the count, smiling, when the young man left. - There is no such thing as impossible. I can't stand it. Everything is possible.
“Ah, money, count, money, how much grief they cause in the world!” said the Countess. “I really need this money.
“You, countess, are a well-known winder,” said the count, and, kissing his wife’s hand, went back into the study.
When Anna Mikhailovna returned from Bezukhoy again, the countess already had money, all in brand new paper, under a handkerchief on the table, and Anna Mikhailovna noticed that the countess was somehow disturbed.
- Well, my friend? the countess asked.
Oh, what a terrible state he is in! You can't recognize him, he's so bad, so bad; I stayed for a minute and did not say two words ...
“Annette, for God’s sake, don’t refuse me,” the countess suddenly said, blushing, which was so strange with her middle-aged, thin and important face, taking out money from under her handkerchief.
Anna Mikhaylovna instantly understood what was the matter, and already bent down to deftly embrace the countess at the right time.
- Here's Boris from me, for sewing a uniform ...
Anna Mikhaylovna was already embracing her and crying. The Countess was crying too. They wept that they were friendly; and that they are kind; and that they, girlfriends of youth, are occupied with such a low subject - money; and that their youth had passed ... But the tears of both were pleasant ...
Countess Rostova was sitting with her daughters and already with a large number of guests in the drawing room. The count ushered the male guests into his study, offering them his hunter's collection of Turkish pipes. Occasionally he would come out and ask: has she come? They were waiting for Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, nicknamed in society le terrible dragon, [a terrible dragon,] a lady famous not for wealth, not for honors, but for her directness of mind and frank simplicity of address. Marya Dmitrievna was known by the royal family, all of Moscow and all of St. Petersburg knew, and both cities, surprised at her, secretly laughed at her rudeness, told jokes about her; yet everyone, without exception, respected and feared her.
In an office full of smoke, there was a conversation about the war, which was declared by the manifesto, about recruitment. No one has yet read the Manifesto, but everyone knew about its appearance. The count was sitting on an ottoman between two smoking and talking neighbors. The count himself did not smoke or speak, but tilting his head, now to one side, then to the other, he looked with evident pleasure at the smokers and listened to the conversation of his two neighbors, whom he pitted against each other.
One of the speakers was a civilian, with a wrinkled, bilious, and shaven, thin face, a man already approaching old age, although he was dressed like the most fashionable young man; he sat with his feet on the ottoman with the air of a domestic man, and, sideways thrusting amber far into his mouth, impetuously drew in the smoke and screwed up his eyes. It was the old bachelor Shinshin, cousin countess, an evil tongue, as they said about him in Moscow drawing rooms. He seemed to condescend to his interlocutor. Another, fresh, pink, officer of the Guards, impeccably washed, buttoned and combed, held amber near the middle of his mouth and with pink lips slightly pulled out the smoke, releasing it in ringlets from his beautiful mouth. It was that lieutenant Berg, an officer of the Semyonovsky regiment, with whom Boris went to the regiment together and with which Natasha teased Vera, the senior countess, calling Berg her fiancé. The Count sat between them and listened attentively. The most pleasant occupation for the count, with the exception of the game of boston, which he was very fond of, was the position of the listener, especially when he managed to play off two talkative interlocutors.
“Well, how about it, father, mon tres honorable [most respected] Alfons Karlych,” said Shinshin, chuckling and combining (which was the peculiarity of his speech) the most popular Russian expressions with exquisite French phrases. - Vous comptez vous faire des rentes sur l "etat, [Do you expect to have income from the treasury,] do you want to receive income from the company?
- No, Pyotr Nikolaevich, I only want to show that in the cavalry there are much fewer advantages against the infantry. Now consider, Pyotr Nikolaitch, my position...
Berg always spoke very precisely, calmly and courteously. His conversation always concerned only him alone; he was always calmly silent while talking about something that had no direct relation to him. And he could remain silent in this way for several hours, without experiencing or producing in others the slightest confusion. But as soon as the conversation concerned him personally, he began to speak at length and with visible pleasure.
“Consider my situation, Pyotr Nikolaevich: if I were in the cavalry, I would receive no more than two hundred rubles a third, even with the rank of lieutenant; and now I get two hundred and thirty,” he said with a joyful, pleasant smile, looking at Shinshin and the count, as if it were obvious to him that his success would always be the main goal of the desires of all other people.
“Besides, Pyotr Nikolaevich, having transferred to the guards, I am in the public eye,” Berg continued, “and vacancies in the guards infantry are much more frequent. Then, think for yourself how I could get a job out of two hundred and thirty rubles. And I’m saving and sending more to my father,” he continued, blowing the ring.
- La balance at est ... [The balance is established ...] The German threshes a loaf on the butt, comme dit le roverbe, [as the proverb says,] - shifting amber to the other side of his mouth, said Shinshin and winked at the count.
The Count laughed. Other guests, seeing that Shinshin was talking, came up to listen. Berg, not noticing either ridicule or indifference, continued to talk about how, by being transferred to the guard, he had already won a rank in front of his comrades in the corps, how in wartime a company commander could be killed, and he, remaining a senior in a company, could very easily be company commander, and how everyone in the regiment loves him, and how pleased his papa is with him. Berg apparently enjoyed telling all this, and seemed unaware that other people might also have their own interests. But everything he said was so sweetly sedate, the naivety of his young selfishness was so obvious that he disarmed his listeners.
- Well, father, you are both in the infantry and in the cavalry, you will go everywhere; I predict this for you, - said Shinshin, patting him on the shoulder and lowering his legs from the ottoman.
Berg smiled happily. The count, followed by the guests, went out into the drawing-room.
There was that time before a dinner party when the assembled guests do not start a long conversation in anticipation of a call for an appetizer, but at the same time find it necessary to stir and not be silent in order to show that they are not in the least impatient to sit down to the table. The owners glance at the door and occasionally exchange glances with each other. From these glances, guests try to guess who or what else they are waiting for: an important late relative or food that has not yet ripened.
Pierre arrived just before dinner and sat awkwardly in the middle of the living room on the first chair that came across, blocking everyone's way. The countess wanted to make him talk, but he naively looked around him through his glasses, as if looking for someone, and answered all the questions of the countess in monosyllables. He was shy and alone did not notice it. Most of the guests, who knew his history with the bear, looked curiously at this big, fat and meek man, wondering how such a lumpy and modest man could do such a thing with the quarter.
- Have you just arrived? the Countess asked him.
- Oui, madame, [Yes, ma'am,] - he answered, looking around.
- Have you seen my husband?
- Non, madam. [No, ma'am.] - He smiled quite inappropriately.
- You seem to have recently been in Paris? I think it's very interesting.
- Very interesting..
The countess exchanged glances with Anna Mikhailovna. Anna Mikhaylovna realized that she was being asked to keep this young man busy, and, sitting down beside him, she began to talk about her father; but, like the countess, he answered her only in monosyllables. The guests were all busy with each other. Les Razoumovsky… ca a ete charmant… Vous etes bien bonne… La comtesse Apraksine… [The Razumovskys… It was delightful… You are very kind… Countess Apraksina…] was heard from all sides. The Countess got up and went into the hall.
— Marya Dmitrievna? – I heard her voice from the hall.
“She’s the best,” a rough female voice was heard in response, and after that Marya Dmitrievna entered the room.
All the young ladies and even the ladies, except for the oldest ones, stood up. Marya Dmitrievna stopped at the door and, from the height of her corpulent body, holding high her fifty-year-old head with gray curls, looked around the guests and, as if rolling up, unhurriedly straightened the wide sleeves of her dress. Marya Dmitrievna always spoke Russian.
“Dear birthday girl with children,” she said in her loud, thick voice that overwhelms all other sounds. “Are you an old sinner,” she turned to the count, who was kissing her hand, “do you miss tea in Moscow?” Where to run the dogs? But what, father, to do, this is how these birds will grow up ... - She pointed to the girls. - Whether you like it or not, you need to look for suitors.
- Well, what, my Cossack? (Marya Dmitrievna called Natasha a Cossack) - she said, caressing Natasha with her hand, who approached her hand without fear and cheerfully. - I know that the potion is a girl, but I love it.
She took out pear-shaped yakhon earrings from her huge reticule and, giving them to Natasha, who was beaming and flushed with a birthday, immediately turned away from her and turned to Pierre.
– Eh, eh! kind! come here,” she said in a mockingly quiet and thin voice. - Come on, my dear...
And she rolled up her sleeves menacingly even higher.
Pierre came up, naively looking at her through his glasses.
"Come, come, dear!" I told your father the truth alone, when he happened to be, and then God commands you.
She paused. Everyone was silent, waiting for what was to come, and feeling that there was only a preface.
- Okay, nothing to say! good boy! ... The father lies on the bed, and he amuses himself, he puts the quarter on a bear on horseback. Shame on you, dad, shame on you! Better to go to war.
She turned away and offered her hand to the count, who could hardly help laughing.
- Well, well, to the table, I have tea, is it time? said Marya Dmitrievna.
The count went ahead with Marya Dmitrievna; then the countess, who was led by a hussar colonel, the right person with whom Nikolai was supposed to catch up with the regiment. Anna Mikhailovna is with Shinshin. Berg offered his hand to Vera. Smiling Julie Karagina went with Nikolai to the table. Behind them came other couples, stretching across the hall, and behind them all alone, children, tutors and governesses. The waiters stirred, chairs rattled, music played in the choir stalls, and the guests settled in. The sounds of the count's home music were replaced by the sounds of knives and forks, the voices of guests, the quiet footsteps of waiters.
At one end of the table, the countess sat at the head. On the right is Marya Dmitrievna, on the left is Anna Mikhailovna and other guests. At the other end sat a count, on the left a hussar colonel, on the right Shinshin and other male guests. On one side of the long table, older youth: Vera next to Berg, Pierre next to Boris; on the other hand, children, tutors and governesses. From behind the crystal, bottles and vases of fruit, the count glanced at his wife and her high cap with blue ribbons and diligently poured wine to his neighbors, not forgetting himself. The Countess, also, because of the pineapples, not forgetting the duties of a hostess, threw significant glances at her husband, whose bald head and face, it seemed to her, sharply differed in their redness from gray hair. There was a regular babble at the ladies' end; voices were heard louder and louder on the male, especially the hussar colonel, who ate and drank so much, blushing more and more that the count already set him as an example to other guests. Berg, with a gentle smile, spoke to Vera about the fact that love is a feeling not earthly, but heavenly. Boris called his new friend Pierre the guests who were at the table and exchanged glances with Natasha, who was sitting opposite him. Pierre spoke little, looked at new faces and ate a lot. Starting from two soups, from which he chose a la tortue, [tortoise,] and kulebyaki, and up to grouse, he did not miss a single dish and not a single wine, which the butler in a bottle wrapped in a napkin mysteriously stuck out from behind his neighbor’s shoulder, saying or “drey Madeira, or Hungarian, or Rhine wine. He substituted the first of the four crystal glasses with the count's monogram, which stood in front of each device, and drank with pleasure, looking more and more pleasantly at the guests. Natasha, who was sitting opposite him, looked at Boris, as girls of thirteen look at the boy with whom they had just kissed for the first time and with whom they are in love. This same look of hers sometimes turned to Pierre, and under the look of this funny, lively girl he wanted to laugh himself, not knowing why.
Nikolai was sitting far away from Sonya, next to Julie Karagina, and again, with the same involuntary smile, he spoke something to her. Sonya smiled grandly, but apparently she was tormented by jealousy: she turned pale, then blushed, and with all her might listened to what Nikolai and Julie were saying to each other. The governess looked around uneasily, as if preparing herself for a rebuff, if anyone thought of offending the children. The German tutor tried to memorize the categories of foods, desserts and wines in order to describe everything in detail in a letter to his family in Germany, and was very offended by the fact that the butler, with a bottle wrapped in a napkin, surrounded him. The German frowned, tried to show that he did not want to receive this wine, but was offended because no one wanted to understand that he needed wine not to quench his thirst, not out of greed, but out of conscientious curiosity.
At the male end of the table the conversation became more and more lively. The colonel said that the manifesto declaring war had already been published in Petersburg, and that the copy, which he himself had seen, had now been delivered by courier to the commander-in-chief.
- And why is it difficult for us to fight with Bonaparte? Shinshin said. - II a deja rabattu le caquet a l "Autriche. Je crains, que cette fois ce ne soit notre tour. [He has already knocked down arrogance from Austria. I'm afraid our turn would not come now.]
The colonel was a stout, tall and sanguine German, obviously a campaigner and a patriot. He was offended by Shinshin's words.
“And then, we are a fat sovereign,” he said, pronouncing e instead of e and b instead of b. “Then, that the emperor knows this. He said in his manifesto that he cannot look indifferently at the dangers threatening Russia, and that the security of the empire, its dignity and the sanctity of alliances,” he said, for some reason especially leaning on the word "unions", as if this was the whole essence of the matter.
And with his infallible, official memory, he repeated the introductory words of the manifesto ... “and the desire, the sole and indispensable goal of the sovereign, is to establish peace in Europe on solid grounds - they decided to send part of the army now abroad and make new efforts to achieve“ this intention “.
“Here’s why, we are a worthy sovereign,” he concluded, instructively drinking a glass of wine and looking back at the count for encouragement.
- Connaissez vous le proverbe: [You know the proverb:] “Yerema, Yerema, if you would sit at home, sharpen your spindles,” said Shinshin, wincing and smiling. – Cela nous convient a merveille. [This is by the way for us.] Why Suvorov - and he was split, a plate couture, [on the head,] and where are our Suvorovs now? Je vous demande un peu, [I ask you] - he constantly jumped from Russian to French, he said.
“We must fight until the day after the drop of blood,” said the colonel, banging on the table, “and die rrret for our emperor, and then everything will be fine.” And to argue as much as possible (he especially drew out his voice on the word “possible”), as little as possible,” he finished, again turning to the count. - So we judge the old hussars, that's all. And how do you judge, young man and young hussar? he added, turning to Nikolai, who, hearing that the matter was about the war, left his interlocutor and looked with all his eyes and listened with all his ears to the colonel.
“I completely agree with you,” answered Nikolai, flushing all over, turning the plate and rearranging the glasses with such a determined and desperate look, as if at the present moment he was in great danger, “I am convinced that the Russians must die or win,” he said, himself feeling as well as others, after the word had already been said, that it was too enthusiastic and pompous for the present occasion and therefore awkward.
