Stylistic errors are a violation of the requirements of the unity of a functional style, the unjustified use of emotionally charged, stylistically marked means. Stylistic errors are associated with ignoring the restrictions that its stylistic coloring imposes on the use of a word.
The most common stylistic mistakes include:
1. The use of clericalisms - words and phrases characteristic of formal business style. For example, “As the income portion of my budget increased, I decided to purchase a new car for permanent use” - “I began to receive a lot of money, so I decided to buy a new car.”
2. The use of words (expressions) of inappropriate stylistic coloring. Thus, in a literary context, the use of slang, colloquial, abusive language is inappropriate, business text Colloquial and expressive words should be avoided. For example, “The trustee of charitable institutions is cozying up to the auditor” - “The trustee of charitable institutions is currying favor with the auditor.”
3. Mixing styles - unjustified use of words in one text, syntactic constructions, characteristic of different styles of the Russian language. For example, a mixture of scientific and conversational styles.
4. Mixing different vocabulary historical eras. For example, “The heroes wear chain mail, trousers, mittens” - “The heroes wear chain mail, armor, mittens.”
5. Incorrect sentence construction. For example, “Despite his youth, he good man" There are several ways to fix these errors. First, change the order of words in the sentence: “There are many works that tell about the author’s childhood in world literature” - “In world literature there are many works that tell about the author’s childhood.”
6. Secondly, remake the sentence: “Of other sporting events, let’s talk about the barbell” - “Of other sporting events, we should highlight the barbell competition.”
7. Pleonasm – speech excess, the use of words that are unnecessary from a semantic point of view. In order to avoid pleonasm, you must do the following:
Replace the word with the same root, for example, monumental monument - monument;
Remove a word from a phrase, for example, the main point- essence, valuable treasures - treasures;
Remove a word from the text without reducing quality. For example, “Operation is the way in which an action is performed” - “Operation is the way in which an action is performed”; “Building a model in accordance with known rules” – “Building a model according to the rules.”
8. Tautology – the use of words with the same root within the boundaries of one sentence. For example, “Tell a story”; "Ask a question." Ways to correct tautologies are:
Replace one of the words with a synonym. For example, “The heavy rain did not stop all day” - “The heavy rain did not stop all day”;
Remove one of the words. For example, “Along with these signs, there are a number of others” - “Along with these signs, there are others.”
Tautology is easily detected when reading the text aloud. Overused words usually include which, so, and can.
9. Lexical repetitions in the text. For example, “In order to study well, students must pay more attention to their studies.” Words that are repeated must be replaced with synonyms, nouns can be replaced with pronouns, or the repeated word can be removed altogether if possible - “To achieve success, students must pay more attention to classes.”
10. Substitution of the concept. This error occurs as a result of missing a word. For example, “Patients who have not visited an outpatient clinic for three years are archived” ( we're talking about about patient cards, and from the text of the sentence it follows that the patients themselves were taken to the outpatient clinic).
11. This error, which arose as a result of the author’s stylistic negligence, can be easily corrected: it is necessary to insert an accidentally missed word or phrase. For example, “Farmers strive to increase the number of sheep on the farm” - “Farmers strive to increase the number of sheep on the farm.”
12. Choice of forms of singular or plural. Often there are problems with the use of singular or plural. Examples of correct use are combinations: two or more options, three or more forms, there are several options, there are some options.
For correct use, agreement in meaning is increasingly used: if a single whole is meant, then it is used singular, and if you need to emphasize individual objects - plural.
13. Agreement of words in a sentence. Errors in word agreement in sentences often occur, especially when it comes to controlling verbs. For example, “This section describes opening, working and saving a document” - “This section describes the procedures for opening and saving documents, as well as working with them.”
14. Creation of verbal nouns. You should be careful when creating verbal nouns, because... many of the words created are not in the dictionary, and their use is considered illiterate (arrange - ordering, not ordering; collapse - folding, not collapsing).
15. Stringing identical shapes. You should avoid stringing together identical case forms, for example with the words “so that” and “which”. For example, “In order to avoid the possibility of danger” - “To avoid the occurrence of danger.”
16. Poverty and monotony of syntactic structures. For example, “The man was dressed in a burnt padded jacket. The padded jacket was roughly mended. The boots were almost new. Socks are moth-eaten” – “The man was dressed in a roughly darned, burnt-out padded jacket. Although the boots were almost new, the socks turned out to be moth-eaten.”
Stylistically unjustified use of tropes. The use of tropes can cause a variety of speech errors. Poor imagery of speech is a fairly common flaw in the style of authors who are poor at writing.
For example, “The judge was just as simple and modest.
Speech is a channel for the development of intelligence,
the sooner the language is acquired,
the easier and more completely the knowledge will be absorbed.
Nikolai Ivanovich Zhinkin,
Soviet linguist and psychologist
We think of speech as an abstract category, inaccessible to direct perception. Meanwhile, this is the most important indicator of a person’s culture, his intelligence and a way of understanding the complex connections of nature, things, society and transmitting this information through communication.
It is obvious that when learning and already using something, we make mistakes due to inability or ignorance. And speech, like other types of human activity (in which language is an important component), is no exception in this regard. All people make mistakes, both in life and in oral speech. Moreover, the concept of speech culture, as the idea of “”, is inextricably linked with the concept of speech error. In essence, these are parts of the same process, and, therefore, striving for perfection, we must be able to recognize speech errors and eradicate them.
Types of speech errors
First, let's figure out what speech errors are. Speech errors– these are any cases of deviation from the existing language norms. Without their knowledge, a person can live, work and communicate normally with others. But the effectiveness of the actions taken in certain cases may suffer. In this regard, there is a risk of being misunderstood or misunderstood. And in situations where our personal success depends on it, this is unacceptable.
The author of the classification of speech errors given below is Doctor of Philology Yu. V. Fomenko. Its division, in our opinion, is the simplest, devoid of academic pretentiousness and, as a result, understandable even to those who do not have a special education.
Types of speech errors:
Examples and causes of speech errors
S. N. Tseitlin writes: “The complexity of the speech generation mechanism is a factor contributing to the occurrence of speech errors.” Let's look at special cases, based on the classification of types of speech errors proposed above.
Pronunciation errors
Pronunciation or spelling errors arise as a result of violation of the rules of spelling. In other words, the reason lies in the incorrect pronunciation of sounds, sound combinations, individual grammatical structures and borrowed words. These also include accentological errors - violation of stress norms. Examples:
Pronunciation: “of course” (and not “of course”), “poshti” (“almost”), “plotlit” (“pays”), “precedent” (“precedent”), “iliktrichesky” (“electric”), “colidor” ("corridor"), "laboratory" ("laboratory"), "tyshcha" ("thousand"), "shchas" ("now").
Accent: “calls”, “dialogue”, “agreement”, “catalogue”, “overpass”, “alcohol”, “beets”, “phenomenon”, “driver”, “expert”.
Lexical errors
Lexical errors are violations of the rules of vocabulary, first of all, the use of words in meanings that are unusual for them, distortion of the morphemic form of words and the rules of semantic agreement. They come in several types.
Using a word in a meaning that is unusual for it. This is the most common lexical speech error. Within this type there are three subtypes:
- Mixing words that are similar in meaning: “He read the book back.”
- Mixing words that sound similar: excavator - escalator, colossus - colossus, Indian - turkey, single - ordinary.
- A mixture of words that are similar in meaning and sound: subscriber - subscription, addressee - addressee, diplomat - diploma holder, well-fed - well-fed, ignorant - ignoramus. “Cashier for business travelers” (required – business travelers).
Word writing. Examples of errors: Georgian, heroism, underground, spender.
Violation of the rules of semantic agreement of words. Semantic coordination is the mutual adaptation of words along their line real values. For example, you cannot say: “ I raise this toast", since “to lift” means “to move,” which is not consistent with the wish. “Through a door that is ajar” is a speech error, because the door cannot be both ajar (open a little) and wide open (wide open) at the same time.
This also includes pleonasms and tautologies. Pleonasm is a phrase in which the meaning of one component is entirely included in the meaning of another. Examples: “the month of May”, “traffic route”, “residence address”, “huge metropolis”, “be on time”. Tautology is a phrase whose members have the same root: “We were given a task,” “The organizer was one public organization", "I wish you long creative life."
Phraseological errors
Phraseological errors occur when the form of phraseological units is distorted or they are used in a meaning that is unusual for them. Yu. V. Fomenko identifies 7 varieties:
- Changing the lexical composition of a phraseological unit: “As long as the matter is the case” instead of “As long as the trial is the case”;
- Truncation of phraseological units: “It was just right for him to hit the wall” (phraseological unit: “beat his head against the wall”);
- Expansion of the lexical composition of phraseological units: “You have come to the wrong address” (phraseological unit: go to the right address);
- Distortion grammatical form phraseological unit: “I can’t stand sitting with my hands folded.” Correct: “folded”;
- Contamination (combination) of phraseological units: “You can’t do everything with your sleeves folded” (a combination of phraseological units “carelessly” and “hands folded”);
- Combination of pleonasm and phraseological unit: "Random stray bullet";
- Use of phraseological units in an unusual meaning: “Today we will talk about the film from cover to cover.”
Morphological errors
Morphological errors are incorrect formation of word forms. Examples of such speech errors: “reserved seat”, “shoes”, “towels”, “cheaper”, “one and a half hundred kilometers away”.
Syntax errors
Syntactic errors are associated with violation of the rules of syntax - the construction of sentences, the rules of combining words. There are a lot of varieties, so we will give just a few examples.
- Incorrect matching: “There are a lot of books in the closet”;
- Mismanagement: “Pay for travel”;
- Syntactic ambiguity: “Reading Mayakovsky made a strong impression”(have you read Mayakovsky or have you read Mayakovsky’s works?);
- Design offset: “The first thing I ask of you is your attention.” Correct: “The first thing I ask of you is your attention”;
- Extra correlative word in the main clause: “We looked at those stars that dotted the whole sky.”
Spelling mistakes
This type of error occurs due to ignorance of the rules of writing, hyphenation, and abbreviation of words. Characteristic of speech. For example: “the dog barked”, “sit on the chairs”, “come to the train station”, “Russian. language", "gram. error".
Punctuation errors
Punctuation errors - incorrect use of punctuation marks when...
Stylistic errors
We have dedicated a separate section to this topic.
Ways to correct and prevent speech errors
How to prevent speech errors? Work on your speech should include:
- Reading fiction.
- Visiting theaters, museums, exhibitions.
- Communication with educated people.
- Constant work to improve speech culture.
Online course “Russian language”
Speech errors are one of the most problematic topics that receive little attention in school. There are not so many topics in the Russian language in which people most often make mistakes - about 20. We decided to devote the course “to” to these topics. During the classes you will have the opportunity to practice competent writing skills using a special system of multiple distributed repetitions of material through simple exercises and special memory techniques.
Sources
- Bezzubov A. N. Introduction to literary editing. – St. Petersburg, 1997.
- Savko I. E. Basic speech and grammatical errors
- Sergeeva N. M. Speech, grammatical, ethical, factual errors...
- Fomenko Yu. V. Types of speech errors. – Novosibirsk: NSPU, 1994.
- Tseytlin S. N. Speech errors and their prevention. – M.: Education, 1982.
Stylistic norms determine the use of linguistic means in accordance with the laws of the genre, the features of the functional style and, more broadly, with the purpose and conditions of communication. The unmotivated use of words of a different stylistic connotation in the text causes stylistic errors. Stylistic norms are fixed in explanatory dictionaries as special marks, they are commented on in textbooks on the stylistics of the Russian language and the culture of speech.
Stylistic norms clarify and concretize general literary norms in cases where the language contains stylistic options, and regulate the use of these options in different styles, speech genres and speech situations. In accordance with the differences between general literary and stylistic norms at all levels of language, it is possible to distinguish between gross speech deviations (errors) that violate general linguistic norms and less noticeable deviations (inaccuracies, errors) of a stylistic nature.
Stylistic norms cannot be opposed to literary norms. They are a type of literary norms, but have their own characteristics. According to M.N. Kozhina, “stylistic norms are historically established and at the same time naturally developing generally accepted implementations of the stylistic possibilities inherent in the language, determined by the goals, objectives and content of speech of a certain sphere of communication”
Stylistic errors consist of violating stylistic norms, including units in the text that do not correspond to the style and genre of the text. The most common stylistic mistakes are:
· stylistic inappropriateness ( obsessive, royal chaos, doesn't care, the love conflict is depicted in all its glory- in the text of the essay, in business document, in an analytical article);
· use of cumbersome, unsuccessful metaphors ( Pushkin and Lermontov are two rays of light in a dark kingdom; These flowers - the messengers of nature - do not know what kind of violent heart beats in the chest under stone slabs!; Did he have the right to cut off this thread of life that he did not hang himself?);
· lexical insufficiency ( This question worries me deeply);
· lexical redundancy ( He wakes them up so that they wake up; We must turn to the period of their life, that is, to the period of time when they lived; Pushkin is a poet with a capital P of the word);
· ambiguity ( While Oblomov was sleeping, many were preparing for his awakening; Oblomov's only entertainment is Zakhar; Yesenin, preserving traditions, but somehow loves the fair female sex less; All actions and relationships between Olga and Oblomov were incomplete
Various types of stylistic errors can be played out in speech, in particular, in literary texts. Thus, in “The Tale of the Troika” by A. and B. Strugatsky, the passion of officials for drawing up unnecessary memos and instructions is ridiculed. There was a notice on the elevator door stating that “sleeping and jumping is not allowed.” IN in this case not only the absurdity of the content of the instructions is played out, but also the clerical technique of splitting the predicate:
sleep - do sleep, jump - do jumping.
Modern Russian language is developing very quickly. Speech norms evolve. What was previously a serious stylistic violation is now either within the norm or the norm. However, we must not forget about the stylistic foundations of the Russian language. They are unchangeable. Ignorance of the basics of the Russian language leads to stylistic errors.
Concepts of stylistic error
Text stylistics is a complex and diverse phenomenon. Of course, creating a stylistically correct and literate text is a complex, time-consuming process and requires good command of the rules of the Russian language. When creating any text it is very difficult to avoid stylistic errors, since some functional styles intersect with each other and are similar in syntax and vocabulary.
The ability to write and speak Russian correctly is hard work, requiring not only erudition, but also constant self-development. The fight against stylistic errors in speech and texts requires a clear understanding of the term “stylistic error” itself.
Modern linguists point out that until recently the term "stylistic error" was used too often. For this reason, the conceptual apparatus of the term has become too vague. The problem is that stylistic mistake they named any awkwardness of expression, any speech irregularity, i.e., all speech and grammatical errors.
IN modern style repeated attempts have been made systematize stylistic errors. The following domestic linguists addressed this problem: A.D. Alferov, V.A. Dobromyslov, K.B. Barkhin, N.N. Algazina, N. Zhdanov, A.V. Klevtsova, L.M. Kuznetsova, N. Kanonykin, V.N. Peretrukhin, E.A. Golushkova, A.N. Nazarov, E.P. Khvorostukhina, M.M. Mikhailov, A.P. Sokolov, L.F. Zakharchenko.
Along with the term stylistic error, the concept of stylistic confusion is often encountered, which is erroneously distinguished separately from a stylistic error. At the same time, a number of authoritative scientists consider stylistic mixtures not to mistakes, but to speech defects. This perception of stylistic confusion is relevant and recognized by stylistics as correct. In this regard, interpretations of the concept of “stylistic mixtures” are of particular interest.
Stylistic mixtures include everything that destroys the unity of the style of expression:
- the use of foreign words and expressions,
- unsuccessful use of expressive, emotionally charged means,
- unmotivated use of dialect and colloquial words and expressions,
- a mixture of vocabulary from different historical eras.
Stylistic confusions constitute a type of speech disorders that unites the most subtle cases. Therefore, it is better to call them stylistic flaws rather than errors.
Features of stylistic errors
There are stylistic mistakes different types, each of which has a number of features. Thanks to these features, stylistic errors in the text can be found and corrected.
Before listing the most common stylistic errors, let us highlight their main peculiarities:
- They have a negative impact on the readability of the text.
- Stylistic errors can disrupt the structure of the text.
- Reduce the effect of reading the text.
10 most common stylistic mistakes
|
Name of stylistic error |
Explanation |
An example of a stylistic error |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tautology |
A stylistic and rhetorical figure that represents the deliberate use of the same root or the same words. However, in most cases, the tautology is a gross stylistic error. |
Today we turn to problems in forestry. Problematic the issue is financing forestry. |
|
|
Passion for speech cliches |
Widespread words and expressions with erased semantics and faded emotional overtones become speech cliches. Speech cliches make speech inaccurate. |
Very important apply your persuasion skills to a problem child. |
|
|
Mixing styles |
Inappropriate use of scientific terminology and clerical vocabulary in text related to other functional styles |
The stupidity of students is at depth gene. |
|
|
Briefly speaking, go here. Lecture type ended. |
|||
|
Verbosity |
Stylistic errors include such verbosity, which is caused by the use of universal words, that is, words that are used in the most general and vague meanings. |
Revealing the semantic characteristics of the proposed literary text is an extremely important and lengthy undertaking. |
|
|
Inappropriate use of non-literary speech |
Violation of style integrity |
Raskolnikov hacked granny to death and suffered from torment of conscience. |
|
|
Excessive expressiveness |
Stylistically unmotivated use of expressive means such as epithets, metaphors, comparisons. |
Prime Minister's words on salary increases sound like a bell. |
|
|
Use of anachronisms |
Using words in speech that do not correspond to the time and place described in the text, or overloading speech with newfangled words. |
Pechorin appreciated the onion princesses. |
|
|
Excessive abuse of foreign words |
Oversaturation of speech and texts with foreign words. |
This performance made a strong impression on public. Sound was great. |
|
|
Poverty and monotony of syntactic structures |
Use of the same syntactic structures in the text. |
The sun rose two hours ago. The sky was gloomy. The mood soured. I didn't want to work. |
How to avoid stylistic mistakes
In order to avoid stylistic mistakes, it is recommended to expand lexicon, read fiction. Blogs and popular articles do not apply fiction and often represent shining example"how not to write or speak."
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From the reader's point of view, all texts can be divided into the following categories:
The main danger that stylistic errors pose is undermining the authority of the author. What kind of trust and respect can we talk about if phrases like this appear in the text?
The Palace of Culture building itself has retained not only the original appearance of the Stalinist Empire style, but also the original stucco molding and balustrades on the walls.
Mistake 1: Using words whose meanings you don’t know
Very often, authors use words without thinking about their true meaning. For example, something foreign with the letter “b” sits in the memory, and as a result, instead of “bas-reliefs”, “balustrades” appear on the walls of the cultural center, that is, railings consisting of a series of columns.
How to fix: If there is even the slightest doubt, look in the dictionary.
Mistake 2. Wrong choice of words
Selfishness clouds our hearing.
How to fix: When editing, we check the entire text - does it convey what we really want to say?
Mistake 3. Using unclear words
I give as an example the beginning of a popular science article:
What have we learned from Tokugawa-era manuscripts about Toyotomi Hideyoshi?
If the author writes for specialists in Japan, such a text has a right to exist (and it is better to replace the word “manuscripts” with “chronicles”). But if the target audience - ordinary people, they simply will not understand the author.
How to fix: We avoid if possible unclear words, and if you still need to introduce a new term, we try to explain it - without footnotes, so as not to distract the reader from the story.
What do we know from the chronicles about Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the great Japanese military leader of the 16th century?
Do you see? The reader immediately understands what is going on.
Mistake 4: Using filler words
Everything that you can do without must be crossed out. Duplicate words, introductory constructions, cliches, extra adverbs and adjectives make the text cumbersome.
At the next congress, his position was subjected to merciless and merciless criticism.
The word “ruthless” is clearly superfluous.
ABOUT! - she exclaimed. - Oh, look what a beautiful building!
“O” can also be cut out - and the meaning will not change.
Mistake 5: Unclear definitions
If we define a person, object or situation, it must be specific - so that the reader can imagine it.
He looked kind of strange.
Her eyes were of some unnatural shade.
Such definitions do not provide clarity. What should the reader imagine? That the hero grew a second head? Or that he just turned pale?
What's wrong with the heroine's eyes? Did they blush? Or did they turn white?
How to fix: We help the reader imagine what is happening in our work.
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