The present article covers the use of speaking activities in teaching spelling from the perspective of the communicative-activity approach. This approach allows a complex of spelling and speaking skills necessary for speaking practice to be built in the course of spelling activities. Speech and spelling activities help students to develop a verbal and cogitative mechanism for choosing the correct spelling of a letter (or sign) when writing. As a result, students can rely freely on spelling rules when producing their own coherent utterances, varying in style and type of speech. The article pays a particular attention to activities aimed at developing students' speech production skills, i.e. ability to create their own coherent utterances in accordance with a specific communication task. In addition, the article demonstrates that, by enriching the vocabulary of students, it is possible to improve their spelling competence. The study results are based on personal teaching experience, literature review, observation of the learning process, conversations with students and teachers.

The article analyses the reasons for differences in the speech of similarly aged children. Four main group factors affecting children's speech development are considered: their belonging to the group of referential / expressive children; being boys / girls; coming from families with a high or low sociocultural status; existence of older siblings. It is concluded that teachers should consider these factors in their work.

The article analyses the experience of Russian regions in designing tasks for the school and municipal stages of the National Russian Language Competition for schoolchildren. The tasks are considered in terms of their compliance with the existing recommendations, as well as facilitation of intellectual development in schoolchildren. The authors propose a number of recommendations aimed at improving materials for the school and municipal stages of the competition.

The article analyses defining concepts in the fictional world of a story by A.P Platonov («Nikita»), which are introduced through the lexical structure of the text. Using philological analysis, the author aims to define the writer's concept, with the title character's worldview constituting the study object. The author of the article pays special attention to the main character's uniqueness, emphasizing his special mission in the world. Considering the story in the context of the writer's work contributes to better understanding of its key ideas.

In this article, linguistic means of creating fantastic used by V.F. Odoyevsky in his work «Improviser» are analysed from a linguopoetic perspective using a linguistic-cognitive approach, which involves reconstructing the model of the fictional world by identifying the text fields used by the writer. Using the linguistic material of «Improviser», the author of the article describes the features of the verbal and image-bearing organisation of the fields «Miracle», «Mystery» and «Verisimilitude», forming the core of a fictional model of the world.

The article provides a philological analysis of prose by K.D. Vorobyov. The author used the following methods in this work: slow reading, line-by-line analysis, analysis of key points, linguistic commentary and immanent analysis. The study revealed that the narration in the story under consideration is of a markedly subjective nature, which is associated with various figurative shifts caused by modal and semantic variability of the text. In this connection, the line between the main character and the author of the story becomes blurred; the narrator's «I» splits; various temporal and spatial planes shift and transform; and perspectives are combined and dispersed. Most of the depicted events are presented from the characters' perspective, thus making the reader feel part of the narrated world. In addition, the perfected technique of subjectifying narration in Vorobyev's work takes on a style-forming, expressive, as well as a conceptual function.

The article analyses a story by P.D. Boborykin «Fellow Students» in terms of evolutionary processes characteristic of the Russian language of the late 19th century, which are reflected in its text. Using the methods of linguistic commentary and contextual analysis, the author of the article shows that the text of the story under consideration reveals changes in sociocultural connotations of words; their semantic broadening; expansion of vocabulary through borrowing foreign words and forming new ones.

The article analyses imperative forms used to express the meaning of concession, which is one of the most frequent indirect uses of imperative forms in the modern Russian language. The author distinguishes three types of complex sentences with imperative forms expressing the meaning of concession. In order to describe these sentence types in detail, a large number of examples was analysed. By means of comparison, the main differences between the direct and indirect uses of imperative forms in the Russian language were established.

The present article is aimed at characterising compound words used in the modern mass media, which includes the analysis of their use and functioning in this sphere. Classification of compound words with the determination of their functional potential was performed by means of linguistic observation, definitional and contextual analyses, as well as by using a descriptive method. The author presents classifications of compound words, which are based on thematic and derivational criteria. The article is addressed to language teachers, graduate students, students interested in studying and identifying trends in the development of the modern Russian language.

The purpose of the article is to present the history of adverbs as the synonym dominant in the meaning of obligatory. The methods of study are descriptive, comparative-historical methods as well as the method of lexical semantic reconstruction. In the Russian language the adverb necessarily is a lexical word-building calque, which was translated appeared in the XVIII century from the French obligeament or Germ. unverbindlich. It had the meaning 'affectionately, politely, courteously'. From the 1830-1840s, the adverb necessarily started began to be used in the changed meaning of 'certainly, unconditionally' in those genres and styles (law, office work, military science, science), which had the German influence. Both meanings were used as lexical homonyms, belonging to different semantic groups of synonyms. By the 1950s, the adverb necessarily finally took the place of the dominant in the group of synonyms with the meaning of necessity.

The article analyses the philological heritage of a prominent Slavicist, Professor N.A. Kondrashov; examines the scientist's works of different years devoted to the history of the Russian language and linguistics and to the study of Slavic languages; as well as provides insight into the scientist's personality. The author notes a high research potential, relevance and practical importance of the scientist's ideas and educational aids in modern linguistics. Particular attention is paid to the works on the history of Slavic studies and the analysis of linguistic doctrines. It is indicated that N.A. Kondrashov along with the classics of Russian science of the 1950s-1970s was a pioneer in studying and popularising the ideas of the Prague linguistic circle, as well as forming of a critical view on the historiography of Russian linguistics.

The article covers the history of creation and various editions of the Spelling Dictionary by D.N. Ushakov for elementary and secondary school. The linguistic concept of the dictionary is analysed in the context of previous spelling dictionaries and reference books, as well as spelling at the post-reform period and the views of D.N. Ushakov on the subject. The author determines the influence of the dictionary on the standardisation of post-reform spelling and further practice of compiling spelling dictionaries.