356 A Reference Grammar of Russian

5.9.5 Agreement with comitative phrases

To talk about two people acting together, Russian can use either of two constructions. Two nouns can be conjoined: Jkmuf b Dflbv. Or one entity can be made more prominent and the other attached to it by means of the comitative preposition c ‘with’: Jkmuf c Dflbvjv ‘Olga with Vadim’, Atljh Bdfyjdbx c ;tyjq b ldevz vfkmxbrfvb ‘Fedor Ivanovich with his wife and two boys’. When one of the conjuncts is a pronoun, there are three options: conjunction, jy b Dkfl ‘he and Vlad’, z b vjz ctcnhf Vfif ‘I and my sister Masha’; a comitative construction with a singular pronoun, jy c Dkfljv ‘he with Vlad’, z c Vfitq ‘I with Masha’; or a comitative construction with a plural pronoun, jyb c Dkfljv ‘they, including Vlad’, vs c Vfitq ‘we, including Masha’.

True conjunction emphasizes that the individuals are separate and parallel. It is very likely to take plural agreement. With pronouns the comitative constructions are more usual, and the plural form is preferred. With third-person pronouns, the plural jyb c ;tyjq was used in 69 percent of tokens; with firstperson pronouns, though the singular is possible (Nfr b dthyekcz z c ;tyjq ‘and so I returned with my wife’), the plural form vs c ;tyjq is by far the more usual (88%).65

When the pronoun is plural, a verb that agrees will obviously be plural: jyb<pl> c Dkfljv [jlbkb<pl> r ytq exbnmcz fyukbqcrjve zpsre ‘they -- he and Vlad -- used to go to study English with her’, vs c Vfitq [jlbkb<pl> r ytq exbnmcz fyukbqcrjve zpsre ‘we -- Masha and I -- used to go study English’. But with a singular pronoun (or noun) in the comitative construction, either singular or plural agreement in the verb is possible.66 Plural is appropriate: if the individuals are known; if they act separately but in parallel; and if the new information is the way in which the activity proceeded:

[328]<hfn c ctcnhjq dct ltkfkb<pl> c eks,rjq. Brother and sister did everything with a smile.

[329]D tuj rjvyfnt yt ,skb yfcntktys gjks, b jy c ;tyjq ghsufkb<pl> c ,fkrb yf ,fkre.

In his room there were no floorboards, and he with his wife hopped from beam to beam.

Singular is appropriate when the participation of the comitative noun is secondary and incidental relative to the participation of the first ([330]), and if attention is focused on the fact that the event took place at all ([331]).

[330]B tq yt yhfdbkcz hfccrfp Ctht;b j njv, rfr jy c Dkfljv [jlbk<sg> d gcb[bfnhbxtcre/ rkbybre.

She also didn’t like Serezha’s story of how he went with Vlad to the psychiatric clinic.

65 On www.libr.ru <01.XI.02>.

66 Urtz 1999.

Predicates and arguments 357

[331]D lheujq rjvyfnt gjctkbkcz<sg> Kerby c ;tyjq b ldevz vfkmxbrfvb. In another room there settled in Lukin with wife and two boys.

Overall, singular and plural are about equally likely with subject comitative phrases.67

5.9.6 Agreement with quantifier phrases

When the subject is a quantifier phrase, the verb can appear in either the (neuter) singular or plural. The singular presents the subject as a mass of undifferentiated things, and the fact that a certain quantity exists is more significant than the activities of the entities making up the group. Accordingly, singular is appropriate: with inanimate entities that are not known as individuals; with large or approximate quantifiers; with predicates that are existential; and with the word order in which the subject follows the verb (the word order used to present the world as a holistic situation). Note the shift in agreement and word order in [332]:

[332]D gkzcre v dcnegbkj<sg> s vyj;tcndj ;jyukthjd. s Vyj;tcndj ;jyukthjd v rblf/n<pl> ltcnznrb nsczx ifhjd, ktnzob[ r yfv jlby pf lheubv.

A group of jugglers broke into dance. A group of jugglers is tossing tens of thousands of balls that fly to us one after another.

Conversely, using the plural reports a property of entities that can be differentiated as distinct individuals. Plural is then favored: by small quantifiers; by individuating predicates -- those that report properties that can be ascribed to individuals (rather than predicates that report the existence of situations); and by the word order in which the subject precedes the verb (as in [332]). Plural is likely to be used if the entities are known already or are identified in the subsequent context.

The choice of number is especially sensitive to the semantics of predicates, following the hierarchy of predicates from existential to transitive and predicative. With paucal numerals (ldƒ/ld†, nh∫, xtns´ ht), usage is that of Table 5.16.

As in Table 5.16, paucals prefer plural with most predicates. Singular, used primarily with existential predicates or verbs of position and motion, is reserved for contexts that do no more than present a scene; thus the singular in Table 5.16(c) presents three small houses on the banks of the Volga as part of a traveler’s view of a certain town. Plural is used if there is any discussion of the individual entities in the following context; as, for example, the three reasons in Table 5.16(a) and the three photos in 5.16(c).

Usage with approximate quantifiers is illustrated in Table 5.17. Approximate quantifiers use singular with all predicates except transitives and predicatives.

67 Corbett 2000:207 cites 44 percent plural in literature, 50 percent in press.

358 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 5.16 Agreement with paucal numerals

	predicate type	paucal quantifier: examples
(a)	existential	Yf Cgbhbljyjdrt ,skj<sg> nhb rjvyfns.
		‘At Spiridonovka there were three rooms.’
		R njve ,skb<pl> nhb ghbxbys. gthdfz <. . .>
		‘For that there were three reasons. The first reason <. . .>’
(b)	weak existential	Yf cktle/obq ltym zdbkbcm<pl> tot ldt ctvmb.
		‘The next day there appeared two more families.’
(c)	position/motion	Yf ghfdjv ,thtue djkub cnjzkj<sg> ldf-nhb ljvbrf.
		‘On the right bank of the Volga there stood two or three little
		houses.’
		Yf cntyf[ dbctkb<pl> nhb ajnjuhfabb -- ljxthb Rctybb, csyjdtq
		<jhbcf b ?hbz.
		‘On the walls hung three photos -- of daughter Kseniia and sons Boris
		and Iury.’
(d)	ref lexive	Pf cntyfvb dscjdsdfkbcm<pl> ldt-nhb ukfdrb ,tks[ wthrdtq.
	intransitive	‘Beyond the walls there protruded two or three tops of white
		churches.’
(e)	intransitive	Nhb vjyf[f jnls[f/n<pl> gjl tkm/.
		‘Three monks are resting under a fir.’
(f)	passive participle	Nfr ,skb<pl> cjplfys<pl> nhb vt;leyfhjlyst jhufybpfwbb.
		‘And so three international organizations were set up.’
(g)	transitive	Pfyzkb<pl> jxthtlm ldt ntnb, c dble hsyjxyst njhujdrb.
		‘Two women, by appearances market women, took places in line.’
(h)	predicative	Nhb tuj ifathf nj;t ,skb<pl> uhepbys.
		‘His three attendants were also Georgians.’

Table 5.18 summarizes the general preferences for paucals and approximate quantifiers. Lower general numerals (gz´nm ‘five’, dj´ctvm ‘eight’, ldtyƒlwfnm ‘twenty’, nh∫lwfnm ‘thirty’, etc.), not exemplified, are intermediate. Shading marks the areas of active variation.

Table 5.18 suggests something of the way in which specific quantifiers and predicate semantics interact. In terms of predicates, transitives and predicatives presume that their subjects are individuated, and are likely to take plural agreement. At the opposite extreme, existentials and weak existentials take singular agreement. In between, verbs of motion and position and reflexive intransitives are sensitive to the quantifier involved, and they can be quite variable in their interpretation, ranging from an existential interpretation (d rjvyfnt d uecnjv lsve cbltkj<sg> ytcrjkmrj xtkjdtr ‘in the room in thick smoke there were sitting several people’), in which singular is used, to real activities, in which plural is more appropriate (gjlyzkbcm<pl> yf dnjhjq эnf; ytcrjkmrj xtkjdtr

		Predicates and arguments 359
Table 5.17 Agreement with approximate quantifiers
	predicate type	approximate quantifier: examples
(a)	existential	D <jujhjlbwrt ,skj<sg> ytcrjkmrj dhfxtq.
		‘In Bogoroditsk were several doctors.’
(b)	weak existential	Jlyjdhtvtyyj ghb,skj<sg> ytcrjkmrj эitkjyjd.
		‘Simultaneously there arrived several echelons.’
(c)	position/motion	Nfv cbltkj<sg> vyjuj ;tyoby, ,skb j,dbyztvst d cgtrekzwbb.
		‘There many women were sitting, they were accused of speculation.’
		Ytcrjkmrj vjkjls[ k/ltq [jlbkb<pl> nelf b c/lf.
		‘Several young people walked here and there.’
(d)	ref lexive intransitive	Vyjuj gfhytq djrheu ytt edbdfkjcm<sg> .
		‘Many fellows were hanging around her.’
(e)	intransitive	E ldthb ytcrjkmrj xtkjdtr gjlckeibdfkj<sg> .
		‘At the door several people were eavesdropping.’
(f)	passive participle	Ytcrjkmrj gthtdjlxbrjd ,skj<sg> fhtcnjdfyj<sg> .
		‘Several interpreters were arrested.’
(g)	transitive	Vyjuj heccrb[ k/ltq jcnfdbkb<pl> gjckt ct,z djcgjvbyfybz.
		‘Many Russians left memoirs after their death.’
(h)	predicative	Ytcrjkmrj ctrdjq jcnfkbcm<pl> ;bdsvb cdbltntkzvb ldflwfnjuj
		dtrf.

‘Some sequoias have remained living witnesses of the twentieth century.’

‘several people went up to the second story’). Intransitive verbs tend to an activity interpretation, but an existential interpretation is also possible for some predicates (nelf [jlbkj<sg> vyjuj ,f,eirbys[ pyfrjvs[ ‘many of Grandma’s acquaintances used to go there’).

Each quantifier has a characteristic usage. Paucals treat entities as individuated, with plural agreement in the predicate; singular is used regularly only with existential predicates. Approximate quantifiers discourage an individuated interpretation, and use singular with most predicates except transitives. Large round numerals (cnj´, ns´ czxf) are similar. Other numerals are intermediate. Numerals larger than paucals -- from gz´nm through the low decades -- are close to paucals, but use singular agreement more freely.

Certain specific contexts prefer one or the other interpretation. The modifiers dc† and …nb before the quantifier presuppose that the members of the group are known as individuals, and require plural agreement. Constructions with distributive gj as subject strongly prefer singular, since the quantity is of primary interest (§4.3.11). Expressions of the passage of time (years, seconds, months) are viewed as a mass, and use singular agreement.