Many of us are not philologists, therefore, in everyday spoken and written speech, a considerable number of errors can be recorded. If you often manage to cope with frequently used words, then absurd incidents can happen with proper names, in particular with the names of geographical objects. Cities of Moscow or the city of Moscow? How to persuade a toponym if it stands with a generic word? What if the name is plural? In these and other issues we will try to understand below.
What is a toponym
A toponym is a name of a geographical object, a proper name. For example: Volga, Moscow, Carpathians, London, Prostokvashino, Baikal, etc.
Toponyms, in turn, are divided into several types: hodonyms are the names of streets, comonyms are the names of villages, pelagonyms are the names of the seas, astionyms are the names of cities, etc.
What are generic words
If the text is filled with borrowed words, proper names or abbreviations, then generic words are used nearby to clarify them.
Example: "Many ArtPeople workers in the initial stages of development use regular PowerPoint."
It would be more correct to formulate this way: "Many ArtPeople corporations at the initial stages of development use the usual PowerPoint program."
In this case, the words "corporation" and "program" are generic, as they give the reader the necessary additional information.
Generic, or generalizing words of toponyms will be: city, village, village, farm, river, lake, etc.
How right?
Cities of Moscow or the city of Moscow? Cities of St. Petersburg or the city of St. Petersburg? The Volga River or the Volga River? In order to answer this question once and for all for yourself, you need to learn a few simple rules.
In ordinary colloquial speech, toponyms are rarely pronounced together with generic words. More often we say: “I live in Moscow” than “I live in the city of Moscow”. Therefore, let's first find out how "naked" place names are inclined by cases.
How toponyms bow
The nominative case is Moscow.
Genitive - Moscow.
Dative case - Moscow.
Accusative case - Moscow.
The instrumental case is by Moscow.
The prepositional case is about Moscow.
The nominative case is Veliky Novgorod.
Genitive - Veliky Novgorod.
Dative case - Veliky Novgorod.
Accusative case - Veliky Novgorod.
The instrumental case is in Veliky Novgorod.
The prepositional case is about Veliky Novgorod.
Or another example:
Nominative case - Alexandrov.
Genitive - Alexandrova.
Dative case - to Alexandrov.
Accusative case - Alexandrov.
The instrumental case - Alexandrov.
The prepositional case is about Alexandrov.
It is worth noting: if the name of the city sounds the same as the last name (Aleksandrov, Pushkin, Lermontov), then the differences will be visible in the accusative case: Aleksandrov (last name) in this case will be pronounced and spelled "Alexandrova", while Aleksandrov (city) will be pronounced and written as "Alexandrov". And in the instrumental case of Lermontov (last name) - Lermontov, and Lermontov (city) - Lermontov.
The declension of place names that are used with generic names
With how ordinary place names without generic words are inclined, we figured out a little. It is clear that you need to say: "I work in Perm," and not "I work in Perm." And what if the word "city" is before the toponym? How to spell: the city of Moscow or Moscow? Need to change all the components of the phrases, or only some of them?
If a proper name is combined with a generalizing word (city, village, village, etc.), then it takes on its own case, that is, it is inclined. This applies to those toponyms that were born in Russian or borrowed, but have already taken root in our speech.
Therefore, it is true to say: the city of Novgorod, from the village of Petrovka, along the Desna River , etc.
How to: Day of the city of Moscow or Moscow? True: Moscow City Day, Rostov-on-Don City Day, Perm City Day, Yaroslavl City Day. But! Day of the city of Enakievo. Why? See below.
If they end in -ovo, -evo, -ino, -no ...
If the name of the settlement arose in Russian and has the ending -ovo, -evo, -ino, -yno, then the toponym does not decline, only the generic word changes: in the city of Lutugino, in the city of Rivne, in the village of Petrovo, in the city of Enakievo etc.
If such a toponym is used without a generic name, then two options are allowed: to incline and not to incline. This happened because the rules of the Russian language changed several times.
From ancient times and now, television announcers have declined geographical names that end in -ovo, -evo, -ino, -yna, because this is historically correct, but with such manipulations it is more difficult to calculate the initial form of a proper name.
Multiple Word Geographic Name
If the toponym is in the form of the plural, then everything is simple: it does not bow. For example: in the city of Great Bridges. Even if the geographical name consists of one word, but has the plural form, it still does not bow: in the village of Duby.
If the toponym consists of several words, but has the singular form, then two options are possible, and all because the "Dictionary of geographical names" and "Dictionary of grammatical variants" contradict each other. In the city of Krivoy Rog and in the city of Krivoy Rog there will be no mistake.
When place names are not inclined
You already know how to persuade the "city of Moscow", but the Russian language is full of mysteries, tricks and contradictions.
So, we have already said above that if the name of a geographical object is in the plural form and is used together with a generic word, then the toponym is not inclined: in the village of Vysokie Lugi, in the city of Mytishchi, in the village of Duby.
The second case is when the genus of the generic word and toponym do not match (but this rule does not apply to the word "city"). For example: along the Dnieper River (the river is feminine, the Dnieper is masculine), but along the Desna River (because the words "river" and "Desna" are of the same genus); from the village of Yekaterinovka, in the village of Teremok, but in the village of Yekaterinovka, near the farm Teremka.
Also, toponyms are not inclined if the generic word is on this list: state, bay, peninsulas, region, island, district, district, square, village and others, but this does not apply if the toponym sounds like an adjective: behind Red Square, but beyond the Rogozhskaya Zastava square; on Archimandrite Lake, but on Lake Avras.
In which case you need to specify a generic word
We have already figured out how to write correctly: the city of Moscow or the city of Moscow, but is it necessary to use the word "city" in everyday life? In official business speech, generic names are used necessarily, but if it concerns everyday topics, the word "city" is absolutely superfluous here.
An exception to the recommendations can be considered those toponyms that descended from the surnames: Kirov, Lermontov, Pushkin, etc., therefore, in this case, adding a generic name is correct.
How to pronounce: the city of Moscow or the city of Moscow, you know, but in everyday oral communication or friendly correspondence, such clericalism is inappropriate, save this knowledge to fill out business documents or if you have to give an interview.
Summarize
If we use the word "city" with the toponym of the singular feminine or masculine, then we bow it: in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, with the city of Yaroslavl, the city of Paris.
If the name of the city ends with -ovo, -evo, -ino, -no, then the toponym is not inclined, only the generalizing word changes: in the city of Enakievo, the city of Ivakino.
The toponym remains unchanged if it is used with a generic name and has the plural form: in the city of Borovichi, in the city of Vyatskiye Polyany.
If the name of the city consists of several words, but has the singular form and is used with a generalizing word, then the toponym can be both declined and not declined.
As for rivers, villages, and other generalizing common nouns, a few different rules apply: if the genus of the toponym and the generic word coincide, then the design is inclined, if not, the proper name remains unchanged. On the Lena River, beyond the Angara River, along the Zapadnaya Dvina River, but on the Dnieper River, behind the Khoper River, along the Small Yenisei River.
Check yourself!
Scrolling through this article, you probably already know how to write: the city of Moscow or the city of Moscow. Now practice with other names:
- Makhachkala city;
- the city of Veliky Novgorod;
- Sochi city;
- the city of Aznakaevo;
- Lermontov city;
- Borisovka village;
- village of Big Guy;
- Konda River;
- Vitim river;
- Crimean peninsula;
- Kamchatka Peninsula;
- State of Israel
- Gulf of Carpentaria;
- Upholstered bay.
The answers
City of Makhachkala: R. p. - the city of Makhachkala, D. p. - the city of Makhachkala, V. p. - the city of Makhachkala, T. p. - the city of Makhachkala, P. p. - the city of Makhachkala.
City of Veliky Novgorod: R. p. - the city of Veliky Novgorod / city of Veliky Novgorod.
City of Sochi: R. p. - the city of Sochi, D. p. - the city of Sochi, V. p. - the city of Sochi, etc.
City of Aznakayevo: R. p. - the city of Aznakayevo, D. p. - the city of Aznakayevo, V. p. - the city of Aznakayevo, etc.
City of Lermontov: R. p. - the city of Lermontov, D. p. - the city of Lermontov, V. p. - the city of Lermontov, T. p. - the city of Lermontov, P. p. - about the city of Lermontov.
Borisovka village: R. p. - Borisovka village, D. p. - Borisovka village, V. p. - Borisovka village, T. p. - Borisovka village, P. p. - about Borisovka village.
Big Guy Village: R. p. - the village of Big Gai, D. p. - the village of Big Gai, V. p. - the village of Big Gai, T. p. - the village of Big Gai, P. p. - about the village of Big Gai.
Konda River: R. p. - Konda River, etc.
Vitim River: R. p. - Vitim River.
Crimean peninsula: R. p. - Crimean peninsula.
Kamchatka Peninsula: R. p. - Kamchatka Peninsula.
State of Israel: R. p. - State of Israel.
Gulf of Carpentaria: R. p. - Gulf of Carpentaria.
Inland Bay: R. p. - Inner Bay.