13
votes
What did President Putin mean by "Кто в лавке-то останется? Кто работать будет?"
This sentence alludes to a century-old Jewish joke
(where "Jewish" doesn't imply that it's "told by Jews," but rather "about Jews").
And old Jew is on his deathbed, ...
- 940
7
votes
Правильно ли оформлена цитата?
«Ничто не причина, — пишет Лев Николаевич. — Всё это только совпадение…»
Rosenthal et al., Справочник по правописанию…, §121:
Если авторские слова стоят внутри прямой речи, выделяемой кавычками, то ...
- 51.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Is it true that in Russian, one can never enclose anything written in Latin script between quotation marks?
You don't need the rules to follow the rules.
What people call "language rules" are usually attempts at capturing emergent patterns in language use.
People who compose style guides read a ...
- 51.6k
6
votes
Accepted
"Одинокая свеча, горевшая на столе" - why not горящая?
It doesn't mean that the candle has burnt. It means that the candle was burning during that time (while she was sitting next to that particular candle) - moment in the past tense.
I think, that the ...
- 240
4
votes
"Одинокая свеча, горевшая на столе" - why not горящая?
The answer is very simple: the English participles have relative tenses, the Russian participles have absolute tenses.
By "relative tenses" I mean that although 'burning' is called a "present ...
- 26k
4
votes
"Одинокая свеча, горевшая на столе" - why not горящая?
That's a direct consequence of using tenses with participles. In English you actually have no choice, as "burning" cannot be put into past tense, except a complex construction such as "was burning". ...
- 15.3k
4
votes
In what circumstances quotes are grammatically acceptable around an indirect quotation or a paraphrase?
I think the answer is simpler than what Quassnoi tries to convey.
In this particular sentence, the quotes are grammatically required and do not imply direct speech nor exact quotation. Instead, they &...
- 3,098
3
votes
Are "вес(а)" и "гиря" synonyms?
"Пусть твоя математическая слава и ученость раздадутся, как этот выстрел в сем мире" (но не в том; в том нужны грехи на веса и добрые дела вместо гирь).
First of all веса is an old form from весы-...
- 21.3k
3
votes
Are "вес(а)" и "гиря" synonyms?
No they are not. Веса here is used as "весы", scales.
I am not sure about the historical usage of this particular form.
- 547
2
votes
"Одинокая свеча, горевшая на столе" - why not горящая?
Indeed, "горевшая" is more like "was burning" and "has burnt" would be "сгоревшая".
Although russian grammar allows mixing past and pres. in same sentence, it sounds bad to me, since the whole ...
- 361
1
vote
Accepted
Как процитировать два полный предложения в одном?
Yes, the quotations should start with the capital letters, assumed that they start with the capital letters in the quoted text.
You should also use semicolons to separate them, not commas.
Lopatin, ...
- 51.6k
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