Breakdown of Согласно реформе, все школы меняют расписание.
школа
school
расписание
schedule
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
менять
to change, to exchange
Questions & Answers about Согласно реформе, все школы меняют расписание.
Why is реформе in the dative case after согласно?
The preposition согласно (according to) strictly requires the dative case. It is a common trap to try to use the genitive here, but for formal attribution to rules, laws, or plans, it must be согласно plus the dative case.
Could we use по словам instead of согласно in this sentence?
No, because по словам (according to the words of) is only used for attributing information to people. For documents, laws, or abstract concepts like a reform, you must use согласно or a similar phrase like в соответствии с.
Why is расписание (schedule) singular when all the schools would have multiple schedules?
Russian often prefers the singular for a distributed object if each entity only has one of that item. Since each school has its own single schedule, расписание is used in the singular, even though English might naturally say 'changing their schedules'.
Why use the imperfective verb меняют instead of a perfective form?
Using the imperfective меняют presents the schedule change as a current, ongoing process or a general fact of what is happening right now. A perfective verb would shift the meaning to the future tense, indicating that they will completely change it at some specific point.