welcome back after the long break =)
When I think about russian punktuation, 1st line that comes to my mind is "казнить нельзя помиловать". It's from fairytale "12 months" where little queen is signing a petition. In this case one comma, being put in different spot changes resolution from "put to death" to "show mercy".
Linguists state that russian punctuation is very close to german. But the real thing you should care about - it actually shows intonation. So, when you listen to someone's speach you will hear a little pause in place of sign. When you speak (even when russian is not our native) you do the same.
I might sound terrible for those linguists i mentioned - but the simplest way to discribe the importance of punctuation in russian is to name russian a "language of meta-information". We start from plain text and then come lexical stress, punctuation and some kind of lexical stress on parts of sentence that may change the meaning dramatically.
2nd thing I want for you to keep in mind - russian punctuation is a flexible one. There are strict rules, but there's a lot of recommendations beside them. Those are not mandatory and depend on stylistic.
So here comes a little tip: use short sentences.
I give you a link on rules - those are official, and, sorry, guys, I believe that if you going to learn punctuation, learning it in russian would do better for you.
And here are some examples of what a comma could do (note: all sentences are correct):
1. За тем лесом видно озеро. There's a lake behind the forest. (it's visible)
За тем лесом, видно, озеро. There mignt be a lake behind the forest. (suggestive)
2. Ходить долго - не мог. He couldn't walk long (on long distances).
Ходить - долго не мог. He couldn't walk for a long time (wasn't able to walk)
3. Девочка перевела через улицу старушку, которая её об этом попросила и побежала на дискотеку. Girl helped old lady to cross the road, then lady went in club.
Девочка перевела через улицу старушку, которая её об этом попроссила, и побежала на дискотеку. Girl helped old lady to cross the road, then girl went in club.
4. В очередном шестом томе. In another volume #6 (there was several voumes #6)
В очередном, шестом томе. In volume 6.
5. Мы сидели на углу так, что в обе стороны могли видеть все. We placed our sits on the corner so we could see things on both sides.
Мы сидели на углу, так что в обе стороны могли видеть все. Because we placed our sits on the corner, we could see things on both sides.
When I think about russian punktuation, 1st line that comes to my mind is "казнить нельзя помиловать". It's from fairytale "12 months" where little queen is signing a petition. In this case one comma, being put in different spot changes resolution from "put to death" to "show mercy".
Linguists state that russian punctuation is very close to german. But the real thing you should care about - it actually shows intonation. So, when you listen to someone's speach you will hear a little pause in place of sign. When you speak (even when russian is not our native) you do the same.
I might sound terrible for those linguists i mentioned - but the simplest way to discribe the importance of punctuation in russian is to name russian a "language of meta-information". We start from plain text and then come lexical stress, punctuation and some kind of lexical stress on parts of sentence that may change the meaning dramatically.
2nd thing I want for you to keep in mind - russian punctuation is a flexible one. There are strict rules, but there's a lot of recommendations beside them. Those are not mandatory and depend on stylistic.
So here comes a little tip: use short sentences.
I give you a link on rules - those are official, and, sorry, guys, I believe that if you going to learn punctuation, learning it in russian would do better for you.
And here are some examples of what a comma could do (note: all sentences are correct):
1. За тем лесом видно озеро. There's a lake behind the forest. (it's visible)
За тем лесом, видно, озеро. There mignt be a lake behind the forest. (suggestive)
2. Ходить долго - не мог. He couldn't walk long (on long distances).
Ходить - долго не мог. He couldn't walk for a long time (wasn't able to walk)
3. Девочка перевела через улицу старушку, которая её об этом попросила и побежала на дискотеку. Girl helped old lady to cross the road, then lady went in club.
Девочка перевела через улицу старушку, которая её об этом попроссила, и побежала на дискотеку. Girl helped old lady to cross the road, then girl went in club.
4. В очередном шестом томе. In another volume #6 (there was several voumes #6)
В очередном, шестом томе. In volume 6.
5. Мы сидели на углу так, что в обе стороны могли видеть все. We placed our sits on the corner so we could see things on both sides.
Мы сидели на углу, так что в обе стороны могли видеть все. Because we placed our sits on the corner, we could see things on both sides.
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