The two branches of the science of language - syntax and punctuation - are always studied together. Simple cases of comma placement, for example, a mandatory comma before the coordinating conjunctions A and BUT, usually do not cause difficulties. But to isolate the secondary members of the sentence, you need to know the basics of syntax.
Minor members under a number of conditions can be separated from both sides by commas, including the circumstance.
The circumstance in the sentence answers the questions of adverbs, as it denotes a sign of an action or, much less often, a sign of a sign. Nevertheless, not only an adverb, but also any independent part of speech can act as a circumstance.
The separation of circumstances expressed by a gerund or a single gerund, although it has its own subtleties, is easily absorbed by schoolchildren. The presence of a gerund in a sentence is a kind of signal for setting a comma.
Another thing is a clarifying circumstance. Examples of this kind are harder to spot: they are not so obvious.
What is itqualifying circumstance?
Clarifying members, as is already clear from the term itself, clarify the information contained in the sentence:
- All childhood friends, (who exactly?) especially Mikhail, are very dear to me.
- Dark, (what exactly?) almost jet black, the eyes stood out against his pale face.
- A little girl ran into the room, (what exactly?) No older than our son.
Specification is always separated by either commas or dashes.
A separate clarifying circumstance in most cases specifies the time and place of the action.
If we have a clarifying circumstance of time, then the sentence, in addition to it, should contain generalized information about when the action is performed:
- We left late in the evening, (when exactly?) at eleven o'clock.
- At the end of August, (when exactly?) on the twenty-fifth, my only brother was born.
The qualifying circumstance of the place details, narrows down the information about where the event described in the sentence takes place:
- Andrey lives very close to us, (where exactly?) within a five-minute walk.
- Ahead, (where exactly?) in the very center of the road, we noticed a huge pit.
Geographical names and addresses are often specified:
- Last summer we returnedfrom another city, (where exactly?) from Vladivostok.
- My friend moved to the Oktyabrsky district of the city of Samara, (where exactly?) to Michurin street.
Less common clarifying circumstance of the course of action:
- The soldiers tried to speak as quietly as possible, (how exactly?) almost a whisper.
- Perepyolkin listened to me attentively (how exactly?) with some special respect.
Clarifying circumstances with other meanings are also separated.
For the correct punctuation, it is important to understand the context of the sentence:
- Artists performed on the square in the city center. (The square is located in the central part of the city)
- On the square, in the city center, artists performed. (Artists perform on the square, located exactly in the center of the city).
The clue in isolating the clarifying members of a sentence is intonation. But you should not focus only on semantic pauses in the speech flow, it is better to pay attention to the syntactic role of the construction and choose a question for it.
