1. Questions: clauses answer questions When? how long? since when? How long?
2. Communications: subordinate clauses are attached to the main clause unions: when, while, while, before, as soon as, as, suddenly, barely, while, since, as long as, as and etc.
Compound conjunctions since, as long as, while, as, before and others can fully perform the function of the union. However, depending on the meaning and logical stress, a compound conjunction can be divided into two parts (the subordinate clause in this case stands after the main one, in the middle of the main one). The first part is part of the main sentence and is an indicative word - an adverbial tense: at that time, insofar as, since then, until then, before and etc.; the second part of the compound conjunction (as) remains in the subordinate clause and independently performs the function of a subordinating conjunction. In this case, the comma is placed once - in the middle of the compound conjunction.
For general rules for dividing a compound conjunction into an indicative word and a simple subordinating conjunction, see paragraph 2.4 Punctuation marks in a complex sentence with one subordinate clause.
[When?] After four hours of vigil at Stepan’s bedside had passed, Ivan Ivanovich lost his soul(Kopyaeva).
(after- union), .
And even after that[When?], as the poems were published, he returned to them again and again(Chukovsky).
[decree. words, ( How- union),].
3. Place in a sentence: subordinate clauses can appear after the main clause, before the main clause, or in the middle of the main clause.
[When?] When I was younger I couldn't write a single chapter(Fadeev).
(When- union), .
, (Bye- union).
Note!
When in a subordinate tense it is a conjunction, and not a conjunction word, as in a attributive clause or in an explanatory clause.
Wed: [When?] When the impatient ones calmed down, I sat down more comfortably(Telpugov) - subordinate tense; When- union; The moment has come[Which?], When we have to say goodbye- subordinate clause; When- a union word.
2.2. Subordinate clauses that refer to one word in the main clause
2.3. Subordinate clauses that refer to the entire main clause
which words should be preceded by a comma and got the best answer
Answer from Bullboy Marlboro[guru]
Understanding where commas are placed is quite difficult. But you can simplify this by remembering a few simple rules.
First rule
The main thing is to understand the meaning of the sentence. After all, punctuation marks are placed in sentences precisely to convey the correct meaning. When a comma is placed in the wrong place in a sentence, the meaning is distorted. For example: “In the evening I entertained my brother, who was sick, by reading aloud”; “Masha, with whom I quarreled yesterday, ran towards me with a cheerful face.”
Second rule
It is important to remember which conjunctions are preceded by a comma. Such conjunctions include: since, because, where, what, when, which and many others. For example: “I’ll stop by when I’m free”; "He said he'd be late."
Third rule
To highlight an independent part of a sentence, you need to read the sentence without this part. If the meaning of the sentence is clear, then the removed part is independent. Participial phrases, introductory sentences and words must be highlighted with commas. For example: “I recently learned that my neighbor, returning from London, fell ill.” Remove the adverbial phrase “returning from London” from the sentence, its meaning will remain virtually unchanged. That is, the meaning of the sentence has been preserved - “I recently found out that my neighbor got sick.”
But this does not always happen with participle phrases; there are sentences in which the participle adjoins the predicate, and in meaning it becomes very similar to an adverb. In such cases, single gerunds are separated by commas. For example, Griboedov’s phrase: “Why, sir, are you crying? Live laughing." If you remove a gerund from a sentence, it will become incomprehensible, so there is no need to put a comma.
Regarding introductory words, they are always separated by commas on both sides. There are a lot of them: of course, fortunately, firstly, by the way, imagine, by the way, etc. It’s not difficult to find them in a sentence, you just have to try to remove them from the sentence.
Fourth rule
Addresses are always separated by commas in sentences. When it is in the middle or at the end of a sentence, it is not very easy to identify. For example: “Alas, Margarita, but you are wrong. Because I was there too. And I saw everything. And you, Lida, I saw among those people who sang in the choir.”
Fifth rule
In what cases is a comma used in comparative phrases? Almost all of them! It is very easy to find a comparative phrase in a sentence using conjunctions: exactly, as, as if, that, as, rather than, than, and so on. But there are exceptions. Comparative phrases are not highlighted if they are stable figures of speech or phraseological units. For example: it pours like a bucket, it cuts like clockwork.
Sixth rule
A comma is placed between homogeneous terms, but not always. A comma is necessary for the conjunctions a, yes, but, but, however.
Also, a comma is needed between homogeneous members that are connected by repeating conjunctions (and ... and, or ... or, not that ... not that, either ... or).
There is no need to place a comma between homogeneous members that are connected by single conjunctions yes, and, either, or.
Also, repeating conjunctions before homogeneous members of a sentence will help determine where commas are placed. Complexity is created only by homogeneous and heterogeneous definitions. A comma must be placed between homogeneous definitions. For example: “an interesting, exciting film.” For heterogeneous definitions, a comma is not needed. For example: "exciting Hollywood action movie." The word "exciting" is an expression of impression, and "Hollywood" in turn means the film belongs to the place where it was made.
Seventh rule
Coordinating conjunctions in complex sentences must be preceded by a comma. These are such conjunctions: and, yes, or, either, yes and. The main thing is to correctly determine where one sentence ends and another begins. To do this, you need to find the subjects and predicate in each sentence or divide a complex sentence according to its meaning.
Eighth rule
A comma is always placed before contrastive conjunctions: but, yes, and...
A comma is placed before the conjunction HOW in three cases:
1. If this conjunction is included in phrases that are close in their role in the sentence to the introductory words, for example: AS A RULE, AS AN EXCEPTION, AS A CONSEQUENCE, AS ALWAYS, AS NOW, AS ON PURPOSE, AS FOR EXAMPLE, AS NOW: In the morning, as if on purpose, it started to rain;
2. If this conjunction connects parts of a complex sentence, for example: We watched for a long time as the coals of the fire smoldered;
3. If the sentence contains a circumstance expressed by a comparative phrase that begins with the conjunction HOW, for example: Her voice rang like the smallest bell;
Please note: if the sentence continues after the phrase with the conjunction HOW, then you need to put another comma at the end of the clause. For example: Below, the water shone like a mirror; We watched for a long time as the coals of the fire smoldered, unable to tear ourselves away from this spectacle.
The phrases with the conjunction HOW are not isolated in five cases:
1. If the phrase with the conjunction HOW in a sentence acts as an adverbial circumstance of the course of action, for example: The path twisted like a snake. In such cases, the phrase with HOW can be replaced with an adverb (IN SNAKE) or a noun in the instrumental case (SNAKE). Unfortunately, the circumstances of the course of action cannot always be distinguished with complete confidence from the circumstances of comparison.
2. If the phrase with the conjunction HOW is part of a phraseological unit, for example: During lunch she sat as if on pins and needles;
3. If a phrase with the conjunction HOW is part of the predicate and a sentence without such a phrase does not have a complete meaning, for example: She behaves like a mistress;
4. If the conjunction HOW stands between the subject and the predicate (without this conjunction a dash would have to be placed there), for example: The lake is like a mirror;
5. If the comparative phrase is preceded by the negation NOT or the particle AT ALL, COMPLETELY, ALMOST, LIKE, EXACTLY, EXACTLY, SIMPLY, for example: They don't do everything like neighbors or Her hair is curly just like her mother's;
In addition, we must remember that the word AS can be part of the compound conjunction AS... SO AND... or SO AS, as well as phrases SINCE AS, SINCE THE TIME AS, AS LESS (MORE) POSSIBLE, etc. In this case, naturally, a comma is not placed before HOW, for example: All the windows, both in the manor’s house and in the servants’ rooms, are wide open.(Saltykov-Shchedrin). He didn’t take cutlets with him for breakfast and now he regretted it, since he was already hungry(According to Chekhov).
Exercise
I would have heard the door opening.
She was pale with some kind of Hindu pallor, the moles on her face became darker, the blackness of her hair and eyes seemed even blacker (Bunin).
And is this really how Paris lived now? (Bunin).
Well, I’ll help, father, just don’t blame me if it doesn’t turn out as planned.
I rarely visited “noble” houses, but in the theater I was like one of my own - and I ate a lot of pies from pastry shops (Turgenev).
When I went to bed, I, I don’t know why, turned around on one leg three times, put on lipstick, lay down and slept like a log all night (Turgenev).
It will sound and whine like a string, but don’t expect a song from it (Turgenev).
Everything about us is not like people! (Saltykov-Shchedrin).
Now, wrapped in a cap and a cloak, from under which a rifle protruded, he rode with one murid, trying to be noticed as little as possible, carefully peering with his quick black eyes into the faces of the inhabitants he came across along the road (Tolstoy).
Millions of people committed against each other such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, forgeries and the issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which the chronicle of all the courts of the world will not collect for centuries and for which, during this period of time, people, those who committed them did not look at them as crimes (Tolstoy).
The guests arrived out of the blue.
A boy of about fifteen quickly came out of the door to meet him and stared in surprise at the newcomers with sparkling eyes as black as ripe currants (Tolstoy).
While Hadji Murad was entering, an elderly, thin, thin woman came out of the inner door, wearing a red beshmet on a yellow shirt and blue trousers, carrying pillows. (Tolstoy).
I did not accompany the captain as a servant. The clean spring air, compared to prison, also cheered her, but it was painful to step on the stones with feet unaccustomed to walking and shod in clumsy prison boots, and she looked at her feet and tried to step as lightly as possible (Tolstoy).
One of them, the most extravagant, was that I wanted to go to him, explain myself to him, confess everything to him, frankly tell him everything and assure him that I did not act like a stupid girl, but with good intentions (Dostoevsky).
So I studied and studied, but ask me how a person should live, I don’t even know (Tolstoy).
These experiments could have been carried out either a month earlier or a month later.
The streets between the houses were narrow, crooked and deep, like cracks in a rock (Andreev).
Amateurs use this fish as a natural clock in a room aquarium (According to V. Matizen).
In the west, the sky is greenish and transparent all night, and there, on the horizon_ as it is now_, something is smoldering and smoldering... (Bunin).
Rostov felt how, under the influence of the hot rays of love... that childish smile blossomed on his soul and face, which he had never smiled with since he left home (Tolstoy).
There were people in the carriage like sardines in a barrel.
It contains irony, not as a style feature or technique, but as part of the author’s general worldview (Lakshin).
When Stepan Trofimovich, already ten years later, conveyed this sad story to me in a whisper, having first locked the doors, he swore to me that he was so dumbfounded then on the spot that he did not hear or see how Varvara Petrovna disappeared (Dostoevsky).
But the eyes don’t seem to be stupid and shiny, like Maria Kresse’s (Bulgakov).
“If they knew that you wanted this, the holiday would be cancelled,” said the prince, out of habit, like a wound clock, saying things that he did not want anyone to believe (Tolstoy).
Armande was already beginning to despair when the local curé, François Loiseau, arrived from Auteuil and became friends with Moliere while he was living in Auteuil (Bulgakov).
But before they had time to rise, a bell rang impatiently behind the doors upstairs (Bulgakov).
“Torment,” he said, “them: now their prayer book is gone,” and he galloped past; and behind this stratopedarch are his warriors, and behind them, like a flock of skinny spring geese, are boring shadows, and everyone nods to the ruler sadly and pitifully, and everyone quietly moans through their crying: “Let him go! “He alone prays for us” (Leskov).
Seeing this, people stopped dead in their tracks. “We've eaten enough, my dears! We celebrated the winter, but by spring our stomachs were sagging!” - Porfiry Vladimirych is reasoning with himself, and he, as if on purpose, had just brought all the accounts of last year’s field farming into clarity (Saltykov-Shchedrin).
As if on purpose, he didn’t come today, and I still have a whole terrible night ahead of me! (Bunin).
Understand that this child whom you are now receiving in the Poklen house is none other than Mister de Molière! (Bulgakov).
The bazaar is like another city within the city (Bunin).
However, the consistent application of this method, which treats literature not as the fruit of organic creativity, but as a medium of cultural communication, eventually began to slow down the development of literary criticism (Epstein).
Next to him she felt like she was behind a stone wall. He had been silent until now, and no one paid any attention to him, but now everyone looked back at him, and, probably, everyone wondered how he could still remain unnoticed (Leskov).
Still young, handsome in appearance, with a fortune, gifted with many brilliant qualities, undoubted wit, taste, inexhaustible gaiety, he appeared not as a seeker of happiness and protection, but rather independently (Dostoevsky).
Half of them even died, but they were not amenable to education: they stood in the yard - everyone was amazed and even shied away from the walls, but everyone just looked at the sky like birds with their eyes squinting (Leskov).
He screams like an eagle: stop, I’ll shoot! (Bunin).
§ 3100. The comparison, formalized by the conjunctions while, while, whereas, is based on emphasizing the differences between situations that are similar in one way or another. The listed conjunctions differ semantically, as well as in the possibilities of division; their comparative meaning is abstracted to varying degrees from the temporal meaning present in the semantics of the conjunctions themselves.
§ 3101. Sentences with the conjunction while can express the actual comparison (1) and comparison against the background of the meaning of simultaneity (2).
1) In the actual comparison, the dissimilarity in the semantics of the conjunction is emphasized: the combination at that time acts as an unaccentuated, grammaticalized part of the conjunction.
The living word is rich and generous. It has many shades, while the word term has only one single meaning and no shades (Marshak); Astrov is ironic and grins, while Voinitsky is indignant, rebels, and cries (V. Ermilov); The lieutenant colonel was undoubtedly a soldier, while the captain was undoubtedly a scout (Simon.); While in order to sterilize a wound we need to resort to iodine, potassium permanganate, boric acid, or at least boiled water, a wounded tree leaf surrounds itself with a sterile zone (Soloukh.).
In such constructions, the conjunction while acts as a synonym for the comparative conjunction if - then, correlative with the coordinating conjunction a (see § 3096).
When emphasizing the difference, the adversative or concessive connotation of meaning can be contextually reinforced.
It was surprising that we still had not reached the crossing point, while everything spoke of its proximity (M. Sib.); A gambling person only looks like a strong-willed person; he imagines himself to be the master of the situation, while he is only a toy in the hands of other people (A. Kron); The poet's lyrics grew primarily on the moral categories of goodness, love, and duty, interpreted in the abstract, while reality demanded from the poet an open and unwavering response to what she lived by (journal).
Such constructions are correlative with sentences formalized by the conjunction but or concessive: He imagines himself to be the master of the situation, but (although) he is only a toy in the hands of other people.
2) When compared in combination with simultaneity, the union while we are dismembering; component at that time in its composition can be accentuated. Under these conditions, the comparative meaning of constructions is accompanied by information about simultaneity.
You are talking about theoretical assumptions, while I am talking to you about facts, about simple facts (Hertz.); While it is cloudy and damp on the seashore, in the mountains it is clear, dry and warm (V. Arsenyev); She was still a small and fragile girl, while Vova had already grown one hundred and seventy-five centimeters in height (V. Dragunsky); I stood dumbfounded on the bench, while everyone jumped up from their seats, pushed and shouted (Trif.).
For sentences with a conjunction while with actual temporary relations, see § 2989.
§ 3102. Sentences with the conjunction between (obsolete and poetic, meanwhile) express 1) a comparison in which the temporal contact of situations is not emphasized, or 2) a comparison that includes the moment of simultaneity.
1) He constantly moved, moved his shoulders..., blinked, coughed and moved his fingers, while his son was distinguished by a kind of careless immobility (Turg.); The hut seems to grow into the ground, while slender and proud pines shake their heads high above it (Korol.); After Pushkin and Lermontov, Nekrasov did not follow them, but created his own poetry, his own rhythms, his own harmonies, his own tone - while Alexei Tolstoy, and Maikov, and Polonsky created under the influence of Pushkin (Bunin).
2) While she was preparing everything needed for breakfast with tears, Bulba was giving out his orders (Gogol); While Levin was writing his, Kitty was thinking about how unnaturally attentive her husband was to the young Prince Charsky (L. Tolst.); Along the banks, green burdock, captured by the water, stretched out of it, anxiously waving its tops that had not yet sunk, while a few steps away at great depths both the burdock, and the mother-stepmother, and all the green brethren stood resignedly and quietly (Korol.); A flock of stitches scatters under a hand as pale as a moon, while, shaking the glass, Nordost bursts into anger (Bagr.); It seemed that he fell asleep to the sound of numbers, Meanwhile, above, in tart amber, the most tested clocks on the air are rearranged, checking in the heat (Pastern.).
Both types of comparison can be combined with a contextually revealed adversative or concessional meaning: Having met Gapka, Ivan Ivanovich began to scold why she was wandering around doing nothing, while she was dragging cereal into the kitchen (Gogol); “That’s enough,” I said to myself, while my feet, reluctantly stepping along the steep slope of the mountain, carried me down to the quiet river (Turg.).
Note. In the 19th century the union, meanwhile, was used in its actual temporary meaning: Gerasim remained motionless, crossing his powerful arms on Mumu’s back, while the boat was carried little by little by the wave back to the city (Turg.).
§ 3103. In sentences with a conjunction, then, comparison can be expressed in abstraction from the temporal meaning of simultaneity (1) or in combination with this meaning (2).
1) Moreover, she can read and write, while Marya Porfiryevna is completely illiterate (S.Sh.); A critic knows how to look and see the beautiful, while a petty critic sees only the bad and ignores the good (Stanisl.); The grandfather tries in every possible way to humiliate him, while all the other adults carefully elevate him (Gorky); The taiga landscape is oppressive, while in the forests near Moscow a person always feels like a master (Prishv.).
2) A book was open on the table in front of her, but her eyes, motionless and full of inexplicable sadness, seemed to be skimming the same page for the hundredth time, while her thoughts were far away (Lerm.); Merging with each other, the clouds covered the entire sky from behind, while in front it was still clear (Gorky).
For constructions with a conjunction, while the contamination of the proper comparative and comparative tense meaning with the concessive component is characteristic:
These articles... are called polemical, while there is not even a shadow of polemic in them (V. Belinsky); I am ashamed to remember with what a loud, piercing, even a little desperate voice I shouted again: “Coachman!”, while he was two steps away from me (L. Tolst.); He never praised me, rarely talked about my appearance, while I was always too busy with myself and cared a lot about my appearance (T. Kuzminskaya); The hunter could not stand it: he shot at the beast at sixty paces, when he should have let the beast go at ten fifteen paces (Bianchi).
Compared to the conjunctions while and meanwhile as in the conjunction while the actual comparative meaning is abstracted to the greatest extent from the meaning of the temporary. The use of this conjunction not as a comparative, but to denote simultaneity is noted in the language of writers of the 19th century: - Dear brother! - she said, gently pressing his head to her chest, while tears suddenly watered her face (Ven.).
§ 3104. As an equivalent to the comparative conjunctions while, while, while, the conjunction when can be used:
And we hate, and we love by chance, Without sacrificing anything, neither malice nor love, And some kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, When fire boils in the blood (Lerm.); It seemed strange to her that act after act she could sit completely motionless, when everything inside her was churned up by streams of movement and her eyes were stinging from the hot rush of blood (Fed.); [The people] are rich and wise, despite the obvious poverty of knowledge of its individual representatives. Therefore, he remains immortal when even his best sons die (Soloukh.).
In such sentences, as well as in other constructions with a comparative meaning, a concessive connotation can be contextually accentuated.
Do you really want to charge me for a whole year when I haven’t even lived with you for two weeks? - Oblomov interrupted him (Gonch.); I... am exhausted by daily visits with requests for help, when I myself barely have enough for black bread (Bunin); I was very interested in why girls had to sew on live thread, when in other cases they were blamed for such sewing (Lesk.).
In the presence of a concessional meaning, conditions are created for the non-distinction of conjunctions when, if, although and once. This neutralization of their meanings is especially typical for sentences that take the form of a question, often rhetorical: Why don’t you go after the brunette when you liked her so much? (Gogol); Who, in fact, would seriously think of making a date at night, far outside the city, in a cemetery, when it can easily be arranged on the street in a city garden? (Czech.).
WHILE, union
Subordinate clauses joined by the conjunction “while(,) as” are highlighted (or separated) by commas. In this case, the conjunction can be entirely included in the subordinate clause (and not separated by a comma), but it can also be dismembered (in this case, a comma is placed between the parts of the conjunction, before the word “as”). For factors influencing the placement of punctuation, see Appendix. 3.
He was married to a poor noblewoman who died in childbirth, while he was in the departing field. A. Pushkin, Young Peasant Lady. It makes me laugh to remember how much the three of us smelled like lipstick. while we started going down the stairs. L. Tolstoy, Childhood. She even felt annoyed with her for the fact that she had recovered just while a letter was sent. L. Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
If the subordinate part of a complex sentence comes before the main clause, a comma is usually not placed between the parts of the conjunction “while” (a comma is acceptable, but such punctuation is considered obsolete).
While we sat for hours on the fence, peering into the greenish water; from the depths of the tub, these strange creatures rose in flocks every now and then... V. Korolenko, Paradox.
