Thread: без and genitive

Originally Posted by bacco22

Thanks a lot Throbert,

оказалась (past tense verb - feminine) --> волком (instrumental - masculine) --> собака (nominative subject - feminine)

is it correct?

The words are correct, but the word-order you've used seems a bit strange to me -- not wrong, but not quite like natural speech, either.

Russian word-order is very flexible, and yet some word-orders are encountered much more often than others. Personally, I think that in this case it's best to have "оказалась" in the middle -- either "Волком оказалась собака" or "Собака оказалась волком." (There's possibly a slight difference in nuance, because in general, putting a word at the very end of a sentence can tend to emphasize it.)

To me, the order "Оказалась волком собака" sounds like it should be a question, with a "?" at the end and a strong emphasis on the second "-а-" in the verb ("оказАлась волком собака?"), meaning "Did the dog in fact turn out to be a wolf?"

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

The words are correct, but the word-order you've used seems a bit strange to me -- not wrong, but not quite like natural speech, either.

Russian word-order is very flexible, and yet some word-orders are encountered much more often than others. Personally, I think that in this case it's best to have "оказалась" in the middle -- either "Волком оказалась собака" or "Собака оказалась волком." (There's possibly a slight difference in nuance, because in general, putting a word at the very end of a sentence can tend to emphasize it.)

To me, the order "Оказалась волком собака" sounds like it should be a question, with a "?" at the end and a strong emphasis on the second "-а-" in the verb ("оказАлась волком собака?"), meaning "Did the dog in fact turn out to be a wolf?"

Собака оказалась волком is most neutral, otherwise, emphasis should fall on "волком".

word-order might seem strange, but it works. Compare:
"Не бывать вороне коровою,
Не летать лягушатам под облаком!"