instead of after writing instead of after , , , , and if stressed or if not not writing the soft sign after , , , and canceling the interchange in roots -zar/-zor, -rast/-rost, -gar/-gor, -plav/-plov etc.; canceling the double consonants in loan words writing only -yensk(iy) instead of two suffixes -insk(iy) and -yensk(iy), write only -yets instead of -yets or -its simplifying the spelling of (н-н) in participles: write double in prefixal participles and ordinary in non-prefixal always writing with hyphen the "Пол-" (half-) combinations with subsequent genitive of noun or ordinal number writing the nouns beginning with vice-, unter-, ex- together instead of using hyphen writing all particles separately allowing the optional spelling of noun inflexions The reform, however, failed to take root. Political circumstances and the undoubted accomplishments of the superpower in military, scientific, and technological matters (especially cosmonautics), gave Russian a worldwide if occasionally grudging prestige, most strongly felt during the middle third of the 20th century. The political collapse of 1990–1991 loosened the shackles. In the face of economic uncertainties and difficulties within the educational system, the language changed rapidly. There was a wave of adoptions, mostly from English, and sometimes for words with exact native equivalents. At the same time, the growing public presence of the Russian Orthodox Church and public debate about the history of the nation gave new impetus to the most archaic Church Slavonic stratum of the language, and introduced or re-introduced words and concepts that replicate the linguistic models of the earliest period. Russian today is a tongue in great flux. The new words entering the language and the emerging new styles of expression have, naturally, not been received with universal appreciation. Examples The following excerpts illustrate (very briefly) the development of the literary language. Spelling has been partly modernized. The translations are as literal as possible, rather than literary. Primary Chronicle c. 1110, from the Laurentian Codex, 1377 . 'These [are] the tales of the bygone years, whence is come the Russian land, who first began to rule at Kiev, and whence the Russian land has come about.' Old East Slavic, the common ancestor of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Fall of the yers in progress or arguably complete (several words end with a consonant; 'to rule' < , modern ). South-western (incipient Ukrainian) features include 'bygone'; modern Russian ). Correct use of perfect and aorist: 'is/has come' (modern Russian