Who and why punctuation is needed

Many people sincerely do not understand why punctuation is needed. Especially it concerns the younger generation, who "scribbles" on social networks messages to friends, without even thinking about the fact that this or that phrase can be perceived in two ways, if not put an elementary comma in the right place. Here is how you can understand, for example, this phrase: "Masha was sitting on a bench that stood under a tree and was waiting for her friend"? If it is still possible to guess that the bench was under a tree, even though the comma after the word "shop" is still needed, then the question of who was waiting for the girlfriend, Masha or the bench, already arises a reasonable question. And let on all sorts of forums now and it is fashionable to write deliberately illiterate, but in real life, in which people learn and work, mistakes are unacceptable. Especially it concerns business documentation: a contract written with mistakes will by all means cast doubt on either the reliability of the company, or the presence of intelligence of the person who made the contract. Therefore, one should not even doubt: punctuation in Russian as well as orthography is simply necessary. Because of one, incorrectly delivered (or not put at all) comma, an important sentence either loses all meaning, or acquires a completely different one.

Listen to the way you talk: you periodically pause between words or sentences, pronounce your speech with various intonations (interrogative, exclamation, etc.), emphasize important moments in a special voice ... Why not write while writing a text same? After all, the functions of punctuation marks are just to highlight something important, to give the text this or that emotional color and meaning.

For example, commas are usually allocated:

- appeals ("Hello, Vasya, how are you?");

- introductory words (probably undoubtedly means, therefore, etc.);

- enumeration ("In our house live: a cat, a dog, two parrots, a canary and a hamster");

- comparison ("She is cunning, like a fox");

- participial and adverbial movements ("cargo sent to the station" (participial), "coming to the house, I felt a chill" (gerundive);

- simple sentences, connected together in meaning in a complex ("Kolya knocked on the door of the apartment, which was listed in the address, and soon he was opened").

If everything is clear with the commas, let's move on to the next question, which may not be clear to everyone: why are punctuation marks such as a colon and dashes needed? There is nothing complicated here, for the first sign is placed in the following cases:

- before making the transfer ("In the closet hung: dresses, coats, skirts, jackets");

- before a direct speech or the beginning of a dialogue ("And then Petya said:" I will not go to this house ");

- before giving an explanation of something ("Katya from the window saw an entertaining picture: Murzik ate from the bowl of Bobik, who was sitting on the sidelines and watched with regret as the meat that the owner gave him" disappears).

A dash is put in cases, if:

- there is no ligament between two nouns ("All life is a game");

- in the sentence there are words "this", "means", "here" ("Dreams are a reflection of our thoughts and desires", "To love means to live");

- the intonation between this or that member of the sentence is necessary ("This is a giant of thought and a person close to the emperor").

Of course, this is far from all cases in which a dash is put, there are many more, but the meaning, we think, is understandable.

And why do we need punctuation marks, such as interrogative and exclamation marks? Of course, in order to emphasize the necessary intonation. If you want to ask a question, then, of course, the corresponding sign at the end of the sentence will be more than appropriate. If you express violent emotions in your letter, then the exclamation icon will help your opponent understand this. It is worth noting that, according to the rules of punctuation, you can not put more than three exclamation marks.

I want to believe that now you have become more clear why punctuation marks in sentences are needed, and we hope that from now on you will use them more actively and correctly.