Punctuation marks and their role in the text

Punctuation marks in Russian perform several functions. They replace intonational pauses and highlighting of keywords, decrease / increase of voice, characteristic for oral speech. Depending on the purpose, they can be divided into several groups.

Signs at the end of the sentence

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

• The point is needed if the statement contains a message and is narrative: "Today, the whole day, from morning till late evening, there was a big snow."
• The ellipsis indicates that the thought expressed in the sentence is not completed and requires continuation: "Please tell me, you could not ...".
• Interrogative punctuation marks are placed if the sentences contain the question: "Where are you still running?".
• Exclamation - when the statement contains motivation for something or emotional saturation: "Sanya, how glad I am to see you! Come here!".

Signs within the sentence

Inside the sentence, punctuation marks are used. This is a comma, a semicolon, a colon and dashes, parentheses. In addition, there are also quotes that can open and close an independent statement, and also is inside the already created one. The comma is put in the following cases:

• With homogeneous terms of the sentence, separating them from each other: "Snowflakes above the ground swirl gently, smoothly, measuredly."
• When it serves as the boundary of simple sentences as part of a complex: "The thunder has burst, and the rain has poured a solid wall."
• Punctuation marks in the isolation of participial and adverbial movements: "Smiling, the boy kept talking and talking without stop." His interlocutors, laughing heartily, were very happy with the boy. "
• If the sentence contains introductory words or plug-in constructions: "In my opinion, the weather should soon recover".
• With the unions "but, ah, and yes" and others, this punctuation punctuation mark is mandatory: "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 placed according to certain rules:

• It is used in the generalizing words: "Everywhere: in the rooms, in the corridor, even in the remote corners of the pantry and kitchen - the multicolored lights of the garlands were shining."
• In complex sentences, the colon is placed in explanatory relations within its parts: "My friend was not mistaken with the forecasts: heavy, low clouds slowly and surely gathered in the west."
• With direct speech, you should also not forget about this punctuation mark: he separates the words of the author: "Approaching close, the guy threateningly pushed his eyebrows and filtered:" Maybe we'll leave? "".

The semicolon is written if the sentence is complex, unconditioned, and there is no close connection between its parts or there are punctuation marks inside each part: "Meanwhile it grew dark, lights flashed in the houses, trickles of smoke, smells of cooking" .

The dash is also put in uncommitted sentences or if the subject and predicate are expressed by the 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, so for a literate letter, you must regularly work with reference literature.