How to do it right: contracts or contracts
How to do it right: contracts or contracts
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Both options are acceptable, but only one of them meets the strict literary norm.

How to do it right: contracts or contracts
How to do it right: contracts or contracts

Most sources, including the Russian Spelling Dictionary, the authoritative spelling dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, edited by V. V. Lopatin, indicate that the stress in the word contract is placed on the third o: contract. It is preserved in this place in all case forms of the singular: without a contract, according to a contract.

As for the plural, variants with a stressed third syllable are also considered normative: contracts, without contracts, according to contracts.

The word of the contract, which is often heard in living speech, does not correspond to the strict literary norm. Many believe that this is an innovation of recent years, but the problem is no less than the “Speaking Correctly” audio dictionary for half a century. For example, in the reference book "Russian literary pronunciation and stress" edited by R. I. Avanesov and S. I. Ozhegov, published in 1959, the forms of agreement, agreement are recognized as Russian literary pronunciation and stress: a dictionary-reference is acceptable, but marked as colloquial.

So, the variant of the contract can be used only in casual oral communication. In other cases, and especially in writing, use the literary form of the noun - contracts. In order not to confuse anything, remember the humorous rhyme:

We are not crooks, not thieves

We signed contracts.

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