Breakdown of По сравнению с обычной квартирой, умный дом — это большая экономия энергии.
это
this / it is
дом
house
большой
big
квартира
apartment
умный
clever, intelligent
обычный
usual
энергия
energy
по сравнению с
compared to
экономия
the saving
Questions & Answers about По сравнению с обычной квартирой, умный дом — это большая экономия энергии.
How does по сравнению с relate to the contrasting markers like с одной стороны, and could we use them here?
По сравнению с (compared to) is used to directly contrast two nouns, whereas с одной стороны ... с другой ... (on the one hand ... on the other ...) contrasts two entire clauses or perspectives. You couldn't just swap them in this exact sentence, but you could rephrase the idea: С одной стороны, обычная квартира тратит много электричества, а с другой стороны, умный дом — это экономия.
Why do we use an em dash (—) and это after умный дом?
When equating two noun phrases in Russian (here, умный дом and большая экономия), you typically use an em dash in place of the present tense verb 'to be'. Adding это is very common to emphasize the equivalence. Even though a smart home 'provides' savings rather than literally 'being' savings, Russian frequently uses this direct 'noun — это noun' structure for such associations.
Why is обычной квартирой in the instrumental case?
The phrase по сравнению (in comparison) is followed by the preposition с (with). When с means 'with', it always triggers the instrumental case for the noun and its adjectives. Therefore, обычная квартира changes to обычной квартирой.
I often confuse экономия and экономика. What is the exact difference here?
This is a classic tricky pair! Экономия means 'saving', 'conservation', or 'thriftiness' (like saving energy, time, or money). Экономика refers to the 'economy' of a country, region, or the academic study of economics. Since the sentence is about saving energy, экономия is the only correct choice.
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