# concentrate on doing sth



## Baterflai

Hi!

How can I use the verb сосредоточиться with a verb afterwards?

_The reforms concentrated on eliminating political ideology from..._


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## Maroseika

Реформы сосредоточены на...
But it sounds bad, I don't think one can use this verb in such construction. Better Реформы направлены на...


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## Baterflai

Yes, I thought an structure like реформы сосредоточены на том, чтобы..." would not be appropriate.


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## Awwal12

> Реформы сосредоточены на...


Not "реформы, сосредоточенные на..."? I see no predicate in "the reforms concentrated...".


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## Baterflai

sorry, I don't understan what you mean...


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## Kinoman

"сосредоточены" is noway appropriate here. You can say "Основной целью реформ являлось упразднение политической идеологии...".


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## Sobakus

Kinoman said:


> "сосредоточены" is noway appropriate here. You can say "Основной целью реформ являлось упразднение политической идеологии...".



Why is it inappropriate? It's just the word if you ask me.
*Baterflai*, *Awwal12* probably meant there's no copula "to be" in your original sentence. When the adjective is predicative - "reforms are concentrated", it's usually translated with a short adjective "сосредоточен", while in your case it's attributive - "concentrated reforms", which is usually translated with a long one - "сосредоточенный".


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## Kinoman

Sobakus said:


> Why is it inappropriate? It's just the word if you ask me.
> *Baterflai*, *Awwal12* probably meant there's no copula "to be" in your original sentence. When the adjective is predicative - "reforms are concentrated", it's usually translated with a short adjective "сосредоточен", while in your case it's attributive - "concentrated reforms", which is usually translated with a long one - "сосредоточенный".



What I meant is that you cannot use the word "реформы" and "сосредотачиваться" without hurting the stylistics of the Russian sentence. Give us your version, Sobakus.


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## Sobakus

Kinoman said:


> What I meant is that you cannot use the word "реформы" and "сосредотачиваться" without hurting the stylistics of the Russian sentence. Give us your version, Sobakus.



They go together just fine by me, so I don't have my own version.


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## morzh

I agree it is a "newspaper-style" or "report-style" expression, but then there is nothing wrong with using newspaper style to a sentence, which is itself somewhat "news/report"-like.
Actually as such it is used widely enough.
Google it up - you'll see.


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> Google it up - you'll see.


Is it that the question was how to translate it by the worst possible way? *Реформы сосредоточены на* is bad Russian no matter how often one can meet it in the Web.


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## morzh

Maroseika said:


> Is it that the question was how to translate it by the worst possible way? *Реформы сосредоточены на* is bad Russian no matter how often one can meet it in the Web.



How's it bad?

This is not something I'd say, but then I do not speak in "report" language.

Every style has its place; it is usage out of place that makes a particular style to look..well...out of place, that is, to look bad.

To me personally it is just a non-spoken style, that is just fine when it is used in a newspaper or in some financial report.
I don't expect those to gain the approval of The Writers Guild members.


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## morzh

Kinoman said:


> "сосредотачиваться"




BTW, "сосредот*О*чиваться". The other one is considered "spoken" version. Any dictionary will give it through "O".


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## elemika

_Сосредоточить_  1) _что_. `Напрягши, объединить, собрать (для какой-нибудь цели)'. Сосредоточить усилия, _силы_. _Сосредоточить мысли_; 2) что на ком-чем. `Собравши, целиком направить на кого-что'. _Сосредоточить внимание на чем_. _Сосредоточить любовь на ребенке_.

Сосредоточить мысли на...
Сосредоточиться мыслями на...
It's OK

Реформа: преобразование, изменение, переустройство

Сосредоточить изменения на...???
Сосредоточиться изменениями на...???
Sounds weird

При проведении реформ усилия сосредоточены на....
В ходе реформ усилия сосредоточены на...
Реформаторские усилия сосредоточены на...
Либо
Реформы направлены на....
One could also say: Реформы сосредоточены в сфере (образования, медицины) but in "eliminating ideology"????


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> BTW, "сосредот*О*чиваться". The other one is considered "spoken" version. Any dictionary will give it through "O".


Лопатин, Ушаков - both variants without comments.
Горбачевич - сосредотачивать is permissable (no labels it is spoken).
I could not find any dictionary saying it's spoken.


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> How's it bad?


I just cannot hope to encounter it in the Combinatory Dictionary. And Elemika has just illustrated why.


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## morzh

Maroseika said:


> I just cannot hope to encounter it in the Combinatory Dictionary. And Elemika has just illustrated why.





*УШАКОВ (notice the comment on "сосредотАчивать")
*
*СОСРЕДОТО́ЧИВАТЬ* (сосредотачивать прост.), сосредоточиваю, сосредоточиваешь. несовер. _к_ сосредоточить.

2. Грамота.ру (look at the comment on the same I made it red)

http://www.gramota.ru/spravka/trudnosti/36_88
*Сосредоточиться, сосредоточиваться*

*Вопрос*
Как правильно: _сосредоточиться на что_ или _сосредоточиться на чем_?
                                          Глагол *сосредоточиться – сосредоточиваться* в значении «собраться где-нибудь» употребляется с предл. п.: *сосредоточиться – сосредоточиваться где: *_сосредоточиться в роще, сосредоточиться на подступах к городу_.
Глагол *сосредоточиться – сосредоточиваться *в значении «устремить на что-нибудь одно свои мысли, ум, внимание» управляет предл. п.: *сосредоточиться – сосредоточиваться на чем:*_ сосредоточиться на работе, сосредоточиться на мысли о выживании_.
Обратите внимание: _сосредотачиваться_ – разговорный вариант.

PS> I would probably agree that some sources recently (now that I lookled) started recognizing the second version as not strictly spoken.


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## Kinoman

morzh said:


> How's it bad?
> 
> This is not something I'd say, but then I do not speak in "report" language.
> 
> Every style has its place; it is usage out of place that makes a particular style to look..well...out of place, that is, to look bad.
> 
> To me personally it is just a non-spoken style, that is just fine when it is used in a newspaper or in some financial report.
> I don't expect those to gain the approval of The Writers Guild members.



There is a huge abyss between report language and a mistake. "Реформы сосредоточены" IS a mistake, which is against both Russian stylistics and common sense. These two Russian words just don't match with each other and I'm sure you can't think of a context, where they do. As for the Web, you definitely know you can find there anything you like, because most of the textes there are not written by the professors of linguistics.


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