1. A.P. Chekhov about punctuation marks
A.P. Chekhov said that “punctuation marks serve as notes when reading.”
2. K.G. Paustovsky about punctuation marks
“Pushkin also spoke about punctuation marks. They exist to highlight a thought, bring words into the correct relationship and give the phrase lightness and correct sound. Punctuation marks are like musical notations. They hold the text firmly and do not allow it to crumble.” (K.G.Paustovsky)
3. "More points!"
Isaac Babel:“More dots! I would write this rule into the government law for writers. Each phrase is one thought, one image, no more! So don’t be afraid of dots.”
4. Ellipsis
“The ellipsis must represent traces on the tiptoes of words that have passed away...” ( V. Nabokov)
5. "...punctuation marks live their own independent life..."
“Today it is difficult for us to imagine that books were once printed without the well-known icons, which are called punctuation marks. They have become so familiar to us that we simply do not notice them, and therefore cannot appreciate them. Meanwhile, the signs punctuations live their own independent life in the language and have their own interesting story". (N . G. Goltsova, Professor)
6. "Spring Summer Autumn Winter?"
Fragment of the story Tatiana Tolstoy“Dear Shura” demonstrates an exhaustive set of punctuation marks possible at the end of a sentence: “It is decomposed into four seasons human life. Spring!!! Summer. Autumn winter?"
7. “Execution cannot be pardoned”
8. Wordless correspondence
And sometimes we even read them... instead of words! The fact of such “wordless” correspondence is known. Victor Hugo Having finished the novel “Les Miserables,” he sent the manuscript to the publisher. He attached a letter to it, in which there was not a single word, but only the sign: “?” The publisher also responded with a wordless letter: “!” This little epistolary joke turned out to be possible because both participants in the correspondence knew how not only to write, but also to “read”, i.e. understand punctuation marks well.
9. Punctuation humor
Somerset Maugham : “It was not the humor of thoughts, or even the humor of words; it was something much more subtle - the humor of punctuation marks: in some inspired moment she realized how many hilarious possibilities the semicolon contained, and used it often and skillfully "She knew how to stage it in such a way that the reader, if he was a cultured person with a sense of humor, would not exactly roll with laughter, but chuckle quietly and joyfully, and the more cultured the reader was, the more joyfully he chuckled."
10. "Punctuation" joke
When a sign is omitted or placed incorrectly, it can lead to serious distortions in meaning. One “punctuation” anecdote tells of a traveler who, in a moment of danger, promised to “put up a golden statue holding a pike.”But, when the danger had passed, he did not want to fork out money for a gold statue, and he gave the order: “Put up a statue holding a golden pike.” So, without breaking his promise with a single word, he greatly reduced his expenses by moving the comma.
11. Writers... have their own preferences for characters
Writers have their own preferences for signs. Karamzin respects the ellipses (which he introduced into the letter), Bitter And Tsvetaeva love dashes, and Konstantin Paustovsky writes about the point. As a young writer he wrote bad story and gave it to an experienced editor for corrections. And so... “I read the story and was speechless. It was transparent, flowing prose. Everything became convex and clear. Not a shadow remained of the former crumpledness and verbal confusion. In fact, not a single word was deleted or added...
- This is a miracle! - I said. - How did you do that?
“Yes, I just put all the punctuation marks,” he said. - I placed the dots especially carefully. And paragraphs. This is a great thing, my dear. Pushkin also spoke about punctuation marks. They exist to highlight a thought, bring words into the correct relationship and give the phrase ease and the right sound. Punctuation marks are like musical notations. They hold the text firmly and do not let it fall apart...
After this, I was finally convinced of the amazing power with which the point placed in in the right place and on time"
12. “...comma perfect speech does..."
The number of commas and other symbols is decreasing and decreasing; compared to Pushkin’s time, there are already half as many of them. All this is connected with the general process of understanding and standardizing the written text, which would be convenient to “grab on the fly” and immediately understand its meaning. Judge for yourself whether it was easy to read such a text at the beginning of the 20th century: “In Moscow, one can often see, not without amazement, how whole crowds of beggars receive food or some other alms near the houses of rich people... This way of life, perhaps, frees them, as they rather temptingly put it, from spiritual sorrows and disorders, but in fact, drowning their worries, they drown themselves...” Truly, as it is said in ancient alphabet, “a comma makes a perfect speech,” and “sometimes one comma breaks the whole music” (these are words Ivan Bunin).
13. Be careful with punctuation!
The man lost his comma, became afraid of complex sentences, and looked for simpler phrases.Simple phrases were followed by simple thoughts.
Then he lost the exclamation point and began to speak quietly, withwith one intonation. Nothing pleased or outraged him anymore; he treated everything without emotion.
Then he lost the question mark, stopped asking all sorts of questions, no events aroused his curiosity, no matter where they happened - inSpace, on Earth or even in your own apartment.
A couple of years later he lost his colon and stopped explaining to peopleyour actions.
By the end of his life, he had only quotation marks left. He did not express a single idea of his own, he quoted someone all the time - so he forgot how to think and reached a point. Watch out for punctuation!
14. About the purpose of punctuation
Theorist of the logical or semantic direction, F.I. Buslaev, formulated the purpose of punctuation as follows: “Since through language one person conveys his thoughts and feelings to another, then punctuation marks have a dual purpose: 1) promote clarity in the presentation of thoughts, separating one sentence from another or one part of it from another, and 2) express the feelings of the speaker’s face and his attitude towards the listener.”
Based on Internet materials
Punctuation marks have been around for a long time. But their number and rules of use gradually changed. There was a time when those writing in Russian made do with just one sign - a dot located in the middle of a line between groups of undivided words. It is punctuation that is important means registration writing: punctuation marks indicate its semantic division. At the same time, to a large extent, Russian punctuation is built on a syntactic basis, as the wording of most punctuation rules shows. All this gives Russian punctuation system greater flexibility: along with mandatory rules it contains instructions that do not have a strict normative nature and allow punctuation options associated not only with the semantic side written text, but also him stylistic features. J. K. Grot believed that through basic punctuation marks “an indication of the major and minor connections between sentences, and partly between members of sentences” is given, which serves “to facilitate the reader’s understanding of written speech.”
Having analyzed Shapiro’s publication “Punctuation”, we can come to the conclusion that punctuation marks are signs that form a special part of the general graphics system of this language and serving those aspects of written speech that cannot be expressed in letters and other written symbols (numbers, equal sign, similarity sign).
This definition of the role of punctuation marks is a modern generalized view. But how did Russian science come to it?
Ancient scribes did not use punctuation marks, and for a long time all the words were written together. Punctuation originates in the 4th-5th centuries. when they start using space; texts are designed in such a way that each major period starts with a red line and with capital letters. Most Latin monuments are punctuated later.
To indicate the end of a sentence or phrase, a combination of dots and dashes was used: “syllable”, “article”, “verse”.
IN ancient monuments other signs were common in writing:
A period in the middle of a line (corresponds to a comma)
Quarter dot (imaginary cross, corresponds to a point)
Crosses different types(placed to separate sacred text for poetry).
It is interesting that part of the text of the Ostromir Gospel (1056 - 1057) also uses a cross and a wavy vertical line - a “serpent”, the function of which is not entirely clearly defined. “Cross” and “serpent” are written in red, the dot is written in black, like the text itself. According to the design, these signs resemble “kryzh” and “serpent” in ancient sheet music, and on the first sheets two more signs are added to the cross, also clearly originating from notes: on top - a sign called in ancient notation “horn”, below - “bench” .
In Old Russian writing, the text was not divided into words and sentences. Punctuation marks (period, cross, wavy line) divided the text mainly into meaningful segments or indicated a stop in the scribe’s work.
The introduction of printing was of great importance for the development of punctuation. The placement of characters in printed works was primarily the work of typographical craftsmen, who often did not take into account what the author's handwritten text represented in terms of punctuation.
The system of punctuation marks, which had formed in its main outlines by the 18th century, required development certain rules about their use. Back in the XVI - XVII centuries the first attempts to theoretically understand the placement of punctuation marks that existed at that time were observed. However, the general and specific principles of punctuation marks in their main features developed during the 18th century, when the formation of the foundations of the modern Russian literary language ended.
The principles on which the entire system of punctuation rules is based were comprehended gradually.
Most ancient writings knew only “paragraph” or “period” among all punctuation marks. They were expressed graphically in different ways, although, apparently, the dot was the most common form. In ancient Russian writing, the most common sign was the dot, which is used more or less in the sense of our comma and basically divides, apparently, the text into syntagms. Those or other signs of a more complex form, which would more or less correspond in meaning to our point, are less common and are something in between our “paragraph” and “point”.
As far as can be judged from the testimony of monuments, including printed ones, as well as from grammatical and spelling guides XVIII century(mainly for learning foreign languages), the main reason for placing punctuation marks was the presence of pauses in speech of greater or lesser duration. To place a question mark, the basis was the interrogative meaning of the sentence, to place a colon - the transition from the explained part of the sentence to the explanatory one. But these two punctuation marks were not used in all cases. So, there were significantly fewer punctuation marks in the middle of the 18th century than in our time. By the end of the 18th century, new punctuation marks appeared: dashes, quotation marks, ellipses. They were usually introduced into the practice of writing by writers and, accordingly, were reflected in textbooks and textbooks on grammar and spelling. It is known that Karamzin was the first to use the dash (or “dash”) sign. It is still not possible to indicate exactly who initiated the use of ellipses and quotation marks in Russian writing.
The beginning of the scientific development of Russian punctuation was laid by the brilliant representative of grammatical Science XVIII century M.V. Lomonosov in his work “Russian Grammar”, written in 1755. M.V. Lomonosov gives an exact list of punctuation marks used at that time in Russian printed literature, sets out the rules for their use in a system, formulating these rules on a semantic and grammatical basis.
The greatest merit in streamlining Russian punctuation in the 19th century belongs to academician J. K. Grot, whose book “ Russian spelling" - the result of many years of research into the history and principles of Russian writing - became the first academic set of spelling and punctuation rules in Russia and went through 20 editions until 1917. Grot sets out in detail the history and principles of Russian writing, difficult cases of spelling, and provides a scientifically systematized and theoretically meaningful set of rules for spelling and punctuation. The rules for the use of punctuation marks formulated by him are valuable in that they summarize the searches in the field of punctuation of previous authors. Ordered punctuation, as well as spelling, rules of Grotto entered the practice of schools and publishing houses and, at their core, with minor changes, are still in effect today.
Some linguists are of the opinion that Russian punctuation is based on a semantic basis, others on a grammatical basis, and still others on an intonation basis. However, despite the theoretical disagreements among scientists, the fundamental principles of Russian punctuation remain unchanged, which contributes to its stability, although individual punctuation rules are periodically clarified and specified in connection with the development of Russian grammatical theory and the Russian literary language in general.
1. 2. Principles of modern punctuation.
Classification of punctuation marks and their characteristics.
Modern Russian punctuation is based on semantic and structural grammatical basics, which are interconnected and condition each other. Punctuation reflects the semantic division of written speech, indicates semantic connections and the relationships between individual words and groups of words, on the various shades of meaning of parts of a written text.
Punctuation marks are divided into:
▪ highlighting signs used to indicate boundaries syntactic construction, which is introduced into a sentence to complement, explain its members or the entire sentence, explain its members or the entire sentence as a whole, intonation- semantic highlighting k. – l. part of a sentence, as well as to indicate the boundary of a construction containing the name of a person or object to which speech is addressed, or expressing the writer’s subjective attitude to his statement, or formalizing someone else’s statement: two commas - as a single paired sign, two dashes - as a single paired character , quotes, brackets;
▪ separating signs that serve to distinguish independent sentences, their parts (main and subordinate clauses, subject groups and predicate groups), homogeneous syntactic elements(homogeneous members of a sentence, subordinate subordinate clauses), as well as to indicate the type of sentence according to the purpose of the statement, the emotional nature of the sentence, a break in speech: period, question mark, Exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, ellipsis.
Let's consider modern performance about punctuation marks:
1) A period (.) is a punctuation mark placed at the end of a sentence. The period is one of the most ancient punctuation marks. It was used to separate words or larger sections of text from each other. A cross or a vertical, wavy line was used for the same function. The dot was initially placed at different levels: either at the base of the letter or at the level of its middle. Sometimes the scribe, interrupting his work, could even put a period in the middle of a word. In modern Russian written speech, a period is placed at the end of a narrative or incentive offer: "It was evening. The sky was darkening. The waters flowed quietly" (Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"). A period is used when writing words in abbreviations (for example: etc., etc.); and there is no period in abbreviations.
2) Question mark is a punctuation mark used to express a question. Initially, a semicolon was used in the meaning of a question mark (this is reflected in the grammars of L. Zizaniya, (1596), and M. Smotrytsky, (1619), although the question mark was already found in books of the first half of the 16th century. Finally, a question mark was fixed to express the question by "Russian Grammar" by M. V. Lomonosov. In modern Russian written speech, an exclamation mark is placed:
▪ at the end of an interrogative sentence, including after incomplete interrogative sentences following one after another: “Who are you? Alive? Dead? (A. Blok, “Poems about beautiful lady»);
▪ in interrogative sentences with homogeneous members after each homogeneous member in order to dissect the question: “What do I care about whom? before them? to the whole universe? (Griboyedov “Woe from Wit”);
3) Exclamation mark (!) – a punctuation mark used to express an exclamation. This sign called “amazing” is mentioned in the grammar of M. Smotritsky (1619). In modern Russian written speech, an exclamation mark is placed:
▪ at the end of an exclamatory sentence: “Long live the revolution, joyful and speedy!” (Mayakovsky, poem “V.I. Lenin”);
▪ in exclamatory sentences with homogeneous members after each homogeneous member to indicate emotional intermittency of speech: “I rejected everything: laws! conscience! faith!” (Griboyedov “Woe from Wit”);
▪ after words pronounced with an exclamatory intonation - sentences, addresses, interjections, standing at the beginning (in poetic speech– and in the middle) of a sentence or used independently: “Old man! I heard many times that you saved me from death” (Lermontov “Mtsyri”);
▪ in parentheses inside or after a quotation to express the author’s attitude (irony, indignation, etc.) to the quoted text.
4) Comma (,) – a punctuation mark used to separate or highlight words, groups of words and simple sentences as part of a complex The appearance of the comma in the monuments of Russian writing dates back to the 15th century. In modern Russian written speech, the comma is the most common punctuation mark, acting in a separating function (one comma) or in an excretory function (paired punctuation mark - two commas). The comma is used:
▪ between homogeneous members of a sentence (connected without conjunctions, repeated or paired conjunctions, non-repeating conjunctions with an adversative or concessive meaning) and between repeated words: “I will put the mind, not the genus, as a governor.” (Pushkin “Boris Godunov”); “Winter was waiting, nature was waiting” (Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”);
▪ between simple sentences that are part of a complex non-union or compound sentence: “The sun set behind the mountains, but it was still light” (Lermontov, poem “Demon”);
▪ between the main and subordinate clauses (or to highlight the subordinate clause on both sides), between subordinate clauses: “Go along the free road, where your free mind takes you” (Pushkin, poem “To the Poet”);
▪ to separate or highlight detached members sentences, with words or groups of words that limit or clarify other words in the sentence: “In the distance, closer to the grove, axes dully knocked” (Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”);
▪ in comparative phrases: “like a storm, death carries away the groom” (Pushkin “Boris Godunov”);
▪ to separate or highlight words that are grammatically unrelated to the members of the sentence (introductory words, addresses, interjections, affirmative, negative and question words): “With his eyes, it seems like he would like to eat everyone.”
(Krylov, fable “The Wolf in the Kennel”).
5) Semicolon (;) is a punctuation mark used in a complex and, less often, in a simple sentence to separate its relatively independent parts. First introduced by the Italian printer Aldus Manutius in 1449, who used it to divide opposite words and independent parts of complex sentences. Shakespeare already used (;) in his sonnets. In Church Slavonic, the semicolon played the role of a question mark.
▪ “And Esau said: Behold, I am going to die, and this is my preeminence.”
▪ “Esau said: Behold, I am dying, what is this birthright to me?”
In modern Russian writing, a semicolon is used:
▪ in complex non-conjunct and compound sentences, if their parts are significantly common and contain commas, for example: “The pale gray sky became lighter, colder, bluer; the stars blinked with faint light and then disappeared; the earth is damp, the leaves are sweating” (Turgenev “Bezhin Meadow”); “Almost every evening later they went somewhere out of town, to Oreanda or to a waterfall; and the walk was a success, the impressions were invariably beautiful and majestic every time” (Chekhov’s “Lady with a Dog”);
▪ in a simple sentence between homogeneous members of the sentence, if they are significantly common and contain commas, for example: “In the darkness, the same unclear objects were vaguely imagined: at some distance a black wall, the same moving spots; next to me is the croup of a horse, which, wagging its tail, spread its legs wide: its back is in a white Circassian coat.”
(L.N. Tolstoy, collected works, story “Raid”).
6) Colon (:) – a punctuation mark in the form of two dots located one below the other, used in a simple sentence and in a non-union complex sentence. Combinations of several points are noted in the monuments of Russian writing from the most ancient period. These signs were originally used to separate words or larger sections of text from each other. In modern Russian writing, a semicolon is used:
▪ before the listing, if it is preceded by a generalizing word or words, for example, somehow, namely, for example: “Large fish fight sharply, such as: pike, catfish, asp, pike perch” (Aksakov, “Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province ", stories and memories of a hunter about different hunts. "Hunting with a sharp edge");
▪ in a complex non-union sentence, if the second part reveals the content of the first part, complements the first or indicates the reason for what is said in the first part, for example: “Here a rather interesting picture opened up: a wide hut, the roof of which rested on two sooty pillars, was full of people” (Lermontov “Hero of Our Time”);
7) Dash – (French tiret, from tirer – to pull) – a punctuation mark in the form of a horizontal bar (-), used in simple and complex sentences. Introduced into use by the Russian writer and historian N.M. Karamzin. In modern Russian written speech, a dash is placed:
▪ between subject and predicate: “Lgov is a large steppe village” (Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”);
▪ before the generalizing word that comes after homogeneous members: “Hope and the swimmer - the whole sea swallowed up” (Krylov, works in 2 volumes. “An old man and three young people”);
▪ before standalone application, usually at the end of a sentence: “I had a cast-iron teapot with me - my only joy in traveling around the Caucasus.”
(Lermontov “Hero of Our Time”);
▪ between members of a sentence to express surprise or opposition: “I wanted to travel around the whole world - and did not travel a hundredth part” (Griboyedov “Woe from Wit”);
▪ in a complex non-union sentence to indicate a rapid change of events, to express a sharp contrast, to express temporary, conditionally investigative and other relationships: “Ignat pulled the trigger - the gun misfired” (Chekhov’s “White-fronted”);
▪ between remarks in a dialogue given without a paragraph, or at the beginning of remarks given with a paragraph;
▪ to indicate the breakdown of a simple sentence into verbal groups, which often happens when a member of a sentence is omitted:
“I ask you: do workers need to be paid?” (Chekhov “Ivanov”);
“Everything is obedient to me, but I obey nothing” (Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”);
8) A double dash (a paired punctuation mark serving an emphatic function) is used to highlight:
▪ introductory and inserted sentences and constructions: “There is nothing to do here - friends kissed” (Krylov, fable “Two Doves”);
▪ a common application, standing after the word being defined to emphasize the independent meaning of this application: “In front of the doors of the club - a wide log house - workers with banners were waiting for the guests” (Fedin, novel “An Extraordinary Summer”);
9) Ellipsis - () - a punctuation mark in the form of those adjacent dots, used to indicate the incompleteness or interruption of a statement, as well as omissions in the text. It was first indicated in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov (1831) under the name “preventive sign”. Ellipsis is used:
▪ to indicate incompleteness or a break in a statement caused by the speaker’s excitement or an unexpected transition to another thought, as well as to indicate a pause emphasizing the text that follows: “Not receiving an answer, Dunya raised her head and fell on the carpet screaming.”
(Pushkin, prose, " Stationmaster»);
▪ when quoting (before the beginning of the quotation, in the middle or after it) to indicate that frequently quoted text has been omitted. To distinguish a gap in a quotation from an author's ellipsis, in some special editions applies special welcome: in case of omission, not three, but two dots are placed next to each other.
2. 1. General comparison of modern Russian and European punctuation
Most punctuation systems modern scripts united.
The differences concern only details. Punctuation in English language, for example, are used less frequently and differently than in Russian. Punctuation in English is a very problematic part of grammar. Unlike the Russian language, punctuation in English is not given due attention. Many native speakers take such liberties with punctuation marks in writing that they seem unacceptable.
English punctuation is basically similar to Russian, but its application is different great freedom and does not obey strict, mandatory rules.
The punctuation systems of Russian and English languages, in addition to general similarities, have a number of features. The functions of the same punctuation marks, as well as ways of formatting similar ones in writing linguistic phenomena often do not match. In Russian, punctuation depends mainly on the syntactic structure of the sentence, and in English, syntactic boundaries within a sentence are not necessarily formalized punctuationally.
In Russian, a subordinate clause is always separated by a comma from the main clause. In English this happens much less frequently, namely:
▪ The additional clause is not separated by a comma:
We know that at present all roads lead to Communism.
We know that nowadays all roads lead to communism.
▪ Subordinate clause definitive sentence is not separated by a comma if it is not descriptive, but restrictive, that is, when it distinguishes the word being defined from a number of others:
The historic changes that have occurred in Asia are of cardinal significance.
The historical changes that have occurred in Asia are of paramount importance.
If the subordinate attributive clause communicates only additional information about a defined word or sentence and is equivalent to an independent sentence, then it is separated by a comma:
Tsiolkovsky studied many branches of knowledge, which enabled him to become a prominent scientist.
Tsiolkovsky studied many branches of knowledge, which helped him become an outstanding scientist.
A subordinate conditional and adverbial clause is separated by a comma only if it precedes an equal clause (or if it is too long):
If you added less acid, the reaction would not be so violent.
If you added less acid, the reaction would not be so violent.
In Russian, quotation marks are placed at the bottom and at the top, in English - only along the top edge of the line:
Don't you like this “You don't like the man?” do you?”
Yes, I don't like it. "No, I don't"
Don't you like this “You don't like the man?” Do you?”
No, I like it. “Yes, I do”
In English, a dash is not used to convey remarks in dialogue between interlocutors or between the words of the author and direct speech, as in Russian; in this case, quotation marks are sufficient.
Single dashes perform several functions in English that do not coincide with the functions of a dash in Russian (here it is used to distinguish the subject from the predicate in a zero connective), for example: “Our neighbor is an engineer.” There is no such function in English, since in English declarative sentence there is no connective, then there may not be a dash, for example: “Not a coward!” But in the English language, a dash is placed where in the Russian language it is not typical for it to appear, namely, to indicate an interruption or for some reason unfinished sentence(in Russian in such cases there is an ellipsis). Let's analyze the examples: “Marrying Sibil Vane? " cried Lord Henry, standing up and looking at Dorian. “But, my dear Dorian – Yesterday when I heard that Sibil Vane had killed herself -. “The dash in this case denotes an unfinished statement, the reason for which is strong excitement speaker weighing his words. Another difference in the use of dashes in English from Russian. In English, it is not customary to place a dash at the beginning of a dialogue to indicate a change in speakers. Thus, we can safely say that the functions and rules for using a dash differ in Russian and English.
Both in English and in Russian, to frame words, phrases of an introductory nature, wedged into the text, to isolate a common application, paired commas or paired parentheses are used to close:
He, Martin Eden, was a better man than that fellow.
The old gentleman, her father, was always dabbing on speculation.
Sometimes commas are used to highlight additions on both sides, which in conversation have an intonation effect.
In Russian and English, the comma is placed in the same way. compound sentences in the presence of conjunctions “and”, “but”, “so”.
(“and”, “but”, “so”).
Use of a comma in a complex sentence. In Russian, a comma is always placed, but in English it is placed only when the subordinate clause ends, which is part of a complex sentence starting with the words “that”, “because”, “as”, “if”, “when”, “after”, “since”-(“this”, “because”, “how”, “if”, “when”, “after”, “since”), etc. But if the main clause comes first, then a comma before the listed ones allied words not put:
When Paul called to see Pearl, she found her still sick.
The day came to an end when they appeared in the distance.
Let's look at the differences in the use of commas in English and Russian sentences. In a sentence with a small text of direct speech in English sentence a comma is placed, but in Russian there will be a colon:
She sank down by his side and cried, “Oh, Phil! It’s all so horrid!” But if the text of direct speech is long, then a colon is also placed, for example:
Lincoln said: “Many years ago our fathers had left on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”
In conclusion, it is worth adding that introductory words in English, as in Russian, they must be separated by commas:
Namely, it was her natural shyness. (Namely)
Of course, he apologized. (Certainly)
As for the next sign, the colon, in both languages it clarifies, explains, expands or narrows further information.
Sometimes a colon stylistically colors a sentence and indicates its High style and the seriousness of the information. Of course, there is a slight difference between the use of a comma and a colon, and in English the colon is used more widely, in a slightly different direction, i.e., it can be an independent statement, for example:
Oh, don’t shout Paul: it really isn’t nice.
Mother-in-Law, Sergius: mother-in-law.
The next sign - the semicolon - is also approximately the same in Russian and English, but sometimes the Russian semicolon corresponds to a colon in English. The most important function of a semicolon is to stand at the end of a sentence that expresses an incomplete thought, followed by another simple or complex sentence that completes the sentence, followed by a period. A semicolon can be placed several times in a sentence, using the example of one long complex non-union sentence, which includes several simple sentences that are not closely related to each other, so as not to confuse the reader with a long sentence with various complications.
Moreover, you can notice that mistakes are made much less frequently with this punctuation mark.
It should also be noted that the function of a period as a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence does not differ at all in different languages, which cannot be said about the dash.
Having analyzed the use of punctuation marks in Russian and English, we can come to the conclusion that it is some difference in their use that can cause errors.
Punctuation marks are now largely uniform and serve almost the same function in many European and non-European languages. So, for example, in Russian and most European languages Interrogative and exclamation sentences are usually fixed with one question or exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, and in Spanish - with two question marks and exclamation marks - at the beginning and at the end of the sentence. In this case, an inverted question mark and an exclamation mark are placed first:
-“¿Quién fue el autor de la Ilíada?”
-“¡Que me me acuerde de tí!”
- “¿Qué hace ahí?”
The Spanish language uses all the same symbols as the Russian language, but it also has its own, special ones. What are they called and what role do they play? coma - comma, punto final - period, punto y coma - semicolon, dos puntos - colon, puntos suspensivos () - ellipsis, principio de interrogación (¿) - initial question mark, fin de interrogación (?) - final question mark , principio de admiración (¡) - initial exclamation mark, fin de admiración (!) - final exclamation mark, paréntesis () - parentheses, diéresis o crema (¨) - trema, colon above the letter, comillas (""; "") - quotation marks, guión (-) - hyphen, raya (-) - dash, dos rayas (=) - double dash.
Commas, periods and parentheses indicate pauses different lengths, which when reading make it possible to understand the meaning of sentences. These signs are used in Spanish almost the same as in Russian, with the only difference being that complex sentences with many involved and participial phrases in Spanish they are not as frequent as in Russian, and they do not stand out in writing.
A period is the end of a sentence or an abbreviation. Comma - enumeration, appeal, clarification, introductory words and connective words (esto es, es decir, o sea, en fin, por último, por consiguiente, sin embargo, no obstante, además, en tal caso, por lo tanto, en cambio, en primer lugar, generalmente, posiblemente, efectivamente, finalmente, en definitiva, por regla general, quizás). In addition, the comma is used in dates, bibliographic data and addresses (Madrid, 25 de enero de 2007. BELLO, Andrés: Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos.)
The semicolon is used to indicate a pause longer than that of a comma but shorter than that of a colon, and is most often used before a subordinate adversative clause.
A colon is used before a listing after a generic word.
Quotation marks indicate quotations, or attach figurative meaning some words. The hyphen is used to hyphenate words and to connect parts of compound words.
The dash is used in direct speech, and in all other cases in the same way as in Russian (for lists, for clarifications, pauses, etc.). As for the double dash, it is a rarely used obsolete symbol used in copies of documents to indicate paragraphs that are given separately in the original.
Conclusion
Russian punctuation can be considered both in a narrow and in a broad sense. In a narrow sense, it includes basic punctuation marks. These are sentence-ending characters (period, exclamation point, question mark, ellipsis), sentence-middle characters (comma, semicolon, dash, colon), paired characters (double comma, double dash, parentheses, quotation marks). Thus, the main body of punctuation marks in the Russian language includes twelve characters that students should know well. In a broad sense, to punctuation marks signs include spatial organization text: space, paragraph indents, asterisks, etc.
Without the ability to put punctuation marks, it is impossible to master written speech as a whole, which is why it is so important to know punctuation - a branch of the science of language that talks about their use. And without mastering written speech, thanks to which human knowledge and experiences are passed on from generation to generation, it is impossible to even imagine life today.
Punctuation marks arose from the need to divide written text into segments of greater or lesser independence in accordance with the semantic structure of speech. Thus, the first punctuation marks indicated pauses of greater or lesser duration within a written text. It goes without saying that writers could be satisfied with such primitive punctuation only during the initial stages of using writing. And indeed, as writing developed, especially after the introduction and spread of printing, the punctuation system became more complex and deepened, until comparatively short period has not reached the state that is preserved in its basic features in modern European languages.
The principles of punctuation are interrelated and in the same punctuation fact we can find a combination of different principles, although the leading one is syntactic (structural). Modern Russian punctuation is based on meaning, structure, and rhythmic-intonation division of the sentence in their interaction. Therefore, Russian punctuation is quite flexible and, along with mandatory rules, contains instructions that allow punctuation options.
Comparison punctuation texts that are chronologically distant from each other helped to understand the essence of modern Russian punctuation. Punctuation is a living, mobile, developing, historically established system.
Having analyzed the history of the use of punctuation marks in the Russian language and examined the norms for the use of punctuation marks in European languages, we can come to the conclusion that Russian punctuation is very similar to the punctuation of European languages (Spanish, English).
Summarizing the centuries-old history of writing and printing, it can be noted that it has steadily developed towards an increase in both the number and variety of functions of the signs used - this was facilitated by the improvement of methods of presenting information, and the complication of human activity and the emergence of new forms of it led to the emergence of new categories of written signs that appeared as a response to the need for new types of information:
The invention of printing, the spread of literacy and paper correspondence, the transition of books from the field of highly specialized, mainly religious texts, to the field of sources of various worldly content required the introduction of punctuation marks that help convey intonation and semantic features, dialogues, etc.
Complication legal practice and the need to compose structured texts led to the development of chapters, paragraphs, paragraphs, footnotes, explanations and the invention of symbols to highlight them.
The emergence of computer correspondence and conversational communication without direct contact has created a need for written transmission of emotions, gestures and facial expressions, which contributed to the emergence of emoticons.
In order to learn how to use punctuation marks, you need to understand what is the basis for their use. Do you think intonation? Oh no! This is a dangerously shaky approach. Everyone here would have done something like this in their own way! Remember about writing words by ear?
So what lies at the basis of Russian punctuation, what features of a sentence should be used in order to put punctuation marks correctly?
Russian punctuation has a double base. The great Lomonosov pointed out this in his “Russian Grammar”: Lowercase characters are placed according to the strength of the mind and its location, and alliances.
Remember: To put this or that punctuation mark, you must first determine the semantic side of the sentence and then its structure, that is, act according to the formula:
MEANING+STRUCTURE=PUNCTION MARKS
Here is an example of how a sign affects the meaning of sentences: There were a lot of people that day. They crowded around in the woods, along the shore, and settled on all the benches: some in tracksuits, some in pajamas, with children, dogs, guitars. (Yu. Trifonov). Firstly, thanks to the comma, the little forest was not on the shore; And Secondly, the comma allowed us to avoid “pajamas with children and dogs.”
As you know, in the system of modern Russian punctuation there are 10 punctuation marks: period, comma, semicolon, ellipsis, colon, question mark, exclamation mark, dash, parentheses and quotation marks.
The oldest sign is dot. It is found in monuments of ancient Russian writing. However, its use at that time differed from the modern one: the dot was placed not at the bottom of the line, but above - in the middle of it. In addition, let me remind you that during that period even individual words were not separated from each other.
For example: the holiday is approaching... (Arkhangelsk Gospel, XI century). Dahl gives this explanation of the word point:
“POINT (poke) f., an icon from an injection, from sticking to something with the point, tip of a pen, pencil; small speck."
It is no coincidence that the root -exactly- included in the names of such signs as semicolon, colon, ellipsis. And in the Russian language of the 16th–18th centuries, a question mark was called interrogative point, exclamation – point of surprise. In grammatical works XVI centuries, the doctrine of punctuation marks was called "the doctrine of the power of points" or " about point intelligence."
Comma considered the most common punctuation mark.
According to P. Ya. Chernykh, the word comma– this is the result of substantivization (transition into a noun) of the passive past participle of the verb comma (xia)– “to catch”, “to touch”, “to stab”. V. I. Dal connects this word with verbs wrist, commas, stutter– “stop”, “delay”.
In the Russian language, most of the punctuation marks we know today appear in the 16th–18th centuries. So , brackets found in monuments of the 16th century. Previously, this sign was called “roomy”.
Colon How separator mark begins to be used from late XVI century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Laurentius Zizanius, Meletius Smotritsky, as well as in the first Russian grammar of the 18th century.
Exclamation mark noted to express exclamation (surprise) also in the grammars of M. Smotritsky.
Question mark to express the question was fixed only in the 18th century.
Later signs include dash And ellipsis. There is an opinion that the dash was invented by N.M. Karamzin. However, it has been proven that this sign was found in the Russian press already in the 60s years XVIII century, and N.M. Karamzin only contributed to the popularization and consolidation of the functions of this sign. Initially, the dash was called “silent”.
Ellipsis sign entitled " stop sign" noted in 1831 in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov, although its use is found in writing practice much earlier.
No less interesting is the history of the appearance of the sign, which later received the name quotes. The word quotation marks in the meaning of a musical note (hook) sign is found in the 16th century, but in the meaning of a punctuation mark it began to be used only at the end of the 18th century. It is assumed that the initiative to introduce this punctuation mark into the practice of Russian written speech (as well as dash) belongs to N. M. Karamzin. Scientists believe that the origin of this word is not entirely clear. Comparison with the Ukrainian name pawka makes it possible to assume that it is derived from the verb to waddle – “to hobble”, “to limp”. Thus, quotes – „traces of duck or frog legs,” “hook,” “squiggle.”
“Dot, dot, comma - A crooked face came out...” - as it was sung in the ever-memorable cheerful song authored by Yuli Kim. Oh, how many spears have been and will be broken in frantic battles between students and teachers over these notorious punctuation marks - periods, commas, dashes, exclamation and question marks, colons and ellipsis... But without these subtle helpers, sentences and phrases are read completely differently, they look faceless and lean. Punctuation marks express more than just letters. So there is no way to do without punctuation in written speech. But where did this word come from?
From Latin "punctus" stands for "dot", so it was this summary sign that gave the name the whole system, developing long years. The first punctuation marks date back to the 5th century BC by the playwright Euripides, who celebrated the change speaking person pointed sign, possibly derived from greek letter lambda (<). Философу Платону было свойственно заканчивать разделы своих книг знаком, который мы сейчас знаем, как двоеточие. А философу Аристофану приписывают авторство первого значимого знака препинания – «параграфоса», представлявшего собой короткую горизонтальную линию внизу у начала строки. Теперь он обозначается, как §. Некоторые исследователи считают, что Аристофан изобрел также дефис и наклонную черту (слэш).
In the 15th century, the signs of pauses, inhalation and changes in intonation came into use (mainly periods, semicolons and colons were used). In the first edition of Shakespeare (early 17th century), question marks and exclamation marks were already present. Note that until the mid-17th century, punctuation meant the use of dots near consonants, indicating vowel sounds in Hebrew text. Writing characters in Latin text is called dotting. But already in the 17th century, the word “punctuation” acquired its modern meaning, denoting a system of punctuation marks in the writing of a language, as well as the rules for their placement in written speech. And by the end of the 17th century, quotation marks also appeared in English punctuation.
As for Russian punctuation, it was oriented towards Greek, and its main character was the dot. Which was usually set with the purpose of separating semantic parts from each other. In the texts there were also lines at the bottom of the line, serpents and combinations of lines and dots.
In printed grammars Lavrentia Zizania And Meletius Smotrytsky(end of the 16th – beginning of the 17th centuries) talked about commas, terms, doubles, sub-frames, connectives, periods and the semantic principles of using signs; as well as about the intonation principle and ten lowercase punctuation marks, which included: place, interrogative, colon, unit, comma, suspended, disjointed, period, surprising and dash. And in the 17th century, the “pick” or “hook sign” appeared.
Serious work 
an outstanding figure in the development of modern punctuation Mikhail Lomonosov, who published “Russian Grammar” in the mid-18th century. This work also included a brief theory of punctuation, as well as a description of the basic principles of its use (semantic and syntactic).
In the modern world, the punctuation system also continues to strive for perfection. We use 10 basic characters: period, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, question and exclamation marks, ellipsis, parentheses and quotation marks. But in fact there are more of them. You can also think about the hyphen, paragraph, slash, and asterisk. There is talk about the possibility of using paired commas and double dashes within sentences, so punctuation continues to evolve every year.