Remember the cartoon "In the country of unlearned lessons" (1969)? In it, the fate of the protagonist depended on how he put the comma. With us, as a rule, not everything is so extreme. But being ignorant is also somehow unpleasant. Therefore, we consider today the sacrament "diminishing." The meaning of the word will be revealed to us in all its glory.
The case when one letter decides
After all, it was not in vain that we remembered Viktor Perestukin, the hero of the animated film “In the Country of Unlearned Lessons,” and not at all because he belittled the importance of study or human knowledge. But because his case speaks of how important the little things are, which are not really trifles. What is a single comma? Nothing, even if we take one page of text. And for Viti, she became a matter of life and death. So with us, only one letter is in the spotlight. But what letter to write in the sacrament is "belittling" (the meaning of the word has absolutely nothing to do with it yet), "o" or "a"? Unfortunately, there is no universal recipe when it comes to homophones, that is, words that sound the same but are written differently. It all depends on what meaning the speaker puts into the word. For example, if he “prays” someone, then you should write “o”, because there is a noun “prayer” in which it is difficult to make a mistake and write, for example, “malba”, although in the modern situation when the rule “like I hear, and I write, "everything is possible. When it comes to "smallness", then you should write "a". Because prayer or prayer has absolutely nothing to do with it. And what do you mean? About it further.
Downplaying is what matters
It's hard to keep track of the meaning when you don't know it. Therefore, the content of the sacrament must be revealed. So, according to the dictionary, the meaning of the word "diminishing" is:
- Reduce, reduce size, size, quantity.
- To belittle, downplay the role, value, dignity.
Yes, the prudent reader understood that we used the meaning of the infinitive verb. Accordingly, if you need the meaning of the sacrament, the following will come out: this is the one who understates. It is also important to note that now they mostly use the second meaning of the verb, because the first is hopelessly outdated.
The test word for "belittling" is "a little." But first of all, you need to follow the meaning. If you belittle someone’s participation or dignity, then you belittle, if you are on your knees and ask for something, then you are begging.
Prayer and Smallness
Let's make the difference obvious; we’ll compose four sentences (two for each word). In context and examples, understanding always comes faster. So:
- Listen, do not belittle the merits of our director, he, in fact, has knocked out for us that grand, thanks to which we are now working.
- Do not beg our boss: he has no heart - there will be no prize.
- If a person belittles someone's achievements, then this perfectly characterizes, first of all, himself, and not the object of ridicule.
- It is useless for the director to plead about the role, he has already made a decision and approved all the actors in the play.
Hopefully, the examples helped clarify the meaning of the word "diminishing." And the verb in the examples was chosen because it makes the sentence bright. As a homework, let the reader try to compose his own examples, but with the sacrament.