The aphorisms of Kozma Prutkov, the author created by the imagination of A. K. Tolstoy and the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers in the XIX century, are well known to everyone, and we still quote them with pleasure. The secret of the popularity of these "fruits of reflection" lies not only in the originality of the content, but also in the artistically refined form of expression.

An aphorism, as you know, is "a generalized, deep thought of a certain author, expressed in a concise, refined form, characterized by expressiveness and obvious surprise of judgment" (Dictionary of Literary Terms, Moscow, 1974, p. 23). Kozma Prutkov's aphorisms are different in nature: these are the instructions of the teacher.-

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comments, recommendations, and reflections on any occasion. The most typical aphorisms are instructions. As an "urgent advice, teaching" (Ozhegov S. I. Dictionary of the Russian Language, Moscow, 1990, p. 392), the instruction is addressed to everyone, anyone, that is, a generalized person, and a "concise, refined" form for it is generalized-personal sentences. Even A.M. Peshkovsky noticed that the form of generalization transfers the content of the sentence to everyone, including the listener, "who is therefore more captured by the narrative than with a purely personal form" (Peshkovsky A.M. Russian syntax in scientific coverage, Moscow, 1938, p. 342): It is better to say a little, but All right; Melt the wax, but keep the honey (Here and further cit. by ed.: Soch. Kozma Prutkova, Moscow, 1984. The source's punctuation is preserved). Using the imperative mood of the verb, the author addresses the reader as an interlocutor who is well known to him, in a relaxed, or even friendly tone, the form of the 2nd person singular in relation to the generalized person gives a bright emotional and expressive color to the sentence.

The addressee is sometimes mentioned in the address, but it is not specific, which only emphasizes the generality of the statement: My friends! Walk with firm steps on the path that leads to the temple of concord, and overcome the obstacles encountered on the way with the courageous meekness of a lion; Do not lose your career, O young man! precious time! The man! lift up your eyes from the earth to the sky [- what a marvellous order there is!]. Some instructions are short and concise: Trump! Bdi! Others are distributed in secondary terms and are more extensive: Buy a picture first, and then a frame! When talking to a sly person, weigh your answer carefully. The significance of this thought is emphasized by the exclamation: Love your neighbor, but do not be deceived by him! Look at the root!

Kozma Prutkov also uses generically personal sentences with verbs in the indicative mood in the singular form of the future or present tense, and less often in the plural form of the present tense: You can't sit one egg twice! The sooner you pass, the sooner you will arrive. In the latter case, this is no longer a lesson, but rather a recommendation. These forms are often used to express thoughts and arguments: In the stale air, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch your breath; a good ruler is justly likened to a coachman.

Impersonal sentences are also convenient for expressing reasoning: It is easier to hold the reins than the reins of government; And it is better to keep a gig on the railway; Looking at the world, one cannot help but be surprised!

However, arguments and reflections are often formed in two-part sentences: Explanatory expressions explain dark thoughts; of all the fruits, good education is the best.

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In the depths of every breast there is a serpent; Zeal overcomes all! Often they start with an amplifying particle and, giving greater significance, weight to the message: And oysters have enemies! And the wise Voltaire doubted the toxicity of coffee! And in the most empty heads, love often gives rise to very sharp inventions. The imagery of a judgment is created by the expression of a thought through comparison, likeness, sometimes unexpected: A jealous husband is like a Turk; Wisdom, like turtle soup, is not available to everyone; An unripe pineapple, for a just person, is always worse than a ripe currant. A number of arguments contain the connectives is, essence, which are used "always with a reasoned connotation" (Peshkovsky A.M. Edict op. cit. p. 244): Self-sacrifice is the goal for every shooter's bullet; Power is a reliable spring in the mechanism of the hostel; Every thing is a form of manifestation of boundless diversity; The wind is the breath of nature; Moments of meeting and separation are the essence of for many, the greatest moments in life.

Reflections, reflections are often enclosed in the form of interrogative sentences: Hiding the truth from friends, to whom will you open up? Where is the beginning of the end that the beginning ends with? The degree of confidence / uncertainty is also emphasized lexically: I don 't quite understand:why do many people call fate a turkey, and not some other, more similar to the fate of a bird? The change in the degree of confidence from hesitation to categorical is clearly visible when comparing the same judgment, but framed differently: Is there a person in the world who could embrace the vast? (hesitation). - No one will embrace the vast (warning). "No one will embrace the vast! (emotional conviction). - I will say again: no one will embrace the vast! (underlined conviction). "Spit in the eyes of anyone who says you can embrace the vast!" (emotionally tinged categoricality).

In negative constructions, regardless of the place of negation -with the predicate or with other members of the sentence-an additional warning value appears.: Don'twear ; Don't look for salvation in a separate contract;Notin every game aces win! Notevery tickle is a pleasure! Do not receive guests of honor in a torn dressing gown!

Often, K. Prutkov's aphorisms contain separate adverbial turns, and this is not accidental:" adverbial parts make it possible to subordinate some actions to others, to make them expressive of various details and circumstances of other actions " (Gvozdev A. N. Essays on the stylistics of the Russian language, Moscow, 1965, p. 209), and the turn itself, being separate and beginning with the beginning of the Russian language. an aphorism that falls "into the center of syntactic consciousness" (Peshkovsky A.M. Edict op. p. 380), it is on it that the attention of the reader and listener is focused. In dee's aphorisms-

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the participial turn necessarily contains a conditional or temporary meaning, which limits the scope of instruction to these limits, reduces the degree of categoricity: When you get down to business, take heart (cf.When you get down to business, take heart; When you get down to business, take heart); When you look at tall people and tall objects, hold your cap by the visor; When you dig a hole for another, you will fall into it yourself. A similar function is performed by the participial turnover: Bewildered by fate, you still do not despair!

Many aphorisms of Kozma Prutkov have the structure of a complex sentence. The grammatical meaning of complex sentences is limited: these are values that suggest comparison, generalization, and conditionality of objects and phenomena. So, compound sentences often have a comparative-contrastive semantics or a shade of conditional or temporary meaning. Sentences of the first type are comparisons to indicate differences or to draw some conclusion, they allow you to clearly and convincingly formulate the idea: The rooster wakes up early, but the villain even earlier; The Wax blackens with benefit, and the evil person - with pleasure. The conditional and / or causal connotation of the meaning of a compound sentence allows us to identify conditional and / or temporal connections between the indicated phenomena: Find the beginning of everything, and you will understand a lot; An official dies, and his orders remain on the face of the earth.

Most complex sentences have the meaning of likeness-identification, conditional, causal, or target: A bird's-eye in the hands of a warrior is like an apt word in the hands of a writer; Health without strength is like firmness without elasticity; Whims produce heterogeneous actions in the temper, like medicine in the body; If you want to be happy, be happy; If you want to be at peace, do not take grief and trouble personally, but always take them to the official account; A diligent person in the service should not be afraid of his ignorance, because he will read every new case; A person is given two hands at the other end, so that when he receives with his left, he distributes with his right; Sometimes it is enough to curse a person so as not to be deceived by him! Nails and hair are given to a person in order to give him a constant, but easy occupation.

Non-consonantal sentences also have contrastive, conditional, and causal meanings: Science sharpens the mind; teaching sharpens the memory; Click a mare in the nose and she will wave her tail; If there were no flowers, everyone would wear one-color clothes! Don't walk on the slope, you'll stop wearing your boots! When throwing pebbles into the water, look at the circles they form; otherwise, such throwing will be empty fun.

Sentences with different types of links combine the same values: Every human head is like a stomach: one is digested.

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Look into the distance , you will see the distance; look at the sky , you will see the sky; if you look in a small mirror, you will see only yourself; A sensitive person is like an icicle: warm him, he will melt.

Some of K. Prutkov's arguments are a combination of several independent sentences. It can be constructed in a question-and-answer form that brings it closer to the verb and creates the effect of a lively conversation between the author and the reader: What's the best thing? - By comparing the past, reduce it to the present; What is the trick? "Cunning is the weapon of the weak and the mind of the blind. The text can be purely monologue - based, for example: Life is an album. The pencil man. Dela-landscape. Time is humielastic: it both bounces and erases; There is no great thing that is not surpassed by the magnitude of an even greater one. There is no thing so small that even smaller things cannot fit in; a dog sitting in the hay is harmful. A chicken sitting on eggs is healthy.

The aphorisms of Kozma Prutkov, who acts as a mentor, friend, and adviser, are made even more expressive and memorable by the optimally found form of grammatical embodiment.

Murmansk

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