2008-09-07

I understand how the particle же is usually used, although I wouldn't always necessarily trust myself to use it correctly. It seems to express emphasis; for example, конечно же! is an even stronger way of saying конечно!

Anyway, a while ago I noticed a usage which seems to be different (from Master and Margarita):

Те, кто имел уже несчастье в эти дни попасться на его дороге, даже при этом слабом светом язычка в лампадке, конечно, тотчас же узнали бы его. Это был Коровьёв, он же Фагот.
Those who had had the misfortune of encountering him in those last few days would have, of course, recognized him immediately, even in the weak light of the lamp. It was Korovyov, also known as Bassoon.

The first же, in тотчас же, is emphatic, making the concept of "immediately" even stronger. But am I correct that the second же here conveys the meaning "also known as"? It doesn't seem to serve any kind of emphatic function, so that's my best guess.

Thanks!

I just ran across these two sentences in my text (still working on those participles):

Я увидел его отдыхающим на пляже.

Я увидел Олега, отдыхающего на пляже.

The use of the instrumental in the first sentence is a mystery to me. The second sentence makes perfect sense. With regards to the first sentence, the text has the following note, "... after a direct object pronoun, the participle is placed in the instrumental case and is not separated from the pronoun by a comma in writing." Is this accurate?

I think I'm going to try and steer clear of these participles when able. It's useful to know/recognize them when reading, however. Just for my own edification - would the following sentence be grammatically correct?

Я увидел Олега, которого отдыхал на пляже.

(ref: Modern Russian II, p.875, but I have the 1965 edition.)

2008-09-07

The particle же

Still working on those participles