Are there any identifying punctuation marks? Punctuation marks and their role in the text

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K. G. Paustovsky in the book “ Golden Rose"told such a story. In his youth he worked for the Odessa newspaper “Sailor”. The writer Andrei Sobol also collaborated with this newspaper at that time. One day he brought his story to the editorial office - “torn, confused, although interesting in topic and, of course, talented.” It was impossible to print it in this form. The newspaper's proofreader, Blagov, stepped in to help. He promised to “go through the manuscript,” but not to change a single word in it. The next morning Paustovsky read the story. “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.”

Of course, you guessed what happened? Yes, the proofreader simply placed all the punctuation marks correctly, and especially carefully - points and paragraphs. That's all.

The fact is that punctuation marks carry writing a special function - semantic. With their help, the writer expresses certain meanings and shades, and the reader perceives and understands these meanings and shades. And since all writers act as readers and vice versa, punctuation marks are the same for all literate speakers of the Russian language. According to linguist A. B. Shapiro, every rule about punctuation marks is, as it were, a point of agreement between the writer and the reader.

Now that Internet users constantly communicate in writing, the need to convey messages accurately and concisely increases, and it is punctuation that helps the author “put” the information in the text in the most understandable way.

What, besides school rules, do you need to know about punctuation marks so that you are adequately understood? Not much really.

In its own way roles in writing all punctuation marks are divided into three groups: signs completions, dividing And excretory. These names are “talking”.

Completion marks ( period, exclamation mark, question mark, ellipsis) are placed at the end of sentences, complete their.

Separators ( comma, semicolon, colon, dash) – separate semantic segments within a sentence from each other (homogeneous members, parts of a complex sentence), they are placed on the border these semantic segments, share their.

And the punctuation marks ( two commas, two dashes, parentheses, quotation marks) allocate one semantic segment inside another or inside a sentence. Participial and adverbial phrases are highlighted on both sides (if they are in the middle of a sentence), single gerunds, appeals, introductory words and sentences). By the way, if you know this, you will never put only one comma when participial phrase: we need it highlight commas, which means there should be two of them, on both sides - at the beginning and at the end.

And finally, check yourself. Determine the function of punctuation marks in this sentence. One day (it was, it seems, in 2003) I received a strange letter: it was in a crumpled yellow envelope, without a return address, handwritten, illegible.

Answer. In this sentence completion sign- dot; separators– commas between homogeneous members of a sentence and a colon between parts of a non-union complex sentence; excretory marks– two commas highlighting the introductory word Seems, and two brackets highlighting the inserted sentence.

Goltsova Nina Grigorievna, professor

Today it is difficult for us to imagine that books were once printed without the well-known icons called punctuation marks.
They have become so familiar to us that we simply don’t notice them, which means we can’t appreciate them. Meanwhile punctuation marks live their own independent life in the language and have their own interesting history.

In everyday life, we are surrounded by many objects, things, and phenomena that are so familiar that we rarely think about the questions: when and how did these phenomena appear and, accordingly, the words that name them? Who is their creator and creator?
Have the words so familiar to us always meant what they mean today? What is the story of their entry into our lives and language?

Such familiar and even to some extent ordinary (due to the fact that we encounter it every day) can include Russian writing, or more precisely, the graphic system of the Russian language.

The basis of the graphic system of the Russian language, like many other languages, are letters and punctuation marks.

When asked when the Slavic alphabet, which is the basis of the Russian alphabet, arose and who was its creator, many of you will confidently answer: the Slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius (863); The Russian alphabet was based on the Cyrillic alphabet; Every year in May we celebrate the Day of Slavic Literature.
And when did they appear punctuation marks? Are everyone famous and so familiar to us? punctuation marks(period, comma, ellipsis, etc.) appeared at the same time? How did the punctuation system of the Russian language develop? What is the history of Russian punctuation?

Let's try to answer some of these questions.

As is known, in the system of modern Russian punctuation 10 punctuation marks: period [.], comma [,], semicolon [;], ellipsis […], colon [:], question mark [?], exclamation mark [!], dash [–], parentheses [()] and quotes [" "].

The oldest sign is dot. It is already found in monuments of ancient Russian writing. However, its use in that period differed from modern use: firstly, it was not regulated; secondly, the dot was placed not at the bottom of the line, but above - in the middle of it; In addition, at that time even individual words were not separated from each other. For example: the holiday is approaching... (Arkhangelsk Gospel, 11th century). This is the explanation of the word dot gives by V.I. Dal:

“POINT (poke) f., an icon for an injection, from sticking to something with the point, tip of a pen, pencil; small speck."

The period can rightfully be considered the ancestor of Russian punctuation. It is no coincidence that this word (or its root) was 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 the grammatical works of the 16th century, the doctrine of punctuation marks was called “the doctrine of the power of points” or “of the point mind,” and in the grammar of Lawrence Zizanius (1596) the corresponding section was called “On points.”

The most common punctuation mark in Russian it is considered comma. This word is found in the 15th century. 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 the verbs wrist, comma, stammer - “stop”, “delay”. This explanation, in our opinion, seems legitimate.

Need in punctuation marks began to be acutely felt in connection with the advent and development of printing (XV-XVI centuries). In the mid-15th century, the Italian typographers Manutius invented punctuation for European writing, which was adopted in basic outline by most European countries and still exists today.

In the Russian language, most of the punctuation marks we know today appear in the 16th–18th centuries. So, brackets[()] are found in monuments of the 16th century. Previously, this sign was called “roomy”.

Colon[:] began to be used as a dividing sign from the end of the 16th century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Lavrenty Zizaniy, Melety Smotritsky (1619), as well as in the first Russian grammar of the Dolomonosov period by V. E. Adodurov (1731).

Exclamation mark[!] is noted to express exclamation (surprise) also in the grammars of M. Smotritsky and V. E. Adodurov. The rules for setting up an “amazing sign” are defined in “Russian Grammar” by M. V. Lomonosov (1755).

Question mark[?] has been found in printed books since the 16th century, but to express the question it was fixed much later, only in the 18th century. Initially, [;] was found in the meaning of [?].

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 of the 18th century, and N. M. Karamzin only contributed to the popularization and consolidation of the functions of this sign. The dash [–] sign called “silent” was first described in 1797 in “Russian Grammar” by A. A. Barsov.

Ellipsis sign[…] under the name “preventive sign” was noted in 1831 in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov, although its use was 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 punctuation mark it began to be used only in late XVIII 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”. In Russian dialects kavysh – “duckling”, “gosling”; Kavka – “frog”. Thus, quotes – „traces of duck or frog legs,” “hook,” “squiggle.”

As you can see, the names of most punctuation marks in the Russian language are originally Russian, and the term punctuation marks itself goes back to the verb punctuate - “stop, detain in motion.” The names of only two signs were borrowed. Hyphen(dash) - from it. Divis(from lat. divisio– separately) and dash (trait) – from French tiret, tїrer.

The beginning of the scientific study of punctuation was laid by M. V. Lomonosov in “Russian Grammar”. Today we use the “Rules of Spelling and Punctuation” adopted in 1956, that is, almost half a century ago.

Source: Website of the Open International Russian Language Olympiad

Punctuation (1913)

I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay
Selected works on general linguistics: In 2 volumes - M.: Publishing house Acad. Sciences USSR, 1963.
Punctuation (pp. 238–239). Printed entirely from the manuscript (Archive of the USSR Academy of Sciences, f. 770, op. 3, item 7).

Punctuation marks, elements of writing or written-visual language, associated not with individual elements of the pronunciation-auditory language and their combinations, but only with the division of current speech into separate parts: periods, sentences, individual expressions, words. There are two main categories of punctuation marks.
1) Some of them relate only to morphology of written speech, i.e. to its dismemberment into ever smaller parts. These are: dot(.), separating periods or isolated sentences from one another; in addition, it serves as a sign reductions words (b.ch. instead of “for the most part”, because instead of “since”, etc.); colon(:), used mainly before counting individual parts of what was said before a colon or when a quotation is given, i.e. verbatim text before that expressed by another person or the author himself (see “Colon”); semicolon(;) separates combinations of incomplete [? – nrzb.] sentences or countable parts of a dismembered whole; comma(,) serves to separate from each other sentences that are not further separated or isolated, intercalated expressions, such as the vocative case, combinations of words or even individual words that impart a certain connotation to a given sentence, etc. (for example, Thus, however and so on.).
This also includes: dividing the book into departments, on chapters, on paragraphs(§§), articles...; paragraphs(from the red line); dividing lines; short lines, dash(tiret), connecting two parts of a compound word; spaces, both larger ones, between lines, and the smallest ones, between individual written words; brackets(), containing words, expressions and phrases that are introductory, explanatory, etc.; callouts(*, **, 1, 2...), at the bottom of the pages or at the end of the book, with links or with explanations of individual words of the main text.

2) Another category of punctuation marks, also related to the morphology or dismemberment of written speech, emphasizes mainly semasiological side, indicating the mood of the speaker or writer and his attitude to the content of what is being written. By using quotes(“”) differs from someone else’s or supposed with the reservation “as if”, “so to speak”, “they say”, “they say” from one’s own without reservations.
This also includes: question mark(cm.), Exclamation point(cm.). A special sign of irony was also supposed, but so far without success. These latter signs are associated with the different tone of speech, that is, they are reflected in the general mental shade of what is spoken. Of course, morphological punctuation marks (dots, spaces...) are reflected to a certain extent in pronunciation, especially at a slow pace: pauses, stops, respites.
Special types of punctuation marks: ellipsis(...) when something is left unfinished or implied; a dash replacing an ellipsis (–), which, especially in fictional works, replaces either a comma or parentheses, or quotation marks; apostrophe(cm.). Quotation marks and parentheses are placed on both sides of the given text - both before and after; An exclamation mark and a question mark are placed only at the end. The Spaniards, however, mark not only the end, but also the beginning of an exclamation (I!) or a question (??). The system of punctuation marks adopted in Europe goes back to the Greek Alexandrian grammarians; it was definitively established from the end of the 15th century especially by the Venetian printing family Manutius. U different nations There are different ways to use punctuation, especially the comma. In ancient Indian writing (Sanskrit) there are no punctuation marks at all; there the words are written together, and the signs / and // separate either individual verses or individual phrases. Previously, in European scripts, among other things in Church Slavonic, words were written together and without punctuation.

Interpuncture

Whether interpuncture was known to Aristotle is not clear. In any case, the beginnings of it were among the Greek grammarians. The very concept of interpuncture, however, among the ancient Greek and Roman grammarians differed from the modern one. The interpuncture of the ancients had mainly in mind oratorical requirements (pronouncing a speech, reciting it) and consisted of placing simple periods at the end of sentences or using paragraphs called lines or verses (versus).

The new interpuncture originates not from this ancient one, but from interpuncture. Alexandrian era, invented by the grammarian Aristophanes and developed by later ones. By the end of the 8th century. according to R. Chr. it, however, fell into such oblivion that Warnefried and Alcuin, contemporaries of Charlemagne, had to reintroduce it. At first the Greeks used only one sign - a dot, which was placed either at the top of the line, then in the middle of it, or at the bottom. Other Greek grammarians, like Nicanor (who lived a little later than Quintilian), used other systems of interpunction (Nicanor had eight signs, others had four, etc.), but they all mixed the syntactic side of speech with the logical and did not develop any definite rules (see Steinthal, "Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft bei d. Griechen und Romern", vol. II, Berl. 1891, pp. 348-354).

The same uncertainty prevailed in the Middle Ages, until approximately the 15th century, when the printer brothers Manutius increased the number punctuation marks and subjected their use to certain rules. They, in fact, should be considered the fathers of modern European interpuncture, in which no significant changes have been made since that time. However, the interpuncture of various modern European nations differs in some features from each other. Thus, in English a comma or dash is often placed before and ( And) and is not used at all before relative clauses (as in French). The most complex and most accurate interpuncture is German. Its theory is described in great detail in Becker ("Ausfuhrliche deutsche Grammatik", 2nd ed., Frankfurt, 1842), and its history and characteristics are in Bieling: "Das Prinzip der deutschen Interpunction" (Berlin, 1886).

Russian interpuncture is very close to German interpuncture and has the same advantages. Its presentation can be found in J. Grot: “Russian Spelling”. Old Slavonic interpuncture followed Greek models. In Russian interpuncture the following are used: punctuation marks: comma, semicolon, colon, period, ellipsis, question and exclamation marks, dash, parentheses, quotation marks.

MBNOU "Gymnasium No. 44"

The benefits of punctuation marks

Performed:

Mikhaleva Ulyana

Introduction

What can punctuation marks do?

The benefits of punctuation marks

Conclusion

Introduction

Punctuation, like spelling, forms part of the graphic system adopted for a given language, and must be as firmly mastered as the letters of the alphabet with their sound meanings, in order for the letter to accurately and completely express the content of the statement. And in order for this content to be equally perceived by all readers, it is necessary that the meaning of punctuation marks be firmly established within the boundaries of one national language. It does not matter that the appearance of punctuation marks in different languages ​​may be the same, but their meaning and, therefore, their use are different. It is important that all those who write and read in a particular language understand in exactly the same way what a particular punctuation mark expresses.

The main purpose of punctuation is to indicate the semantic division of speech. At the same time, punctuation marks serve to identify various shades of meaning inherent in individual parts of a written text. The proper meanings of punctuation marks have evolved over the centuries. Everything random and unsuccessful was eliminated, everything best was consolidated in the work of the authors, in the practice of serious publishing houses, which employed editors who were equally sensitive to the importance of punctuation.

Punctuation marks - elements of writing<#"justify">Tasks:

1.What can punctuation marks do?

2.The benefits of punctuation marks and their use in everyday life.

.The role of punctuation marks in works of art.

.Features of Russian punctuation.

1. What punctuation marks can do

In everyday life, we are surrounded by many objects, things, and phenomena that are so familiar that we rarely think about the questions: when and how did these phenomena and, accordingly, the words that name them appear? Who is their creator and creator? Have the words so familiar to us always meant what they mean today? What is the story of their entry into our lives and language?

Such familiar and even to some extent ordinary (due to the fact that we encounter it every day) can include Russian writing, or more precisely, the graphic system of the Russian language.

The basis of the graphic system of the Russian language, like many other languages, are letters and punctuation marks. Many of us ask the question: "Why do we need punctuation marks?" I think punctuation is very important, if only to give certain meaning proposal. After all, the same phrase can be pronounced in different ways, and this will change the meaning of this sentence. Punctuation marks help us to correctly read a particular sentence in the right intonation and with the right emotions.

A.P. Chekhov wrote: “Punctuation marks are like notes when reading.” Everyone knows that punctuation marks play an important role in writing. Is it true that if one punctuation mark is omitted or moved to another place, the meaning of a given sentence can be completely changed?

In writing, we use commas to separate words, groups of words, and sentences. An inappropriately placed or omitted comma can change the meaning of the entire sentence and lead to an erroneous understanding of what is written. Here, for example: one of the deceased ancient Greek rich men left a will, which contained a requirement in memory of the testator to “Install a statue of a golden lance holding it.” This caused long controversy. One believed that it was necessary to erect “a golden statue holding a pike.” This could ultimately ruin the heirs. Others believed that it was necessary to erect “a statue holding a golden pike.” Such an understanding of the terms of the will would be more acceptable for the heirs, since it would be easier to fulfill.

Remember the famous phrase “Execution cannot be pardoned.” Many people know the hero from the cartoon “In the Land of Unlearned Lessons,” who had a dream about his careless attitude towards school subjects. The boy immediately wanted to correct his mistakes. I remembered that in one of the tasks he had to correctly put a comma in the sentence “Execution cannot be pardoned.” The boy put it after the word “impossible,” thereby saving his life, unlike the fact that he could have executed himself with the same comma: “Execute, you cannot have mercy.”

This example is related to historical fact. The English king Edward II (at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries) turned the majority of his subjects against himself through oppression and excessive taxes. A conspiracy arose against him, led by his wife Isabella. The king was deposed by parliament and imprisoned in a castle, where he spent eight months awaiting a decision on his fate. The jailers guarding the king received an order formulated without commas: “Don’t you dare kill Edward; it’s good to be afraid.” It all depended on how to read the text.

Don’t you dare kill Edward, it’s good to be afraid (that is, you should be afraid).

Kill Edward, don’t you dare be afraid (since it’s useful).

The jailers understood the queen's trick and read the letter the way she wanted. It turned out to be a “bloody” comma.

This phrase, by the way, reflects one of the reasons why we need these very punctuation marks. This reason is unambiguity.

Sometimes there would even be ambiguity in the interpretation of a particular sentence. It is no coincidence that punctuation marks have many different functions: dividing, emphasizing, emotionally expressive, semantic...

2. The benefits of punctuation marks

Based on the above examples, I want to say that the role of punctuation marks should not be diminished. It’s not for nothing that they were invented. So they are needed for something!

Take a closer look at the advertisements posted around our city, read them in the newspapers. In contemporary fiction, punctuation errors also occur. And not as rarely as we would like.

If you place a notice at the entrance to a store: “Drunk dogs on roller skates are strictly prohibited from entering,” then customers will laugh at you. The role of the comma in this ad is visible to the naked eye.

But such a case happened with one boy. He sent a text message: “Mom is leaving in the morning, meet me.” The meaning of the text depends on where the comma is placed: after the word “leaves” or after the word “in the morning.” You'll probably have to check with your mobile phone: how good it is that it exists.

And these sentences are identical in vocabulary, but their meaning is also different. What do you think this depends on? Of course, from a comma.

Kolya sang as everyone else sang.

Kolya sang as everyone else sang.

It was so light that every pebble was visible on the road.

It was light, so every pebble was visible on the road.

How did he leave?

How did he leave?

I did not see my friend's brother and his sister.

I did not see my brother, his friend, his sister.

The houses and streets are flooded with light.

Houses and streets are filled with light.

Dirt covered everything: window, door, ceiling, walls.

Dirt covered the entire window, door, ceiling, walls.

He got up, quickly washed his face and began doing exercises.

He got up quickly, washed his face and began doing exercises.

The child played as all children played.

The child played as all children played.

Place punctuation marks between the following words:

what it is is what it is not no isn't it is so it is

At first glance, complete nonsense. A set of words devoid of meaning. However, see how your perception changes if you arrange punctuation marks as follows:

What it is is what it is. The fact that this is not there is no. Isn't it so? This is true!

One more example:

“Already near the porch, she came face to face with a neat old man, with a neatly trimmed beard and a whole mane gray hair". The comma in this case is superfluous, since the meaning then turns out that SHE was faced with three characters: an old man, with a beard and a whole mane of hair.

I found a certain experimental poem on the Internet, consisting of three separate poems. You need to read the left poem first, then the right one, and then both together, combining them into one. Therefore, I deliberately did not place separating marks, because if a comma is appropriate when reading one poem, it turns out to be completely out of place when reading the general version.

In poetry, you can skillfully break lines into smaller ones by writing each one separately, with the breaks indicating the location of the comma or dash. For example:

The word is bitter

Hurts my soul

The feeling is subtle

Taking you to the moon

Among the night skies

Between the bright stars

These are the feelings

A bridge will be woven

And on that bridge

Will rush into the distance

Taking away the dream

My sadness is sadness

But this is only if the lines are short. And to be a little more specific, various kinds of misunderstandings may occur. For example,

And on that bridge............they didn’t meet again

Will rush into the distance........and my love

Taking away the dream.........turned back

My sadness is sadness......... damned.

clumsy transfer from line to line: “...and my love, taking away the dream, turned back.” Although when arranging the signs, the stanza takes on a completely different meaning:

But they didn’t meet again on that bridge.

My love will also rush into the distance.

Taking away the dream, turned back

My sadness is cursed sadness.

Below are examples of erroneous placement of punctuation marks, leading to a distortion of the meaning when placing punctuation marks.

Olga was sitting on a bench and waiting for her friend, who was in the park.

Is everyone here? - No. Only Vanya, Misha, Masha, Kolya, Dima, Nastya have not arrived yet.

There are 10 punctuation marks in modern Russian. IN Grammar M. Smotritsky is also 10. Here they are: bar |, comma, colon:, dot., amazing!, disjointed V, unitary -, interrogative;, placeholder, turn-down ().

Excerpt from Russian grammar M.V. Lomonosov. (1775)

In addition to the letters commonly used in the Russian language, they put different signs with them, in lines and above lines: and for this reason, the first are called lowercase, the others superscript. Lowercase - comma, period, two dots:, semicolon, question mark, surprise sign, singular sign =, capacious (). 2 superscripts: a line to indicate different strengths in similar sayings: then and then, full and full: a bracket above the short short to distinguish from and simple: my, mine (this also includes two dots over the e)

Which punctuation marks currently used are not in Russian grammar M.V.L Omonosova? (Dash, ellipsis, quotation marks, parentheses.)

How to understand the division of characters into lowercase and superscript?

Are they currently in use? superscripts, what are their names?

What is this sign unifying ? (This is a hyphenation sign - it connects parts of the word together.)

Which of them have reached us unchanged, and which have changed their name.

A poem with missing punctuation also sounds rather strange:

Very, very strange look

the river is burning outside the window

someone's house is wagging its tail

dog shoots from a gun

the boy almost ate a mouse

cat with glasses reads a book

old grandfather flew into the window

sparrow grabbed grain

Yes, as he shouts, flying away:

That's what a comma means!

In the world of interesting things (a story about interesting facts from knowledge of punctuation).

Did you know:

that punctuation marks are divided into 2 groups according to their style: basic and compound.

Group I includes dot, comma, dash. For group II - semicolon, colon, exclamation and question marks, ellipsis, parentheses and quotation marks;

that the Greeks do not put a question mark at the end of interrogative sentences, like we do, but a semicolon;

that the Spaniards put question and exclamation marks not only at the end of sentences, but also at the beginning of them inverted;

that Armenians begin declarative sentences with a colon.

Thus, we can conclude, why do we need punctuation marks? (Their absence makes reading and understanding the text difficult and allows for double, erroneous interpretation).

If we do not adhere to punctuation rules, then the same thing will happen to us as in A. Kanevsky’s fairy tale.

“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, with one intonation. Nothing pleased him anymore and nothing outraged him - he began to treat everything dispassionately, indifferently, without emotions.

Then he lost the question mark and stopped asking questions. No events aroused his curiosity, no matter where they happened: on Earth, in space, or even in his own apartment.

The role of punctuation marks in works of art

punctuation mark artistic work

In the history of Russian linguistics, three main directions have emerged in the purpose of Russian punctuation: logical, syntactic and intonational. 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) contribute to clarity in the presentation of thoughts, separating one sentence from another or one part of it from another, and 2) express the sensations of the speaker’s face and his attitude towards the listener.”

In the second half of the twentieth century, along with these traditional trends, a communicative understanding of the role of punctuation emerged - “the possibility of emphasizing in a written text with the help of punctuation marks the communicative significance of a word/group of words”

The main function of punctuation (traditionally understood as a system of graphic non-alphabetic signs - punctuation marks - involved in translation is also subordinated to the solution of the communicative task oral speech into writing) - with the help of division and graphic organization of a written text, “to convey to the reader the meaning of what is written as it is reproduced by the writer.”

When analyzing the role of punctuation marks in works of art, the two-way functional significance of punctuation becomes even more important: “punctuation for the writer” (direction from meaning to signs) and “punctuation for the reader” (direction through signs to meaning). After all, ultimately we're talking about about encoding text through signs.

On the one hand, this term refers to features of punctuation in texts that are individual in nature, inherent in that or another writer (the set of signs he uses, the predominant use of one of them, the expansion of the functions of this sign), which generally do not contradict the rules adopted in a given period.

On the other hand, this is a conscious deviation from the current norms of punctuation and a special use of punctuation marks in literary texts.

So, A.I. Efimov analyzed the widespread use of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin such a punctuation mark as brackets. In the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation,” only four cases of their use are given, and for the satirical writer, brackets were one of the effective means of creating expressiveness: they contained synonyms of words, “Aesopian” words, professionalisms, explained outdated vocabulary, and provided comments on names and surnames, commenting on the sources of phraseology, they served as interlinear subtexts of the satirical language, included witticisms, anecdotes, remarks of a service-grammatical nature, etc. (according to Efimov’s calculations, Saltykov-Shchedrin’s brackets performed up to forty functions).

In the system of visual means that characterize the writing style of F.M. Dostoevsky, the technique of using the dash sign after a conjunction is what has its specific place».

In a word, I anticipate the onset of a new period of life and I’m worried;

A thousand prejudices and logical thoughts and - no thoughts!;

The main thing is that Mr. Versilov got excited and was too hasty...;

He mechanically went to the window to open it and breathe in the night air, and suddenly he shuddered all over...

M. Gorky’s “predilection” for the dash is well known: it occurs between the subject and the verbal predicate, after coordinating conjunction with homogeneous members of a sentence, after generalizing words before listing homogeneous members, between homogeneous and heterogeneous members, and in other cases in which usually either no punctuation is placed at all, or another sign is placed.

For example (“Egor Bulychov and Others,” “In People”): Lying down is worse. Lying down means giving up;

It's like a fist fight;

And - I want to say;

Oddball! How can you not be afraid? A - gentlemen, and - God?;

People - won;

The man knows how to work!;

akat—extinguished; (in the last examples, the division of the sentence enhances the meaning of both main members, as if opposing them to each other);

He had such a thick, raw face, and a belly like a big pillow (before the comparative union);

Money disappears, work remains;

Some fight, others steal (symmetrical dash);

All this is nonsense, - dreams, - nonsense!;

Leave me alone - it will be - leave it!; (in the last examples there is a comma and a dash to express gradation).

The semantic, syntactic, intonation functions of the dash, and the graphic expressiveness of this sign have won him popularity among other writers. It was successfully dubbed the sign of “surprise” - both semantically and intonationally. Thus, in Boris Pilnyak’s work “Zavolochye”, the effect of “surprise” is enhanced by the use of a sequence of two or more dashes: “the brain is completely confused in the head, delirium, nonsense, and the stomach, intestines - the stomach crawls into the throat, into the mouth - and then “It’s all the same, it’s indifferent, there’s no motion - the only reality is the sea, nonsense, nonsense.”

For example, in the fictional prose of I.S. Turgenev (“Village”, “Necessitas, Vis, Libertas”, “Letters (1850-1854)”):

And it smells of smoke and grass - and a little tar - and a little leather;

And he, for sure, died before me, while still in his young years; but the years passed - and I forgot about his promise - about his threat;

A tall, bony old woman with iron face and with a motionless, dull gaze - he walks with long steps - and with a hand as dry as a stick, he pushes another woman in front of him;

...I promise you one thing that I hope you will like - I won’t tell you what it is - you will see it - but you will receive it, maybe in a month.

The famous poem by I.S. Turgenev in the prose “Russian Language” has the following punctuation design:

In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, oh great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! Without you, how can one not fall into despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!

The dash, with its ability to express the rhythm and melody of speech, is widely used by F.I. Tyutchev (“The feast is over, the choirs have fallen silent...”). Sometimes it is used by the poet as a final sign:

The feast is over - the choirs have fallen silent -

Amphoras emptied -

Baskets overturned -

Not finished in the cups of wine -

The wreaths on the heads are crumpled -

Only the aromas smoke

In an empty, bright hall...

Yes - that's what - come back yourself, and at a trot, listen...; And you - look - for such words...; Give it to the clerk, give it to the clerk, give it to the junior clerk (symmetrical dash).

In the poetry of A.A. The dash block is used for a concise, sharp and contrasting expression of thoughts: Here is an example (“I kept them in John’s chapel...”):

And here is She, and to her is my Hosanna -

The crown of labor is above all rewards.

I was the only one who kept and warmed candles here.

One - the prophet - trembled in the smoke of the censer.

And on That Day - one participant in the Meeting.

I did not share these meetings with anyone.

In another poem there is a “rhythmomelodic” dash (“Z. Gippius”):

High above us - above the waves -

Like the dawn over the black rocks -

The banner is flying - International!

Dash in verses with special rhythm (“In the attic”):

But she doesn't hear -

He hears - he doesn't look,

Quiet - not breathing,

White is silent...

Dash as a reflection of hard pauses (“Twelve”):

... Bares his teeth - the wolf is hungry -

Tail tucked - not far behind -

A cold dog is a rootless dog...

In the poetry of M.I. Tsvetaeva's dash is used for semantic highlighting last word lines to create a special rhythmic melody of the verse (“In huge city in my opinion it’s night..."):

The July wind sweeps my way,

And somewhere there is music in the window - a little.

Ah, now the wind will blow until dawn

Through the walls of thin breasts - into the chest.

There is a black poplar, and there is light in the window,

And the ringing on the tower, and the color in the hand,

And this step follows no one,

And there’s this shadow, but there’s no me.

An example of a stamped syllable by M. Tsvetaeva, reflected in a letter with a dash (“Not today or tomorrow the snow will melt...”):

Far away - in the night - on the asphalt - a cane,

The doors are wide open - into the night - under the blow of the wind.

Come in! - come! - unwanted guest

To my blessed peace.

It should be noted that in modern literature there is both the absence of punctuation marks in the text (due to which the boundaries between parts of the sentence are eliminated and each word form is included in many combinations), and the situation of the appearance of punctuation marks inside the word.

There are other cases of author's punctuation: complete or partial refusal of punctuation marks as satirical device, or a reflection of the punctuation features of a foreign language in translated texts, or, conversely, overloading the text with punctuation marks:

I have an idea! Fall at my feet, so be it, have mercy! I! I'll take it! You! I'm enrolling! TO! For yourself! IN! Group! Here! (Gran.); I miss. Without. You. My. Expensive. .

Even more significant changes in the organization of text were brought about by the use of the computer, which gave our punctuation a few additional punctuation marks. The most important of them is the slash (slash) - slash (/). Previously used only as a mathematical sign or a computer symbol, in modern use the slash has become a very peculiar “punctuation” mark, demonstrating the plurality of choices, different options for expression for the same content. Moreover, the functions of this sign, which, like the dash, participates in the semantic division of information, are quite diverse; it can be used in the following meanings:

both... and... (when entering/outputting data)

either... or... (in replace/insert mode)

And..., or...

Another option for using slash is demonstrated in the book “The Seagull: A Comedy and Its Continuation”, where the slash sign separates two authors of the text (A. Chekhov / B. Akunin) and two publishers who took responsibility for its publication (Jerusalem: Gesharim / M .: Bridges of Culture, 2000). If in the second case the slash acts in the already traditional role of the double conjunction “both... and...,” then in the first it, in fact, performs the function of a computer symbol, denoting the “nesting” of one text into another. Indeed, in this case, under one cover there is hidden both a version of Chekhov’s comedy in four acts, and additional (attached, nested) two acts of the play written by B. Akunin.

“Have you never had the feeling that the main work of Russian drama ends at the most interesting place?” said the writer of detective novels B. Akunin, having adopted the method of deduction, added two more acts of the play, and now “The Seagull”, thank God, has found finished look,” says the annotation to the publication. In the first act of Akunin’s appendix, the characters agree to search for the killer of Konstantin Treplev, and the subsequent “eight takes” of the second act successively try on this role on Nina Zarechnaya, Medvedenko, Masha, Polina Andreevna, Sorin, Arkadina, Trigorin and Doctor Dorn, clearly demonstrating to the reader the possibility of multiple interpretations.

IN Lately the vertical slash sign increasingly appears in literary texts as an unsystematic punctuation mark: “a hero who has adored an actress/singer all his life” (Tatyana Moskvina. Praise for bad chocolate. St. Petersburg - M.: Limbus Press Publishing House LLC, 2002) , “the hero/author thinks about Charlotte” (Tatyana Tolstaya. Raisin. M.: Podkova, EKSMO, 2002).

However, in Pavel Krusanov's novel "Bom-bom" (St. Petersburg, Amphora, 2002), slash serves as one of the text-forming elements of the work. The core idea of ​​Krusanov's novel is the problem of choice: in the finale the hero has to decide whether he is capable of committing an act that would be disastrous for himself, but salutary for Russia. “Fate gives a person the right to choose, including the right to renounce the right to be chosen by it,” notes Krusanov. The hero of "Bom-Bom" throws a coin that will decide his fate and thereby determine the plot line.

Half of the book's circulation, in the version of the novel where the ending is the death of the hero, has an image of a coin facing "heads" on the back cover, and the other half has an image of "tails". Thus, not only the author of the book, not only its hero, but also the reader, who, buying a book in a store, also drew lots and, by force of random circumstances, chose one of the alternatives, becomes hostage to the idea of ​​choice.

The narration in the novel takes place in two time plans: the even chapters tell about the ancestors of the main character, Andrei Norushkin, and the odd chapters talk about Norushkin-2002, that is, our contemporary. It is significant that the slash appears only in chapters devoted to the modern era in the history of the Norushkin family, and only in that variant final chapter, which is symbolically indicated by “tails”.

The slash, which has turned from a punctuation sign into a fateful sign, separates two paths - and the possibility of choosing one of them exists only for modern man. In other words, here the slash as a punctuation mark is used not in its traditional meanings (“both/so and”, “either/or”, “on the one hand/on the other hand”, “and/or”), not in role of a “sign of opposition”, but as a symbol of the realization of a certain possibility potentially inherent in the text.

Features of Russian punctuation

A feature of Russian punctuation is that the same sign can be used:

?with different purposes (multifunctional punctuation marks),

?however, different marks can be used for the same purpose (punctuation synonymy). One should not think that in specific cases they are completely interchangeable, i.e. quite equivalent. Not at all: there are no absolutely synonymous punctuation marks, and when choosing one or another version of the punctuation design of the text, the author finds in it certain advantages of a semantic, stylistic, and intonation nature.

Both of these circumstances allow us to make the optimal choice of signs. There are three cases of choice of punctuation marks:

) according to the “sign - zero sign” scheme (to put or not to put) - optional signs;

) according to the “either - or” scheme (mutual exclusion of signs) - alternative signs;

) according to the “sign to choose” scheme (parallel use of signs) - variable signs.

“Sign - zero sign” (to put or not to put).

In the examples: “Thank you everyone...” (title of the movie); He often gives presentations - brilliantly; All this is good, but there is a risk; Why are these words needed now that everything has already been decided? - the placement of a dash is not determined by the structure of the sentences, but is quite justified: the desire of the authors to emphasize the meaning of the words after the dash, to highlight them intonationally, to note the connecting connotation, etc.

It is possible to isolate clarifying circumstances of place and time: There (,) in the distance (,) a thunderstorm begins; We'll meet tomorrow (,) at seven o'clock in the evening.

It is possible to separate additions: Instead of this endless monotonous plain (,) I wanted to see something picturesque. Wed. also: In addition (,) there were two more similar cases (in the meaning of “except for that case”, and not in the meaning of the introductory combination, which is necessarily highlighted).

Placing a comma between two homogeneous members of a sentence with a repeating conjunction and: You can relax in the mountains (,) and on the seashore.

Oh yeah! - Oh yeah! (in the first case o is an interjection, in the second o is a particle).

“Either - or” (mutual exclusion of signs).

At the junction of two conjunctions in a complex sentence, a comma is placed between them or not, depending on whether the subordinate part is followed by the second part of the double conjunction then, so, but; Wed: We were informed that if the weather worsens, the excursion will not take place. - We were informed that if the weather worsens, the excursion will not take place

Comparing sentences: Are these disadvantaged, and not society itself, to blame for indifference? - Are these disadvantaged, and not society itself, to blame for indifference? - we note in the first of them the absence of a comma after the second homogeneous member, connected to the first by means of the adversative conjunction a and not ending the sentence, and in the second - the presence of a comma. This discrepancy is explained by the fact that in the first sentence the predicate agrees with the subject closest to it (society is guilty), and in the second - with a more distant subject (the disadvantaged... are guilty).

Alternative punctuation marks are used for so-called syntactic homonymy (the coincidence of the lexical composition of two sentences, but with different syntactic connections of individual words: they can be attributed to both the preceding and subsequent groups of words).

She perceived the troubles that befell him later as retribution. - She subsequently perceived the troubles that befell him as retribution;

Likhachev read his nephew’s letter in silence and went to the window (Mark.). - Likhachev read his nephew’s letter and silently walked away to the window.

He stated that he handed over the book and was waiting for a response. - He stated that he had handed over the book and was waiting for an answer;

He spoke surprisingly easily, choosing precise words and constructing clear phrases. - He spoke, surprisingly easily selecting the exact words and constructing clear phrases;

The detachment stopped: there were no boats at the crossing. - The detachment stopped at the crossing: there were no boats.

“Sign to choose” (parallel use of signs).

Often in print there are different punctuation arrangements for similar texts. The connecting structure may be preceded by different punctuation marks: comma, dash, period, ellipsis. Different punctuation marks can also be used in segmented constructions. After the first part (nominative topic, or nominative representation) there may be a period, comma, colon, dash, question or exclamation mark, ellipsis, or a combination of two characters:

Theater. This word is associated with the earliest impressions of childhood (V. Kataev. “Surprise”);

Logic of thinking, he believed in it (Grossman);

Student life: what should it be like? (gas.);

Auntie - where will she refuse, no matter what, but you’re still one of them. (Tvardovsky “Vasily Terkin: 3. Before the battle”);

Love? I don't know this name. (Selv.);

Memories! Like a sharp knife. (A.S. Griboyedov. “Woe from Wit”);

The man of the future... They dreamed about him the best people many generations, all times (Dolmatov);

Friends of my youth!.. Each of them went their own way (Silver).

Often in print there are different punctuation arrangements for similar texts. Above, for example, it was said that the connecting structure can be preceded by different punctuation marks: comma, dash, period, ellipsis. Different punctuation marks in similar conditions can be used in a number of other cases. We will indicate the most important of them.

Semicolon.

Let's compare two texts:

The shadow was thinning. The East is red. The Cossack fire burned. (A.S. Pushkin. “Poltava”);

The deep darkness in the sky was thinning, day fell on the dark valley, dawn rose (A.S. Pushkin. “Prisoner of the Caucasus”).

In texts with similar structures, the author established different relationships between individual sentences: more distant in the first case, closer in the second (the image of the coming day). As for the current rules, in such cases they allow the interchange of these punctuation marks.

Comma - semicolon.

Let's compare two sentences:

There was a quiet frost, the dawn was burning down, the fluffy snow lay high (V.F. Panova. “Circling”);

The regiments closed their ranks; arrows scattered in the bushes; cannonballs roll, bullets whistle; cold bayonets hung down (A.S. Pushkin. “Poltava”).

In such cases, there may be variability in the use of these punctuation marks.

A period is a semicolon.

Let's compare two texts:

Late. The wind became cold. It's dark in the valley. The grove sleeps above the foggy river. The moon disappeared behind the mountain. (A.S. Pushkin. “Eugene Onegin”);

At the gate I saw an old cast-iron cannon; the streets were cramped and crooked; The huts are low and mostly covered with thatch. (A.S. Pushkin. “The Captain’s Daughter”).

The placement of a semicolon between the predicative parts of a non-union complex sentence in the second text is explained by its character: the general first impression of the Belogorsk fortress upon entering it is shown. But even in the first text, individual sentences paint the overall picture (after the introductory sentence “It’s late”), and it would not be a violation of the current rules to insert a semicolon in similar cases.

Colon - dash.

The most numerous cases of variability in punctuation marks are the parallel use of colons and dashes.

After a generalizing word before listing homogeneous members of the sentence:

Everything is different there - the language, the way of life, the circle of people (Koc.);

Everything about them expressed hostility - their loudness, self-confidence, unceremoniousness (D. Granin. “Beautiful Uta”);

Other auxiliary characters are possible - the owner of a furniture store, a painter smeared with lime, a greengrocer from a neighboring shop (Evt.);

And from everywhere - from every house, courtyard, from every ruin and alley - an echo ran towards us (K. Paustovsky.).

In a non-union complex sentence with explanatory relations, along with a colon, a dash is also found.

I realized: it is important who draws (D. Granin. “This Strange Life”).

I understood that grief had happened, and silently wanted to help (S.A. Yesenin. “Anna Snegina”);

It seemed to Ephraim: there would be no end to the journey (S. Sartakov. “The Philosopher’s Stone”).

And it seemed that just a little bit, and Fedor would understand (V. Tendryakov. “A Date with Nefertiti”);

I noticed the first stone, decided there was a treasure here, and began poking around (V. Tendryakov. “A Date with Nefertiti”).

The use of colons and dashes in sentences with an absent verb of perception (and saw, and heard, and felt) has become variable.

I listened: it was quiet in the mountains (Hump.).

I listened - the eternal forest silence (Serafimovich A. “Wandering”);

Kuzma listened: someone was driving a horse (Lev.).

Jacob listened - a sad song (German).

Compare also: I enter (: -) everything is quiet; He looks around all the time (:-) to see if anyone is creeping up; Calculated, estimated (: -) unprofitable; He looked at the spots in surprise (: -) where did this come from?

Wed. placement of a dash (instead of the expected colon) in sentences of this type: He looked sideways at her - she was very young and beautiful (M. Gorky “Tosca”); She looked back - Vaska was flying towards her in a soldier’s tunic, with coal-black eyebrows from the bridge of her nose to her temples (V. Panova’s “Satellites”); He looked out of the room - not a single light in the windows (V. Panova); I looked at the ice hole - the water was dozing (Shishkov).

Sometimes in these cases, instead of a colon, a comma and a dash are used as a single sign: I looked into the nest, there were only two chicks (V.V. Veresaev. “Notes for myself”); I turned around, - the rider was already nearby (Sobolev L.S. “Sea Soul”);

The colon and dash are variable in non-union complex sentences with cause-and-effect relationships: Last days the flags on the map did not move: the situation remained unchanged (K. Simonov. “The Living and the Dead”).

But we couldn’t go deeper - the ground was frozen (D. Granin. “Beautiful Uta”).

Wed. also: It seems that Primorye already has something to amaze the world with (:-) tigers and ginseng alone are worth something; Don’t say these words in front of him (: -) he may be offended; With such a partner you can even fly to Mars (:-) reliable comrade.

The colon and dash are variable in non-union complex sentences with explanatory relationships: The authors of these letters were concerned about various problems, but had one thing in common (: -) they all expected specific and effective help from the newspaper; Everyone was interested in only one question (: -) how to quickly get out of this situation; I remember the fluff on his cheeks (:-) he just started shaving; On her head is a colored scarf (: -) on a scarlet field of green roses; My rule (:-) is no coffee before bed.

Wed. placing a dash instead of the expected colon: Little white dots pop up in the sky - shrapnel is exploding (Cat.); Drops fall from the birches in large tears - spring juices flow (Cat.).

The parallel use of a colon and a dash occurs when separating explanatory and clarifying members of a sentence: This meant one thing (: -) you need to break up; How long did this silence last (: -) a minute, three, ten?; Then the main thing began (: -) searches, groping for new ways of research; Their conversation always ended with the same (: -) quarrel; How old was I then (:-) nineteen or twenty?; I don't know when to leave (:-) on Wednesday or Thursday.

Wed. punctuation of headings that are similar in sentence structure: Meet Baluev.

Attention - child.

In conclusion, we can point out that in the “competition” between a colon and a dash, the dash often emerges as the “winner.” This phenomenon has been noted by many researchers. So, A.G. Lapotko and 3.D. Popov believe that “in general, the dash is a freer sign, entering into the domain of the colon.” N.S. Volgina also comes to the conclusion that there is a tendency to replace the colon with a dash in a number of cases.” This can be explained by the special status of the dash among other punctuation marks: “Currently, the dash is a very common and multifunctional punctuation mark. It performs both grammatical (purely syntactic) and emotional-expressive functions; it is especially widely used in the latter capacity in fiction."

Comma - dash

The synonymy of these punctuation marks, while preserving the semantic and intonation nuances inherent in each of them, occurs in a number of cases:

) between homogeneous members of a sentence when they are connected without a union: Turned everything into a joke at first, understood - began to reproach (A.A. Blok. “Turned everything into a joke at first...”) - putting a comma instead of a dash would weaken the connotation of the consequence; She stubbornly remained silent (-,) endured, but remained silent;

) when isolating inconsistent definitions: It was a beautiful mountainous area (-,) with deep gorges, steep cliffs, dense coniferous forests;

) when isolating the clarifying members of the sentence: Détente has become recognized, moreover (- ,) the dominant factor in the world political life; There were several free vacancies left, or rather (-,) five; Not sure, most likely (- ,) disagree;

) in connecting structures: It didn’t work out (- ,) and that’s it; This testifies to his audacity (-,) and nothing more;

) in complex sentences to indicate an unexpected addition (see § 32): A little more (-,) and we would be on the edge of the abyss;

) in non-union complex sentences with the meaning of opposition or conditional consequential: It was possible (-,) no, it has already happened; To listen to you (-,) you are ready to do anything for the sake of justice; Wed also: And if it weren’t for me, you would have smoked in Tver (Gr.); If he wanted it, the guy and Tanya would feel bad (Pan.);

) in complex sentences, in the first part of which the condition is expressed by combining the impersonal form of the verb stands with the indefinite form of another verb, and in the second - the result or consequence: Once he slips (-,) and everything is lost;

Question mark - exclamation mark

Depending on the shades of meaning and intonation, some sentences may have either a question mark or an exclamation mark at the end:

Is it really possible to vilify parents with such speeches? (A. Ostrovsky “Our People - Let's be numbered”) - an exclamation mark is possible;

Where do I get money from! (L.N. Tolstoy. Sevastopol Stories.) - it is possible to put a question mark.

From here it becomes possible to set both signs; compare:

Don't you know such simple things?

Don't you know such simple things!

Don't you know such simple things?!

Ellipsis - dash

Let's compare the proposals:

Absorbed in thoughts of the vagaries of fame, I went out into the light landing and... was dumbfounded (D. Granin. “Note to the guidebook”);

The controller grinned knowingly, nodded towards the hall and spat (San.).

Here we can note the possibility of parallel use of ellipses and dashes when expressing surprise or sharp opposition. Wed. Also:

Twenty years... It was such a long time ago (nominative topics).

Twenty years is an eternity (two-part sentence).

Ellipsis - comma and dash

Let's look at an example:

He swung and hit his mother in the face with all his might () but he was only one year old.

The missing sign in the parentheses may be an ellipsis (to express a surprise that might cause a smile) or a comma and a dash (one comma before the conjunction, but would not be enough to express an intensified opposition).

Conclusion

punctuation mark artistic work

I would like to end my speech with the words of the famous linguist Abram Borisovich Shapiro: ... writing and reading without knowing the rules of punctuation and not knowing how to use them in your daily work is unacceptable not only for a philologist, but equally for a doctor, engineer, and agronomist. Violating generally accepted norms for the use of punctuation marks is in most cases more dangerous than spelling a word incorrectly.

Punctuation is, firstly, a collection of rules for placing punctuation marks and, secondly, a system of punctuation marks (graphic images) used in written speech to indicate its division. Punctuation marks are used to indicate such a division of written speech that cannot be conveyed either by morphological means or by the order of words. The main features of a linguistic sign are materiality; mandatory presence of value; function of pointing to something, due to the presence of meaning; the conditional nature of the connection between punctuation marks and the concept that the sign replaces.

List of used literature

1.L.P. Demidenko I.S. Kozyrev T.G. Kozyrev “Modern Russian language”. - Minsk: Highest. school 1988

G.G. Granik S.M. Bondarenko "Secrets of punctuation." - Enlightenment, 1991

Shubina N.L. Punctuation of the modern Russian language / N.L. Shubina. - M.: Academy, 2006

Punctuation marks. What are they needed for? - [Electronic document].

Penkovsky A.B., Schwarzkopf B.S. Experience of describing Russian punctuation as a functional system / Modern Russian punctuation. - M., 1979.

Efimov A.I. “The Stylistics of Literary Speech.” M., 1957.

Valgina N.S. Difficult questions of punctuation: A manual for teachers / N.S. Valgina. - Enlightenment, 1983.

Ivanova V.F. About the initial use of dashes in Russian printing // Modern Russian punctuation. - M., 1979.

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FUNCTIONS OF PUNCTION MARKS

Punctuation is an important means of formatting written speech. Punctuation marks indicate semantic , structural and intonation division of speech. It is known that punctuation marks not only organize 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 eliminating ambiguity, serves as the only available means of choosing the correct interpretation of the text.

According to its functions First of all, the signs are different separating (dividing)(period; question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, ellipsis) and highlighting (two commas, two dashes, parentheses, quotation marks).

ellipses

An ellipsis can be a "pause" in the unfolding 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.

The ellipsis conveys understatement, reticence, interruption of thought, and often its difficulty caused by great emotional stress.

An ellipsis can convey the significance of what was said, indicate subtext, hidden meaning.

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

An ellipsis is a punctuation mark in the form of three dots placed side by side. In most cases it indicates an unfinished thought or pause.

Morphology is a branch of grammar that studies parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) and their forms. You can’t do without knowing the parts of speech in the Russian language.

Firstly, a person’s written literacy depends on knowledge of parts of speech, because many spelling rules are based on the ability to determine the part of speech of a specific word. For example, the use of a soft sign at the end of a word after a sibilant depends primarily on what part of speech the word is. If this is a noun of the 3rd declension, then “b” is written at the end (daughter, luxury, etc.), and if it is, say, a short adjective, then “b” is not written (mighty, dense). Or the noun “burn” is written with the vowel “o” after the sibilant at the root, and the verb “burn” is written with the vowel “e”.

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

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

The proper meanings of punctuation marks have evolved over the centuries. Everything random and unsuccessful was eliminated, all the best was consolidated in the work of authors who had a keen sense of the written text, in the practice of serious publishing houses, which employed editors who were equally sensitive to the importance of punctuation.
Many people believe that a period always comes at the end of a sentence, but, as they teach in school, it expresses a complete thought. But consider this sentence, for example: “In the store, Pavlik immediately saw this ball. Big. Black. Made from leather hexagons. The ball he dreamed about so much. Which I even saw in a dream.” Judging by the grammatical structure, there is one sentence here. Instead of five dots, you can put five commas.

Where do these “illegal” points come from? In fact, the point is not where the sentence actually ends, but where the writer wants to say: “I told you everything that I considered necessary. You may consider my message." However, standard punctuation allows such “statements” to be made only at the end of a sentence. Everything else is the author's liberties.

An ellipsis is a kind of antonym for a period. It is used when they want to say: “I haven’t told you everything I know yet. Think for yourself what you can add to what was said (or what happened next).” “He was extraordinarily, extraordinarily talented, but you know how it’s done in youth... Faster, funnier - a clumsy mess, and that’ll do... Yes, sir...” (A. and B. Strugatsky).
Another meaning of the ellipsis is “I haven’t told you everything I know yet. I’ll think about it and maybe add something else.” “Count Cagliostro is not at all the same as the great Balsamo. This. How can I tell you... This is not a very good copy of it. Balsamo matrixed himself in his youth” (A. and B. Strugatsky).
In the ellipsis there are two shades - incompleteness and uncertainty; in texts they can appear both together and separately. In addition, ellipses are used to indicate gaps in the text.

A question mark is also opposed to a period, but in a completely different way. A period marks the end of a message, but does not invite the interlocutor to immediately respond to it. But the question mark requires an answer. In oral speech it corresponds to a special kind of intonation and question words, as, for example, in K.I. Chukovsky.
“Before buying pears, apples or, say, cherries from a passing trader, she would innocently ask:
-Are they good? - Good, madam, good!
Having learned the price from the trader, Mash asked her new question:
- Hey, isn’t it expensive? - Not expensive, little lady. not expensive!
When the merchant weighed out the goods to my mother on dubious scales, my mother asked:
– Are your scales correct? - Faithful, madam, faithful!

If a writer puts an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence, he shows how much he cares about the content of his own statement. In this sense, the exclamation mark is opposed to a period, an ellipsis, and a question mark:
“Wait! - I cried. - Orla! Take the eagle! Along with the smell! (A. and B. Strugatsky).

They put a comma when they want to say: “I haven’t finished my message yet, read on.” On the one hand, a comma is opposed to a period (the message is not completed), on the other, to an ellipsis (the writer does not intend to interrupt his message). Commas are a kind of hooks to which sentence fragments connected together by the author’s intentions cling. So they do not so much isolate or highlight as they unite.

The semicolon, a kind of synonym for both the comma and the period, is opposed to both of them. The meaning of this sign can be defined as follows: “I have finished a significant part of my message. You already have something to think about. However, I haven’t told you everything yet, read on.” Here's how A. S. Pushkin uses semicolons:
The prince burst into tears and went to the empty place, to look at the beautiful bride at least once more. Here he comes; and a steep mountain rose before him; The country around her is empty; There is a dark entrance under the mountain.
A semicolon is often used instead of a comma if the parts it connects are too common or complex in structure. There are many such examples in the texts of L.N. Tolstoy.

They put a colon if they want to say: “I am going to clarify the message made.” This explains the use of a colon before a number of homogeneous members after a generalizing word, in a non-union sentence before the second part, which explains or supplements the first or indicates the reason, and before direct speech: “I looked out of the wagon: everything was darkness and whirlwind”; “The reader will excuse me: for he probably knows from experience how human it is to indulge in superstition, despite all possible contempt for prejudices” (A.S. Pushkin).

The dash not only has multiple meanings, but even has homonyms. A dash is placed, for example, if they want to show that there are some words missing in the message. In this meaning, the dash is used in incomplete sentences: “Tatyana - to the forest. The bear is behind her” (A.S. Pushkin). Often a dash marks a dropped verb connective
Let me note by the way: all poets are dreamy friends of love. The dash, indicating the interval, also goes back to the same meaning: Monuments of ancient Russian writing of the 11th–14th centuries. almost not preserved.

A completely different sign is a dash in the meaning of alternation. It is used if they want to indicate that the author of the line has changed in the dialogue or that they have switched from direct speech to ordinary text: “Why should I go to the right?” the coachman asked with displeasure. “Where do you see the road? Probably: the horses are strangers, the collar is not yours, don’t stop driving.” The driver seemed right to me. “Really,” I said, “why do you think that housing is not far away?” “But because the wind blew away,” answered the roadman, “and I heard the smell of smoke; know the village close" (A.S. Pushkin).
Perhaps it is precisely this meaning that goes back to the use of dashes, which indicate variants of the name: a sign of certainty - uncertainty; Boyle-Mariotte law. A dash may indicate that the options are not just equal, but identical: He was seriously interested in my mother, a bright and talented woman. Oddly enough, the meaning of the opposite is also often indicated by this sign: I am gloomy - you are cheerful, I am happy - you are angry.
And finally, a dash in the meaning of following. A dash is placed if it is necessary to note that one event follows another - usually suddenly, even contrary to expectations: He slowly, trying not to show the animal his horror, retreated to the door - and suddenly fell, tripping over some twig; everyone froze. Sometimes an event does not happen suddenly, but naturally, being a consequence of the previous one: We are doing a common cause - there is no need to quarrel and find out who is in charge; If you want to eat, work with everyone. This is a kind of antonym to the previous meaning.
Perhaps it is precisely because of its ambiguity that poets and writers love the dash, turning it into the main means of author’s punctuation.

Quotes are used when the statement contained in them does not belong to the author. Most often they are used to indicate the boundaries of direct speech or quotation. Sometimes words that the writer wants to “disown” are placed in quotation marks, or a generally accepted, but not entirely accurate, not very successful designation. Compare. The party leader said that the country was groaning under the yoke of “criminal rulers who had sold themselves to their enemies,” and promised to correct the situation as soon as he was elected president; A friend of mine became a traveling salesman, selling some kind of stain removers. Thanks to the ability to emphasize the indirect meaning of words and expressions, quotation marks often become a sign of an ironic attitude towards the subject under discussion: Such “saviors of the Fatherland” can bring us to serious trouble.

A statement that contains not basic, but additional information is placed in brackets.
If you look closely, you will notice that in addition to the usual comma, there is also a two-comma sign (or a paired comma), highlighting syntactic constructions on both sides. The two-dash sign (paired dash) is in many ways similar to it. These signs except normal meaning Commas and dashes also highlight some kind of construction in a sentence (in this way they are similar to parentheses). In Spanish, for example, pairing is mandatory for... question and exclamation marks: they must appear not only at the end, but also at the beginning of the interrogative (exclamation) sentence, and at the beginning - upside down - iSaludo!
If two commas only highlight the construction, then the dash and especially the brackets also indicate the relative isolation of the content of the highlighted unit from the meaning of the entire sentence.

Functionally similar to punctuation mark a capital letter at the beginning of a new sentence: in fact, it is the same symbol of the beginning of a statement as a period is a symbol of the ending. It would be more correct to talk about the signs: “capital + period”, “capital + ellipsis”, “capital + question mark”, “capital + exclamation mark”.

During the time of M.V. Lomonosov, “lowercase sign” (that’s what they called punctuation marks) a hyphen was also considered. It shows that two words constitute a single concept (gogol-mogol, correspondence student), i.e. its functions differ from the functions of other signs. However, a dash in some of its meanings is similar to a hyphen. It is not without reason that some of the applications written with a hyphen (a professional Russian specialist) in the presence of dependent words are written with a dash (The lectures were given by a Russian specialist - a real professional).

If you go beyond the proposal, then for the role punctuation mark a paragraph (§), font highlighting of headings or other fragments of text, frames, and arrangement of text on the page could qualify.

Principles of punctuation and norms of syntactic constructions of the Russian literary language of the first third of the 20th century