Which is correct: “dress” or “put on”? Examples of writing words in a sentence. To put on or put on clothes, things - how to speak, write correctly: rules of the Russian language, examples

Confusion in the use of the verbs “put on” and “dress” arose due to the fact that in everyday speech they are used as interchangeable forms. However, this is not a reason to neglect the norms of the Russian literary language, which determine the correctness and accuracy of word usage.

The words “dress” and “put on” have differences in lexical meaning, on which their semantic connection with other words in the sentence depends.

Verb " dress" means an action performed by a person towards another person or an inanimate object:

dress the child

dress the old man

dress the bride in a wedding dress

dress the doll

In speech, the verb “to dress” is connected by a method of control with a noun that names the object of action. This means that the noun in the sentence is a direct object: from the verb “to dress” you can ask the question whom? or what?

dress (who?) little brother in a clean shirt

dress (who?) a girl in a squirrel fur coat

dress (what?) a stuffed animal in an old robe

The verb “to dress” belongs to the category of reflexive verbs, that is, it can be used with the postfix –sya if the action of the subject of speech is directed towards himself:

dressed in everything new

dress in a fashion salon

dress for the season

Verb " put on" denotes an action that is performed in relation to oneself:

I need to wear a new suit

I'll wear something brighter

put on my favorite dress

Only in constructions with the preposition “on” the verb “put on” denotes an action directed at another person or object, most often inanimate:

put a robe on the patient

put glasses on nose

put a cover on the chair

put tires on wheels

A simple hint for the correct use in speech of the verb forms “dress” and “put on” can be the formula: they put on themselves or on something, they “dress” someone, they “dress” themselves.

Masha put on her mother’s beads and looked in the mirror.

The old man put the bait on the hook and cast out the fishing rod.

Anna Andreevna hastily dressed her son in a quilted jacket and went to the door.

The boy woke up, reluctantly got dressed and looked out the window.

the site determined that the difference between the verbs “put on” and “dress” is as follows:

1. The verb “put on” means that the action is directed towards oneself. The verb “to dress” is used if the action is directed towards another person or an inanimate object.
2. The verb “put on” forms constructions with the preposition “on”. In this case, it denotes an action directed at another person or thing. The verb “to dress” is not used with the preposition “on”.
3. The verb “to dress” in a sentence is connected by means of control with a noun that acts as a direct object. The verb “put on” does not have such a stable connection.
4. The verb “dress” can be used with the postfix –sya and denote an action directed at oneself. The verb “put on” is not a reflexive verb and is not used with the postfix –sya.

Summer is just around the corner - a time of long-awaited rest and vacations, and in honor of this, the Literary Workshop is somewhat slowing down the pace of publishing new articles. Don’t blame me – soon everything will return to normal, it’s just that each of us needs a little rest at least sometimes...

Today, as part of the “Literacy Minute” section, we will discuss the very pressing issue of the correct use of verbs dress And put on. And if most of us, I’m sure, learned the main principle of their use back in school, then an author who ignores this issue risks being ridiculed at any moment by a more prepared public. Agree that there is an extremely high chance that a reader (and even more so an editor at a publishing house or a respected critic), having noticed such an error in the text, will simply close this creation and never return to it. Therefore, in order not to get into trouble, today we will repeat the rules for using verbs put on And dress.

The essence of the problem

It is quite obvious that the incorrect use of verb forms is equally characteristic of both oral and written speech. The main reason for such speech errors is the failure to distinguish words with the same root. For example, verbs are often confused get used to it And get used to, loosen And let loose, adverbs objectivist And objectively… In the use of cognate words, it was our heroes who were most “unlucky”: verbs dress (dress) - put on (put on). These verbs belong to the so-called paronyms - words that are similar in sound but different in meaning. The correct use of verbs dress And put on in a given situation is the stumbling block that we must learn to overcome.

Rules of use

To understand the issue of the correct use of our verbs, the first thing you need to remember is that verbs dress And put on- polysemantic. In order not to cause unnecessary confusion, we will consider the most common first values:

Dress- who, what. 1. Dress someone in some kind of clothing. For example: Dress a son, dress a sick person, dress a doll.

Put on- What. 1. Pull, pull (clothing, shoes, cover, etc.), covering, enveloping something. For example: Put on your coat, put on your hat, put on your mask, put on your boots.

In general, it is in the meanings of these verbs that the main rule of their use lies.

As we see, the verb dress combines well with animate nouns and with some inanimate ones, denoting the likeness of a person ( doll, mannequin, skeleton). The verb put on used exclusively with inanimate nouns.

It is important to note that the verb dress can be combined with inanimate nouns denoting body parts. This happens through the mediation of an animate noun and necessarily with the prepositional-case combination of an inanimate noun ( Put your hand in a glove).

Verb put on has syntactic connections according to the same principle as with animate nouns ( put a coat on a child), and with inanimate ( put a glove on your hand, put a sweater under your jacket).

The difference in the semantics of our verbs is also emphasized by the fact that they form different antonymic pairs: put on - take off, put on - undress.

In general, the main thing we need to remember is that the verb dress used in relation to any person or part of the body (meaning clothe). Put on same means pulling, pushing on some item of clothing.

That's all for today. I hope you have successfully refreshed your memory of the school curriculum and reliably insured yourself against childhood mistakes in texts. Subscribe to blog updates. See you soon!

Many people do not see the difference in which verb to use in one context or another - “to dress” or “to put on.” Many even believe that there is no need for any rules, explanations or clarifications at all. In their opinion, “putting on a hat” or “putting on a hat” sounds different, but the result will still be the same.

Ushakov's dictionary about the verbs “dress” and “put on”

Ushakov’s “Explanatory Dictionary” gives the following explanations of the verb “to dress”:

1. To dress is to clothe someone or something in some kind of clothing. For example: “Dress the performers in fancy dress.”
2. To dress means to cover or wrap something for warmth. For example, putting a blanket on a horse, covering a sick person with a blanket.
3. In a figurative meaning, “to dress” means to envelop, cover, envelop. Examples are figurative expressions-metaphors: “Winter covered the entire earth with snow” or “The trees covered the clearing with lacy shadows.”
4. To dress in a wide variety, to provide someone with clothes, to help in purchasing all kinds of apparel. For example: “She tried so hard to dress her family that she worked tirelessly.”

Ushakov writes about the verb “put on”:

1. Put on - pull, cover, pull on clothing, part of clothing or a blanket, blanket, fabric in order to shelter from cold, rain or wind, or to hide, hide nakedness. Examples: “Since it started to rain, don’t forget to put on a hood!”, “A smart girl put a net on herself - and was not naked and not wearing clothes!”
2. Put on - put something on something. “Petrovich put the duck on a spit and put it on the fire, let it brown better!”

The figurative meaning of the verb “to put on”

Some linguists argue that the word “put on” is not as ambiguous as its paronym “put on.” They say that it defines only specific actions, but it is impossible to use it in a figurative sense.

However, this is not entirely true. The verb “put on” can serve as part of a metaphorical expression when animation occurs or human actions are transferred to it.

Examples are the following sentences: “The birches put on their earrings, as if they were marriageable girls” or “I put on a sheepskin coat made of snow oak tree, like an old grandfather, standing there, creaking.”

Let's turn to Rosenthal

At school, teachers explain the use of “dress” and “put on”, based on the following explanations by Rosenthal: they dress someone (or something, for example, a doll, a corpse, a stuffed animal) in something or with something, and put on something then on someone.

That is, you can dress or dress your son in a jacket, the bride in a wedding dress, or your hand with a glove. But you can put something on someone or something: a jacket on a son, a wedding dress on a bride, a glove on a hand. There is even a hint phrase: “Grandfather is dressed, his sheepskin coat is on.”

Antonyms can help us!

Some people, faced with the dilemma of whether to say “put on” or “put on a coat,” have come up with a simple way to choose the right option. It turns out that you can use antonyms of these words.

The word with the opposite meaning of the verb “dress” is the action “undress”, and the antonym of the verb “put on” is “take off”. Since the phrase “undress the coat” is meaningless, it is naturally impossible to put on the coat.

In the same way, you can make the right choice between two expressions: “put on glasses” or “put on glasses.” Is it possible to take off glasses? Of course not! Therefore, the second option should be considered correct - wear glasses.

This is the explanation that most modern people are content with, considering it the easiest and most correct.

Semantic confusion

Essentially, the use of the verbs “dress” or “put on” most often does not introduce confusion into the understanding of what has been said. Although such a possibility exists if, for example, the conversation is about a parsley doll, which is put on the hand like a glove.

A proposal to dress a parsley doll will mean that the doll should be dressed up in new clothes: change the hat, throw on a cape or tie a scarf. But the request to put on the doll already means that you need to pull the parsley on your hand and get ready for the performance. So in this situation, the use of the verbs “dress” or “put on” radically changes the meaning of what was said.

A similar thing can arise when it comes to the words “scarecrow” or “scarecrow”, because they can also be dressed in something or put on a pole or pole.

Humor in Russian lessons

As you know, teenagers in all centuries have been distinguished by nihilism. The majority enthusiastically accepts all generally accepted rules with hostility. And, of course, they are trying to prove that the words “dress” and “put on” are practically the same, so there is no point in figuring out which one should be used in a particular case.

During the lessons, the teacher has to be an artist, a storyteller, be able to masterfully lead a discussion, select irrefutable evidence, and logically prove the need for knowledge of the rules of the Russian language. And he also needs to be... a humorist.

After all, humor is probably the most powerful weapon against ignorance. And even if the situation told by the teacher is not very plausible, its imagery will leave a “notch” in the mind forever. Thanks to a funny “picture” created by the imagination of a wise teacher, students will understand that there is a difference between the verbs “dress” and “put on”, and a huge one.

Dressed chicken

Confusion in the use of these two verbs occurs because both verbs have the same root. However, the verb “to put on” has more meanings. Along with the process of putting on items of clothing, it can also carry the meaning of “putting on”, for example, on a spit or pike. A story that will make the kids laugh and remain in their memory is precisely based on this ambiguity of the verb “to put on.”

At one of the student picnics there was a young man in the company who took everything literally. His name was Hernando, he was Mexican. The guys decided to cook chicken on skewers.

When the fire in the fire blazed merrily, the person in charge of preparing the treat said to Hernando: “Dress the chicken - here’s the skewer!” The guy to whom the request was made nodded his head and walked away from the fire to the table where the raw food lay.

He was absent for quite a long time. But when he returned with a chicken in his hands, friendly laughter simply exploded the neighborhood! The hen was wearing a leather cap, her waist was adorned with a skirt with straps - a kind of sundress made from the chiffon scarf of one of the flirty students, and the stumps of her legs were stuffed into someone's sneakers.

The one who gave Hernando the order to “dress the chicken” was the most indignant, because it was his cap and his sneakers that were ruined by the stupid Mexican. But he calmly replied that he fulfilled the request absolutely precisely: dressing a chicken means dressing it in some kind of outfit. He already knows Russian!

Of course, at first the order seemed a little strange to him. But he reasoned like this: being familiar with some Russian customs, the young man never tired of being surprised by them. For example, during carols people dress up in the skins of different animals, and for the New Year they decorate a Christmas tree. Maybe there is some other custom when you need to dress up the chicken before frying it?

Ironic illustration of rules helps improve memorization

By the way, after such a funny story, the teacher can present the children with pictures with captions: one drawing depicting a “dressy” chicken, and under it the phrase: “Dress the chicken in clothes,” and the second drawing with a carcass on a skewer, under which is written: “ Put the chicken on the skewer.”

After such a humorous and visual impact, the guys will never confuse what to say: “dress” or “put on.” A dress on a chicken, a cap and sneakers - this picture will definitely be remembered!

When do we say “dressed”?

Now the time has come to deal with definitions formed from verbs. It should be remembered that the verb “dress” is used only in relation to animate objects or inanimate ones, but with signs of a person (corpse, doll, stuffed animal, mannequin). As mentioned above, sometimes this verb appears in metaphors with animated objects of inanimate nature - the abilities of living beings are attributed to them.

Consequently, the word “dressed” can also serve as a definition only of a living creature or animated by human imagination. A dressed man, a dressed lady, houses dressed in snow caps - these are examples of the use of the word “dressed”.

Although in fairy tales, heroes (animated objects that are inanimate in ordinary life) can be dressed: this is a table, a bed, and other things.

“The table, dressed in a festive tablecloth, proudly looked at its neighbors” or “A photograph of her father, dressed in an elegant frame, hitherto gathering dust in the closet, was extremely happy about these changes in her destiny.”

“Glove on”, “glove on” - which is correct?

In relation to inanimate objects, the definition “wearing” should be used. That is, the suit cannot be dressed, but only put on. The same applies to the words “glasses”, “skirt”, “coat”, “hat” and others, denoting objects that are worn.

The glove example can be used in class to explain the difference between wearing and wearing. For better memorization, you can provide students with pictures with captions. Moreover, one of them will be reliable - with the signature “glove on.” But the picture signed with the phrase “wearing glove” will be of a humorous nature - there is a hat on the glove, or rather, on one of its fingers, and a scarf tied.

The phrase “dressed glove” can only exist in a fairy tale or a fantasy story, where the accessory comes to life and can dress up, speak, and think. For example, some ladies wear rings over their gloves. And such a fantastic plot allows the use of this phrase: the hostess put a ring on top of one glove, but not the other. And the “dressed glove,” with a gold belt decorated with a diamond, mocks his sister, who is “forced to go out naked.” This story may end with the owner losing one glove - the one that was “undressed”. The “rich glove” rejoices - now she will no longer tolerate this annoying beggar woman next to her! However, misfortune awaits her: the owner, having discovered the loss and having grieved, throws the stupid troublemaker into the trash.

The verbs “put on” and “dress” are so criminally similar that most people use them without even thinking about the nuances they convey. And yet they exist. So, “put on” or “dress” - which is correct? In fact, both of these forms have a right to exist. But their use in a particular sentence is determined by the noun to which they refer.

What is the difference?

Let's figure out the meaning of these verbs in order to decide once and for all what is correct - “put on” or “dress”.

It's very simple: we put on something, and we dress someone. Thus, in order to make sure that the verb is used correctly, we need to check whether it refers to an animate or inanimate noun - and everything will immediately fall into place.

For example, we put on a hat (what?). But we dress the child (who?).

Let's once again be convinced of the different meanings of the words “put on” and “dress” by choosing synonyms for them. Synonyms for “put on” are the words “attach”, “pull”. Synonyms for “dress” can be considered the words “cloth”, “equip”.

Thus, the principles of using these words immediately become clear - and you don’t even have to go into the lexical jungle.

A little catch

Every rule has an exception. The girl dresses the doll, despite the fact that the doll is an inanimate object. The store clerk will also dress, rather than put on, a mannequin.

Easy to check

If you doubt the correct use of the verbs “put on” or “dress”, there is a sure-fire way to check: select antonyms for them, i.e. words with opposite meanings. The antonym of the word “put on” is “take off.” The antonym of the word “dress” is “undress.”

That's all the wisdom. Agree, “taking off your hat” sounds ridiculous.

Well, to consolidate the rule, remember a funny saying that will make it easier for you to remember: “They put on Hope, they put on clothes.”

Anastasia Sorokko

Verb to dress

This verb denotes an action that is performed by someone in relation to someone or to any inanimate object. For example, it is worth giving the following expressions:

1. Dress the child

2. Dress the old man

3. Dress the doll

4. Dress up the girl

If you look closely at these sentences, you can see that between the word “dress” and the word, for example, “doll” can I ask who? or what? Let's give a few more examples.

1. Dress (whom?) brother in clean clothes

2. Dress (whom?) girl in a fashionable fur coat

3. Dress (What?) stuffed animal in an old dress

There is another way to determine which word should be used - put on or dress. The verb “to dress” refers to verbs that are called reflexive. That is, it can be used with a particle - sya. Again, here are a few examples:

1. Dress for the season

2. Dress in a fashionable salon

3. Dress only in new clothes

Verb to put on

The verb to put on, in contrast to the verb “to put on,” denotes an action that is directed towards oneself. For example:

1. You need to put on a new suit

2. I'll put on something warmer

3. I put on my most beautiful dress

However, there are also sentences in which the use of the verb “to dress” would be simply illogical. Here you should definitely use only the verb “put on.” Examples include the following sentences:

1. Put a gown on the patient

2. Put glasses on your nose

3. Put the cover on the chair

4. Put tires on wheels

What do all these proposals have in common? Yes, indeed, the verb put on is used here only in relation to inanimate objects (except for the sick person). And each such sentence has a short word “na”. That is, to “put on” to put something on someone or put it on something.

There is another very simple tip that will help you decide how to write correctly - to put it on or dress it down. So, we remember - they put something on themselves or on something else, but they dress someone and dress themselves. Example:

1. The girl put on her mother’s earrings and looked in the mirror

2. The man put the bait on the hook and cast the fishing rod

3. The girl hastily dressed her brother in a new jacket and walked with him to the door

4. The boy woke up and reluctantly got dressed

So what do you do with the ring? Do they wear it or do they still put it on? Now you know in which case you need to say and write “dress”, and in which case – “put on”.

One of the reasons for lexical errors in modern speech, oral and written, is the failure to distinguish cognate words, in particular, the verbs to dress (dress) - to put on (put on). And in live, direct communication between native speakers of the Russian language - in loose colloquial speech; and in book speech - in radio and television broadcasts, in speeches of politicians at rallies, with various kinds of public statements, deputies in the State Duma, officials on one or another official occasion, quite often one can encounter incorrect, erroneous use of lexical units related from the point of view of word formation . For example, they confuse the verbs get used to and get used to, weaken and weaken, adverbs objectivist and objective... (see “From Monitoring violations of speech norms in the media” // Gorbanevsky M.V., Karaulov Yu.N., Shaklein V.M. Ne speak in rough language. On violations of the norms of literary speech in electronic and print media / Edited by Yu. A. Belchikov. M., 2000, pp. 19-137 - based on materials from television, radio broadcasts and newspapers), the nouns portrait and self-portrait ( in the program “Field of Miracles”, on the ORT channel, on August 30, 2002, a participant in the game presented the presenter with his “self-portrait, which was drawn by her seven-year-old son”).

In the use of cognate words, the most “unlucky” verbs are dress (dress) - put on (put on) (these verbs belong to paronyms - see the article “Subscriber, subscriber, subscription”).

These words are used incorrectly by both the TV presenter (...what you need to wear to appear under the circus big top // “Don’t speak in rough language”, p. 29), and the radio program host (He dressed himself... // Ibid., p. 40), and a TV correspondent (...there will be a good reason to wear a dress uniform - NTV, August 29, 2002), and a journalist (Winter has come, you need to wear different shoes // Don’t speak in rough language, p. 28), and a pop star (I can’t do anything wear from this collection. // Ibid., p. 106), see in the capital’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta: dated 03/12/1999: “We put the modernized watch on the right hand.”

The verbs dress and put on are ambiguous. The meanings in which actions towards a person are indicated are as follows:

Dress - who, what. 1. To clothe someone. to some clothes. Dress a child, the sick, the wounded; Wed dress a doll, mannequin...

Put on - what. 1. To pull, push (clothes, shoes, covers, etc.), covering, enveloping something. Put on a suit, skirt, coat, jacket, shoes, mask, gas mask...

The verb to dress combines with animate nouns (and with a small number of inanimate ones, denoting the likeness of a person: doll, mannequin, skeleton); put on - with inanimate.

To complete the description of the lexical-syntactic connections of our verbs, it should be noted that the verb to dress is included (within the 1st meaning) in combinations with inanimate nouns denoting parts of the body, but through the mediation of an animate noun (whom) and necessarily with a prepositional-case combination of an inanimate a noun (in what - in a new form) or with an inanimate noun in the indirect case (in what - a blanket, a shawl) according to the principle of indirect control. Put on (within the 1st meaning) has syntactic connections according to the same principle with animate nouns: put (coat) on someone: on a grandfather, on a child) and with inanimate nouns: put on something (on a hand, on a neck), on top what (over a shirt), under what (under a coat).

The difference in the semantics of these words is emphasized by the fact that they form different antonymic pairs: put on - take off, put on - undress.

The semantic originality of each of the verbs is especially clearly revealed when they occur within the same context. In this regard, poetic texts dedicated to the words in question are of great interest. One of the poems was written at the end of the 19th century, by the now forgotten poet V. Krylov, the other - by our contemporary N. Matveeva.

Here is the first poem:

Dear friend, do not forget,

What to wear does not mean to wear;

There is no need to confuse these expressions,

Each of them has its own meaning.

You can easily remember this:

We use the verb “to dress” when

We put clothes on something,

Or we cover something with clothes,

Otherwise we dress in clothes.

Do you want to dress yourself more elegantly?

So you should put on a new dress,

And you put on a glove on your hand,

When you put a glove on your hand.

You will dress the child in his dress,

When you put the dress on him.

To whom the native language is both sweet and dear,

He will not tolerate even a trace of mistakes,

And therefore, my friend, never

Don't make such reservations.

As we see, more than a hundred years ago, the use of the verbs put on and dress was a big problem for native speakers of the Russian language, and even then serious attention was paid to this by the guardians of the correctness of the native language. It is also obvious that these humorous (at the same time linguistically quite reasonable) poems are still relevant today.

This is confirmed by Novella Matveeva:

“Put on”, “put on”... Two words

We confuse so stupidly!

It was a frosty dawn,

The old grandfather dressed in a fur coat.

And the fur coat, therefore, is on.

“Put it on”, “put it on”... Let’s take a look:

When to wear and what to wear.

I guess it's like my grandfather

Three fur coats can be worn.

But I don't think that grandfather

Can be worn on a fur coat!

Distinguish