In the Russian language, they perform several functions. They replace the intonation pauses and highlighting of keywords, lowering / raising the voice, characteristic of. Depending on the purpose, they can be divided into several groups.

Signs at the end of a sentence

All punctuation marks have their own specific meaning. So, at the end of a sentence, either a period, or an ellipsis, and an exclamation point are put.

A dot is needed if the statement contains any message and is of a narrative nature: "Today it was snowing all day, from morning until late at night."
The ellipsis indicates that the thought expressed in the sentence is incomplete and needs to be continued: "Please tell me, could you ...".
Interrogative punctuation marks are put if sentences contain the question: "Where are you still running?"
Exclamation - when the statement contains an urge to something or emotional saturation: "Sanya, how glad I am to see you! Come here!"

Signs within a sentence

Within a sentence, their own punctuation comma, semicolon, colon and dash, and parentheses are used. In addition, there are also quotes that can open and close an independent statement, and is also located inside an already created one. We put a comma in the following cases:

With homogeneous members of the sentence, separating them from each other: "Snowflakes above the ground whirl softly, smoothly, measuredly."
When it serves as the border of simple sentences in the composition of a complex one: "Thunder struck, and the rain poured in a solid wall."
Punctuation marks when separating participial and adverbial phrases: "Smiling, the boy kept talking and talking without stopping. His interlocutors, laughing heartily, were very pleased with the boy."
If the sentence contains introductory words or "I think the weather should recover soon."
With alliances "but, but, yes, and" and others, this punctuation mark is required: "At first I decided to go for a walk, but then changed my mind."

The list of punctograms, of course, is far from complete. To clarify it, you should refer to the syntax textbooks.

The colon is put down according to certain rules:

It is used with generalizing words: "Everywhere: in the rooms, in the corridor, even in the remote corners of the pantry and kitchen, multicolored lights of garlands were shining."
The colon is used for explanatory relationships within its parts: "My friend was not mistaken with the predictions: in the west, slowly but surely heavy, low clouds were gathering."
When speaking directly, one should also not forget about this punctuation mark: it separates the words of the author: "Coming close, the guy knitted his eyebrows menacingly and muttered:" Maybe we’ll come out? "

A semicolon is written if the sentence is complex, non-union, and there is no close connection between its parts or there are punctuation marks inside each part: "Meanwhile, it got dark; lights flashed here and there, streams of smoke streamed from the pipes, the smell of preparing food" ...

A dash is also placed in non-union sentences, or if the subject and predicate are expressed by a noun in the presence of the particle "it", etc.: "Spring is the shine of the sun, the blue of the sky, the joyful awakening of nature."

Each punctogram has a number of nuances and clarifications, therefore, for competent writing, you must regularly work with reference literature.

FUNCTIONS OF PREPARATION SIGNS

Punctuation is an important means of shaping written speech. Punctuation marks indicate semantic , structural and intonational articulation of speech. It is known that punctuation marks not only organize the written text to facilitate its perception by the reader, but also directly convey part of the information contained in the text. In particular, sometimes punctuation, by disambiguating the ambiguity, is the only available means of choosing the correct interpretation of the text.

By its functions first of all, the signs are different separating (separating)(period; question mark, exclamation mark, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, ellipsis) and emitting (two commas, two dashes, brackets, quotes).

DOT

An ellipsis can be a "pause" in the deployment of a sentence and can end a sentence.

The ellipsis, along with the general separating function, has a number of specific, varied meanings, which most often reflect the emotional coloring of speech.

Ellipsis conveys innuendo, reticence, interruption of thought, often - its difficulty caused by great emotional stress.

The ellipsis can convey the meaningfulness of what has been said, indicate the subtext, the hidden meaning.

With the help of the ellipsis, the author, as it were, signals the reader about his feelings, impressions, asks to pay attention to the next word or to the previous one, to the written (unexpected or especially important information), conveys the emotion of the hero, etc.

An ellipsis is a punctuation mark in the form of three adjacent dots. In most cases, it denotes an unfinished thought or a pause.

Morphology is a section of grammar that studies parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) and their forms. Knowledge of the parts of speech in Russian is indispensable.

Firstly, the written literacy of a person depends on the knowledge of the parts of speech, because many spelling rules are based on the ability to determine the part of speech of a particular word. For example, the use of a soft sign at the end of a word after sibilants depends primarily on what part of speech the given word is. If this is a noun of 3 declensions, then "b" is written at the end (daughter, luxury, etc.), and if, for example, it is a short adjective, then "b" is not written (powerful, dense). Or the noun "burn" is written with the vowel "o" after the hissing root, and the verb "burned" - with the vowel "e".

Secondly, knowledge of the parts of speech forms punctuation literacy in a person. For example, such a part of speech as an interjection (oh, ah, well, etc.) is always separated by commas in writing.

Thus, morphology is a very important branch of the science of language.

Helps to structure the written text. Their use is regulated by punctuation rules specific to each language. They are not always easy to learn, so there are a lot of mistakes in this section. So, when studying foreign languages, very few programs include punctuation. However, this section is just as important as grammar or spelling, although it is only needed in So what are the punctuation marks?

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The main punctuation units in any language are period, comma, as well as question and exclamation marks. With their help, you can correctly express your thought, although not always with sufficient accuracy. In total, ten signs are used in modern Russian: in addition to those already mentioned, these are a dash and a colon, which will be discussed separately. In addition, these are brackets and quotes that have a delimiter function. There is also an ellipsis that ends a thought, and a semicolon, which play the same role, but within the same sentence.

As you can see, the list is small, but each of the listed punctuation units has its own purpose. Sometimes they are used interchangeably, but more often they are not.

Classification

There are several options for separating punctuation units. First, on the basis of pairing. That is, in the case of setting one punctuation mark, it is necessary to supplement it with a second. The paired category includes brackets, quotes, and double commas and dashes.

According to the second classification, all punctuation marks can be divided into 3 categories. For example, such:

Highlight marks. They are intended to delineate the boundaries of various syntactic constructs and segregation. It is to this category that paired signs belong. They allow you to clearly structure the proposal and see its significant parts.
Branch signs. They mark the boundary between independent proposals, including those in complex structures. In addition, they indicate the type. This includes everything that is not included in the first paragraph.
Sometimes the red line is highlighted separately. It denotes a change in topic or a new twist in a story or reasoning.

Functions

It may seem that in modern world punctuation is already an atavism. As a rule, you can differentiate sentences without periods, and without commas it is often clear what the speech is about. What can we say about other signs that are much less common? And nevertheless, it is extremely difficult to do without them.

First, they allow you to make mental pauses and delineate phrases without turning the text into a meaningless collection of letters and words. Second, they transmit a huge amount of different shades- uncertainty, semi-assertion, etc. Without such a powerful tool as punctuation, it would be very difficult to achieve this. In addition, it would be extremely difficult to understand official documents, agreements and contracts without punctuation marks. Putting a comma in the wrong place can completely change the meaning of the whole sentence - and this is not a joke.

So the role of punctuation marks is important, no matter how their opponents claim otherwise. After all, many linguists are of the opinion that any unnecessary introductions to the language simply don't stick, while significant parts do. And then, the famous "you cannot be pardoned" is just one example, but in fact there are thousands of them. Any punctuation mark is an important part of a sentence that should not be neglected.

History of origin and development

It is difficult to imagine how one can do without punctuation, but the current situation has developed relatively recently, and it is possible that the process of development of this linguistic section is still ongoing. Nevertheless, it is very interesting to observe how the origin and development of punctuation took place.

The oldest punctuation mark is a dot, which is found in ancient Russian written monuments. But its use was not regulated in any way, and the location on the line was different - not at the bottom, but in the middle. The rules for its production became more similar to modern ones around the 16th century.

The comma became widespread approximately in the 15th century. Its name comes from the outdated verb for stop, delay. One root in this case will be the word "stutter". And the most observant will notice one more thing. For example, the fact that "punctuation" in etymology goes back to the same root.

Most of the other signs were introduced into widespread use before the 18th century. Lomonosov, Karamzin and many other prominent scientists contributed to their popularization. The modern rules of punctuation of the Russian language were adopted in 1956 and are still in effect.

Correct use of punctuation units

Punctuation is not always easy. At the end of a sentence, there are four options to choose from, and only within the phrase ... It's no wonder that so much time is devoted to learning punctuation. Remembering all the rules, perhaps, will be somewhat difficult, but the basic ones are simply necessary.

Commas: Correct Usage

Since this particular sign is the most common, it is not surprising that it is this sign that accounts for the most problems. A comma is a sign that separates simple sentences within a complex. It is also used in enumerations, to highlight introductory constructions, applications, isolate participles, adverbial and comparative phrases and many other purposes. It is perhaps rather difficult to list them all, since this is a huge part. school curriculum... However, it should be remembered that a comma always denotes a reference. Punctuation marks require careful attention to themselves, and neglecting the rules of their arrangement for a native speaker is, first of all, disrespect for oneself.

Direct speech and dialogue

It is this topic that causes the greatest difficulty for both schoolchildren and adults. And if there are fewer problems with dialogue, because there are simply dashes in front of each line, then punctuation marks in direct speech become just a stumbling block, especially if introductory words are still used.

In order to correctly format this part of the text, you need to know that the replica itself, along with its own punctuation marks, is highlighted in quotes. If, in this case, introductory words are used, then instead of a period, a comma is used, which in this case is taken out of the utterance. Interrogative and always persist. As for the formatting of the author's words, it depends on the division of the replicas. If they represent a single sentence, interrupted by an explanation, then it is written with a small letter and highlighted with a dash and a colon. Only one pair of quotation marks is put - at the beginning and at the end of direct speech. It probably sounds a little confusing in theory, but it's not hard to figure it out in practice.

Using dashes and colons

Grammar in the Russian language presupposes the existence and this means the demand for the above punctuation marks. Their purpose is about the same, and both of them can be replaced with a comma, which, however, will not convey the desired shades.

The colon is necessary if the subsequent part or even a whole simple sentence more fully reveals the meaning of the previous one, adds details, etc. Dash - in the opposite situation. Of course, they have other functions, but this is also a fairly large part of the school curriculum that deserves a detailed consideration.

Differences in punctuation between Russian and European languages

Studying the native language, we do not always think about what punctuation marks exist in foreign dialects, and whether they have the same function. Of course, the rules of punctuation are also different, but the conversation is not about them now.

Spanish is a prime example. Question and exclamation sentences in it are highlighted more noticeably, because the corresponding signs are placed not only at the end, but also at the beginning of phrases, so they refer to paired ones along with quotes or brackets.

By the way, in English language often instead of an ellipsis at the end of direct speech, you can find a dash. And the Greeks can put [;] instead of a question mark. Guessing without knowing is difficult. So it's not always worth thinking about the rules that the Russian language sets. Punctuation marks and the way they are used are different everywhere.

Oriental languages

Japanese and Chinese remain true to tradition despite European influences. So, the point looks like a circle and is sometimes placed in the center of the line, and sometimes like the usual one. This was done to avoid confusion, since the European sign could be mistaken for part of the last hieroglyph.

There are also two types of commas: regular and teardrop. The first, for example, divides simple sentences into complex ones, and the second separates homogeneous members.

Little known punctuation marks

It may seem that the above list is more than exhaustive. But, oddly enough, this is not the case. So, what are the punctuation marks that few people know about, and they are practically not used? There are a little more than a dozen of the most famous:

Interrobang. This combination of question and exclamation marks in one unit looks exotic, but interesting. Of course, it is easier and more familiar to write "?!", Especially since the meaning will be the same, but supporters of the introduction of interrobang believe that it looks more representative in writing.
Rhetorical It remained in use for about 20 years at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. In fact, it is a mirror image of a regular question mark.
Asterism. Previously, the chapters or their parts were separated from each other by this very sign, which was three stars arranged in a triangle. But quite a long time ago they were replaced by the same asterism, but located in the form of a straight line.
An ironic sign. It may seem that it is too similar to the rhetorical, although it is smaller, located above the line and has a completely different function, as the name implies. It was invented in the 19th century.
Love sign. Its function is also obvious from the name, and it itself is a combination of two interrogative, mirrored to each other, with one dot.
Consent sign. Is a combination of two exclamation points with one dot. Expresses a demonstration of goodwill or a greeting.
Confidence sign. Performs the function of emphasizing a strong opinion about the statement made. Represents an exclamation point with a short horizontal line through it.
Question comma. It is used to emphasize interrogative intonation within one sentence. By analogy with it, there is an exclamation point.
Sarcastic sign. It is a kind of snail with a dot inside and is protected by copyright. It is used to separately emphasize that the sentence behind which it is located contains sarcasm.
Snark sign. It can also be typed on a regular keyboard, since it is just a period followed by a tilde - [. ~]. It is used to show that the sentence it comes after is not to be taken literally and has hidden meaning.

Quite an interesting set, but to many it seems redundant. And although the role of some of these signs seems to be necessary, language ultimately crowds out unsuitable and unused things from itself. This is probably what happened in this case.

Nevertheless, natural languages is far from the only discipline that has the concept of punctuation. However, this topic requires separate consideration. It would be much more appropriate to consider the influence of current trends on the placement of punctuation marks.

Punctuation and netiquette

Since communication on the Internet initially most often implies informality, some simplification and disregard for the rules of the Russian (and not only) language is quite natural. Even the concept of netiquette has developed, which includes the question of how to place punctuation marks.

So, for example, a dot at the end of a long dialogue is a sign that the interlocutor wants to close the topic. In other cases, it looks rough and cold. A large number of exclamation marks mean, depending on the context, violent negative or positive emotions. The ellipsis can indicate despair, thoughtfulness, melancholy, and some other shades of mood that can hardly be called positive. The placement of commas in network communication is rarely the subject of serious thought, because the goal is to convey the essence to the interlocutor, and the formation of thoughts in this case is secondary. Nevertheless, it is impossible to neglect the placement of question marks - this is bad manners.

Although these rules are different from the general ones, they are not difficult to remember. And, of course, you need to take into account that they do not relate to business and official correspondence, which must be executed correctly and competently. The punctuation mark is a powerful tool that must be used with care.

Punctuation system in Russian it is built from punctuation elements: points ( . ), comma ( , ), dash ( – ), question mark ( ? ), exclamation mark ( ! ) and brackets () . In this case, the first three punctuation elements are also used as independent punctuation marks ( . , – ).

Question mark and exclamation mark are used always with a dot under the sign, forming punctuation marks - question mark (?) and Exclamation point (!). All other punctuation marks are built from the named elements. it ellipsis ( … ), colon ( : ), semicolon ( ; ), a rare character is a comma and a dash ( ,– ).

Are always paired quotation marks "..." and brackets(…) . These two characters - quotation marks and brackets - are used in several grammatical variants. The quotation marks are in the form "Honey" "..." and "Christmas tree" "..." ; "Christmas trees" are recognized as more significant than "paws". Options for parentheses in order of increasing importance are arranged as follows: round (...), square [...], curly (...) ; another variant of brackets is rarely used - corner<…> .

In the practice of writing, it often becomes necessary to use several signs at the same time, and then there arises the problem of the combination of signs. In such cases point is considered the main sign, it "absorbs" both the dash and the comma. When combined comma and dash both punctuation marks are preserved, and if necessary, transfer the combination dash followed by comma (-,), for example, if after a stand-alone application, highlighted on both sides by signs dash, situated introductory word, then in such cases h fifth skipped: it is "absorbed" by the dash.

If necessary, use interrogative and exclamation marks at the same time (for example, in an interrogative sentence with exclamation intonation) the question mark is always put first? - ?!.

Interrogative and exclamation marks may overlap ellipsis: ?.. , !.. , ??. , !!. , ?!. ... Number of dots in ellipsis ui stays in always three, since there is already a dot under the question mark and the exclamation mark.

Graphic signs footnotes(digit, asterisk or letter),single parenthesis after the number to indicate the ordinal place of the heading (for example, 1), a) etc.), single quotes when determining the meaning of a word or expression ( house - "residential building"),paragraph mark (§) – in the strict sense of punctuation marks not are. Not considered a punctuation mark and hyphen, which has the same shape as the hyphen. That is why, if the need arises to transfer compound word(or a word with an application) and you have to use at the same time hyphen and hyphen, then they get by with one hyphen, that is, the hyphen is not wrapped to the next line.

Punctuation marks, like other phenomena of the Russian language, have their own history.

In ancient texts, words are usually not separated one from the other, and the boundaries of the proposals were not indicated.

The ancient Greeks, and then the Romans, are already introducing the beginning of punctuation: the first sign was point(from greek stigma - "injection mark"; latin punctum - "injected": wrote style- with a sharpened stick on a board covered with wax). The period was placed either at the bottom of the line, or in the middle of the line, or at the top of the line, and the role of this sign was rather vague.

V XVI century in written records Ancient Rus began to be used already five punctuation marks; they were all named dots(word point- from the verb poke ); the points were as follows: point ( . ), comma ( , ), term ( · ), two-term ( : ) and subtable ( ; ) , the last mark served as a question mark.

New stage in the development of punctuation begins with the development of typography. The need to make the book text accessible to a wide range of readers led to changes in the design of texts... Much credit for this belongs to the Italian scientists - humanists. Aldou Manuzio , his son Paul and grandson Aldou the Younger (they published books from 1494 to 1597). The books published by them (they were called " aldines ") Have served for a long time a model of typographic technique... The punctuation of these books was justly considered the fundamental principle of punctuation systems. eat in different languages of our time.

At the same time, question mark(this is a modified letter Q- the first letter of the Latin interrogative pronoun Quo) and Exclamation point(latin letter I- the first letter of the interjection Io).

And to this day, punctuation systems different languages are different: in general, the "meaning" of punctuation marks remains the same, but significant differences are seen in the number of punctuation marks, as well as in the peculiarities of their use.

So, in punctuation system in Spain(and in Hispanic Latin American countries) interrogative and exclamation marks put twice : at the beginning of an interrogative (exclamation) sentence, but inverted, and at its end, in the usual form, for example: ¿ Will you come ? – ¡ Of course I'll come ! By this, already before starting to read the phrase, the reader tunes in to the necessary intonation.

V English punctuation, in addition to the hyphen and the usual dash, there is also "Elongated" dash.

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In the practice of writing, it often becomes necessary to use several signs at the same time, and then there arises the problem of the combination of signs. In such cases point is considered the main sign, it "absorbs" both the dash and the comma. When combined comma and dash both punctuation marks are preserved, and if necessary, transfer the combination dash followed by comma (-,), for example, if after a stand-alone application, highlighted on both sides by signs dash, the introductory word is located, then in such cases z fifth skipped: it is "absorbed" by the dash.

If necessary, use interrogative and exclamation marks at the same time (for example, in an interrogative sentence with exclamation intonation) the question mark is always put first? - ?!.

Graphic signs footnotes(digit, asterisk or letter),single parenthesis after the number to indicate the ordinal place of the heading (for example, 1), a) etc.), single quotes when determining the meaning of a word or expression ( house - "residential building"),paragraph mark (§) – in the strict sense of punctuation marks not are. Not considered a punctuation mark and hyphen, which has the same shape as the hyphen. That is why, if it becomes necessary to transfer a complex word (or a word with an application) and you have to simultaneously use hyphen and hyphen, then they get by with one hyphen, that is, the hyphen is not wrapped to the next line.

Punctuation marks, like other phenomena of the Russian language, have their own history.

In ancient texts, words are usually not separated one from the other, and the boundaries of the proposals were not indicated.

V XVI century in the written monuments of Ancient Russia began to be used already five punctuation marks; they were all named dots(word point- from the verb poke ); the points were as follows: point ( . ), comma ( , ), term ( · ), two-term ( : ) and subtable ( ; ) , the last mark served as a question mark.

And to this day, the punctuation systems of different languages are different: in general, the "meaning" of punctuation marks remains the same, but significant differences are seen in the number of punctuation marks, as well as in the peculiarities of their use.

V English punctuation, in addition to the hyphen and the usual dash, there is also "Elongated" dash.

Still have questions? Don't know about the Russian punctuation system?
To get help from a tutor - register.
The first lesson is free!

site, with full or partial copying of the material, a link to the source is required.

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