Questions & Answers about Отскок оказался слишком низким.
Why is низким in the instrumental case, not низкий?
Because after verbs like оказаться (to turn out to be), Russian often uses the instrumental case for the predicate adjective or noun.
So:
- отскок = the subject
- оказался = turned out to be
- низким = low, in the form required here
This is similar to other patterns such as:
- Он стал врачом. = He became a doctor.
- Она оказалась правой. = She turned out to be right.
So низким is not describing the noun directly the way низкий отскок would. Instead, it is part of the statement about what the bounce turned out to be.
Why is оказался masculine singular?
Because it agrees with the subject отскок, which is:
- masculine
- singular
In the past tense, Russian verbs change for gender and number:
- оказался — masculine singular
- оказалась — feminine singular
- оказалось — neuter singular
- оказались — plural
Since отскок is a masculine singular noun, the verb must be оказался.
What exactly does оказался mean here, and how is it different from был?