A verbal noun in Russian is a part of speech that is most similar to English gerund. Despite the fact that formally there is no gerund in the Russian language, the verb noun with it has many common features. Nevertheless, the main thing in the study of such nouns is not to compare them with similar phenomena in other languages, but to "get to the bottom". After all, their history of origin and application can shed light on many questions: not only philological, but also everyday, and even philosophical.
What it is?
Verbal nouns are a part of speech that comes from a verb and performs a nominative function for actions. Simply put, these nouns call actions, give them "names." These "names" fall into two main categories:
- One category calls the action itself. For example: create - create, improve - improve, simplify - simplify, heat - heat.
- The second category names the one who performs this action: pursue - the persecutor, kidnap - the kidnapper, replace - deputy, represent - representative.
To form such a noun, you can use the suffix method:
- -ni-, -an-, -en-: to teach - to teach, to instruct - to instruct, to allow - permission.
- -k-: stack - stack, charge - charge.
The non-fake way looks like this: firing - firing, flying out - flying out, bribing - bribing.
Why use this?
Ideally, the use of verbal nouns is not a strict necessity and is mandatory only in the following cases:
- When it is impossible to choose a simpler verb counterpart or rearrange the sentence.
- When a rebuilt proposal or an alternative does not sound official enough, it does not match the tone of the event or resource for publication.
But if verbal nouns were used only for these purposes, they would not enter into everyday communication so easily. However, other goals are hidden under the guise of “innocence”.
Why is it used in reality?
Politicians, economists, labists, media workers and simply resourceful people have found an alternative use of the verbal noun. It is enough just to take a closer look at them to independently come to the same conclusion. In fact, all examples of verbal nouns, in or out of context, sound very, very solid. In addition, sentences with them are often overloaded and difficult to understand, so it’s easier to hide the true meaning behind them.
How to deal with overloaded offers?
To identify chains of verbal nouns and turn them into something harmonious is a matter of practice. For example, an overloaded version would sound like this:
- The start of the flight is scheduled for six hours.
- The experts decided to immediately implement the plan to improve the product.
Now let's try to simplify these sentences:
- The plane will fly at six o’clock.
- The experts decided to immediately implement a plan to improve the product. The experts decided to immediately improve the product.