Do I need a comma before the word "how" in all cases? Not at all. Whether a comma is used before "as" depends on the context in which the word is used.
The word "how" is separated by commas
Before the word
1. A comma before the word “how” is placed if the lexeme is used in the phrases “nothing else but” and “nothing else but”.
- Nothing but snow fell on the street in May.
- None other than my old friend came to me for dinner.
- None other than the teacher nurtured in me a love of literature.
2. When it comes to comparison.
- Her skin was as white as alabaster.
- She was beautiful like a rose.
- He was rich like Croesus.
3. If the sentence contains demonstrative words: so, such, such, that.
- Write everything as shown in the example.
- Such cold winter Like last year, it didn't exist today.
- People like you will always find a way out of a difficult situation.
4. Before the phrase "like" a comma is also always placed.
- The bedroom, like the living room, was cozy.
- In the village, as in the city, the Internet is always available.
- At school, as at the university, you need to study diligently.
5. A comma is placed before "as" in the phrases "as one" and "as a rule." In this case, the entire phrase is separated by commas.
- Schoolchildren, as one, were in the same uniform.
- People are generally divided into two types: optimists and pessimists.
- All, as one, came out in her defense.
6. If the sentence has the meaning of the reason, then from one part of it you can make a question, and from the other - the answer.
- She, as a prima ballerina, was chosen for the main role.
- Sasha, how best student, represented the school at the Olympiad.
- Masha, as the best employee, was awarded the prize.
No comma needed
1. A comma is not put before the word "as" if the lexeme is used in the meaning of "as".
- His speech at the meeting was taken as a call to fight.
- As a surgeon, she was superbly versed in anatomy.
- He, as a teacher, was responsible for these children.
2. At the beginning of sentences, compound conjunctions with the word “how” are not separated by commas.
- Since you joined us, the firm has flourished.
- Until he stopped smoking, his health was not very strong.
- Since Lisa came to visit her grandmother, the house has come to life.
3. In phraseological units with the word “how”, a comma is also not put.
- Goal like a falcon.
- White as snow.
- Wait like manna from heaven.
4. The union “as ..., and” is written without a comma before both, but a comma is always placed before “so and”.
5. In the case of equating a comma between the subject and the predicate, there cannot be.
A comma before the word HOW is put:
1) when separating comparative revolutions. She smiles like a princess.;
2) in revolutions none other than; none other than; nothing but; nothing like. None other than the owner entered the room;
3) after words like that, like that. I need a person like you.;
4) if HOW introduces a subordinate clause. I know how to get through these mountains;
5) if HOW - part of the application in the sense of "for a reason." He, as a professional cartographer, immediately became interested in the old schemes.;
6) if words as if And as if start adverbial turnover. In a dream, the cat moved its paws, as if catching up with someone.;
A comma before the word HOW is not put:
1) if HOW is part of the application in the meaning of "as" We recognized Ivan Ivanovich as an avid player.;
2) if it is before HOW Not. He did not act as an accomplice.;
3) if the adverbial value comes to the fore. Stones rained down like hail (hail rained down).
4) if HOW enters a stable turnover. Mute like a fish, flies like an arrow, sleeps like the dead, etc..;
5) if HOW is part of the predicate or is closely related to it. Just like crazy.;
A comma before the union HOW is placed in three cases:
1. If this union is included in turns close in role in the sentence to introductory words, for example: AS A GENERAL, 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 began to rain;
2. If this union connects parts of a complex sentence, for example: We watched for a long time how the coals of the fire smoldered;
3. If the sentence contains a circumstance expressed by a comparative turnover that begins with the union HOW, for example: Her voice rang like the smallest bell;
Please note: if the sentence continues after turnovers with the union HOW, then you need to put another comma at the end of the turnover. For example: Below, like a mirror, the water shone; We watched for a long time how the coals of the fire were smoldering, unable to tear ourselves away from this spectacle.
Turnovers with the union AS are not separated in five cases:
1. If the turnover with the union HOW in the sentence acts as a circumstance of the course of action, for example: The path twisted like a snake. In such cases, the turnover with HOW can be replaced by an adverb (PO-SNAKE) or a noun in the instrumental case (SNAKE). Unfortunately, it is not always possible to distinguish the circumstances of the mode of action with complete certainty from the circumstances of comparison.
2. If the turnover with the union HOW is part of the phraseological unit, for example: During dinner she sat on pins and needles;
3. If the turnover with the union HOW is part of the predicate and the sentence without such a turnover does not have a complete meaning, for example: She behaves like a hostess;
4. If the union HOW stands between the subject and the predicate (without this union, a dash would have to be put there), for example: The lake is like a mirror;
5. If comparative turnover preceded by a negation of NOT or a particle COMPLETELY, PERFECTLY, ALMOST, LIKE, EXACTLY, EXACTLY, SIMPLY, for example: They do everything not like neighbors or Her hair curls exactly like her mother's;
In addition, it must be remembered that the word HOW can be part of the compound union HOW ... SO AND ... or SO AS, as well as revolutions SINCE, FROM THE TIME, AS WELL, AS LESS (MORE) POSSIBLE, etc. In this case, of course, the comma before HOW is also not put, for example: All windows as in manor house, and in the human are wide open(Saltykov-Shchedrin). He did not take cutlets for breakfast with him and now regretted it, since he already wanted to eat.(According to Chekhov).
Exercise
I would have heard the door open.
She was pale with some kind of Hindu pallor, the moles on her face became darker, the blackness of her hair and eyes seemed to be even blacker (Bunin).
And did Paris live like that now! (Bunin).
Well, I’ll help, father, just don’t blame me if it doesn’t come out as you planned.
I rarely visited "noble" houses, but in the theater I was like my own - and ate the abyss of pies at pastry shops (Turgenev).
Going to bed, I myself, I don’t know why, turned three times on one leg, pomaded myself, lay down and slept all night like a log (Turgenev).
It will sound and whine_ like a string, but don't expect songs from it (Turgenev).
All of us are not like people! (Saltykov-Shchedrin).
Now, wrapped in a hood and a cloak, from under which a rifle was sticking out, 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 way (Tolstoy).
Millions of people committed against each other such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, forgeries and issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which in whole centuries the annals of all the courts of the world will not collect and on which, in this period of time, people, those who committed them did not look at them as crimes (Tolstoy).
The guests arrived like snow on their heads.
To meet him, a fifteen-year-old boy quickly came out of the door and stared in surprise with black_ like ripe currants_ shining eyes at the visitors (Tolstoy).
While Hadji Murad was entering, a middle-aged, thin, thin woman, in a red beshmet on a yellow shirt and blue trousers, came out of the inner door, carrying pillows. (Tolstoy).
I accompanied the captain_ not as a servant. She was also amused by the clean, compared to prison, spring air, but it was painful to step on the stones, unaccustomed to walking and shod in clumsy prison cats, 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 acted not like a stupid girl, but with good intentions (Dostoevsky).
So I studied, studied, but ask me_ how a person should live, - I don’t know (Tolstoy).
These experiments could be carried out_ both a month earlier and a month later.
The streets between the houses were narrow, crooked and deep, like cracks in the rock (Andreev).
Fans 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, everything is smoldering and smoldering ... (Bunin).
Rostov felt how, under the influence of the hot rays of love ... that childish smile blossomed in his soul and on his face, which he had never smiled since he left home (Tolstoy).
The people in the car were like herring in a barrel.
Irony is present in it_ not as a feature of style or technique, but as part of the general worldview of the author (Lakshin).
When Stepan Trofimovich, already ten years later, was passing 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_ do not seem to be stupid and brilliant, like those of Maria Kresse (Bulgakov).
If you knew that you want this, the holiday would be canceled, ”said the prince, out of habit_ like a wound clock, saying things that he didn’t want to be believed (Tolstoy).
Armande had already begun to despair_ when the local curate, Francois Loizeau, arrived from Oteil, who became friends with Molière at the time when he lived in Oteil (Bulgakov).
But before they had time to get up, a bell rang impatiently behind the doors above (Bulgakov).
“Torment,” he says, “them: now their prayer book is gone,” and galloped past; and behind this stratopedarch are his warriors, and behind them, like a flock of skinny spring geese, boring shadows stretched, and everyone nods sadly and pitifully to the lord, and all quietly moan through weeping: “Let him go! – he alone prays for us” (Leskov).
Seeing this, people stopped in their tracks. "Fuck off, doves! we celebrated the winter, but by spring the bellies were down!” - Porfiry Vladimirych argues to himself, and he, as if on purpose, had just cleared up all the accounts for last year's field crops (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 adopting in the Poquelin house, is none other than Monsieur de Molière! (Bulgakov).
Bazar_ is like another city in 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 (Epshtein).
Next to him, she felt like behind a stone wall. Until now, he was silent, and no one paid any attention to him, but now everyone looked at him, and, probably, everyone was surprised_ how he could still remain unnoticed (Leskov).
Still young, handsome in appearance, with a fortune, endowed with many brilliant qualities, undoubted wit, taste, inexhaustible gaiety, he appeared_ not as a seeker of happiness and patronage, but quite independently (Dostoevsky).
Half even used to die, but they are not amenable to education: they stand in the yard - everyone marvels and even shy away from the walls, and everyone only squints at the sky_ like birds_ with their eyes (Leskov).
Screams like an eagle: stop, I will shoot! (Bunin).
One of the most common in high school is the comma before "what", "how" and in other words in the structures that are connected with them. This happens, some authors of school manuals call all constructions with these words a comparative turnover.
In fact "How" can act as a union or a particle. And such a construction is not always a comparative turnover. In some cases, it is a circumstance.
The structure acts as:
- Predicate: The whole world is like an exciting adventure.
- Definitions or Applications: Crocodile, as a rare animal, is listed in the Red Book.
- Comparative turnover or circumstances: Life seethed like a waterfall of passions.
- Introductory design: I decided to change into a shirt, or a shirt, as my mother would say..
- Accessory part: To live in countryside as difficult as describing the smell of freshly cut grass in words.
Difference and other combinations
comma before "How" placed in the following cases:
1) If the combination denotes exclusively assimilation, i.e., denotes "like" and no longer has any other meanings. This construction is called a comparative turnover and acts as a circumstance in the sentence. For example: Vasily, like a hero, defended his friend. But it is necessary to pay attention to such a moment that the comparative turnover is not separated by commas if it is in the middle of a sentence. In this case, the part of the sentence to which this construction refers is underlined. For example: At the ball, Anna, in love like a passionate girl, looked into the eyes of her chosen one. In this sentence, comparative turnover is not separated from "in love" comma only because these words have a semantic connection. If there is a comma before the word "How", then it will come out "looked like a passionate lioness", but the sentence has a completely different meaning.
2) If the combination is used together with the union "and". This construction is also called a comparative turnover and acts as a circumstance in the sentence: Peter treated me well, as well as everyone in the class.
Applications
In order to prevent another mistake, it is necessary to decide which member of the sentence is the combination of interest to us, what words it is associated with:
1) In the case when used before a combination of words "so", "that", "such", "so" and many others. Such constructions are applications, and in a sentence they act as a definition. For example: Movies such as horror or thrillers, he usually did not watch.
2) The combination has the meaning of causality. Usually it is an application, and in a sentence it acts as a definition. For example: The doctor, as a good specialist, paid much attention to sick patients. This sentence shows the reason in combination "good specialist". The doctor paid much attention to sick patients because he was a good specialist. But do not confuse the application with a comparative turnover. Comparative turnover is the likening of one object to another. And the application is when the object is called in a completely different way .
3) The union is part of the expression "nothing else"; "no one else". For example: This event is nothing more than a pre-planned action. The construction given in this sentence is a nominal compound predicate. And we see that this member of the sentence is separated by a comma.
Introductory constructions
In some sentences, combinations are not members of the sentence, but act. They must be separated by commas on both sides.
1) The union is combined with the following words: "now", "now", "before", "always", "usually", "exception", "rule", "on purpose" and others. These combinations act as introductory words that are not any members of the sentence. For example: They, as if on purpose, did not rush home at all.
2) The union is part of the introductory sentence. For example: As Katerina correctly noted, the road was especially difficult. This proposal is simple, despite the presence of two grammar basics. It's just complicated by the introductory construction. In this case, the construction in which there is a given union is introductory sentence. The narrator names the source of the information. The combination is separated by commas.
Comparative turnover and incomplete subordinate clause
Before deciding if a comma is needed before "How", it is necessary to understand exactly what is the difference between a comparative turnover and an incomplete subordinate clause. It can be seen in the following example: Nowhere have I felt so good as at home. In this case, the second part is an incomplete subordinate clause. Also, do not confuse the subordinate clause with comparative turnover constituent part, which is a one-part sentence: write stories like thisas difficult as describing the sound of music in words. The second part is a one-part impersonal
Connection with the predicate
There are many examples where a comma precedes "How" not set:
1) The combination is part of the predicate: Time flew by very quickly, a day like one hour. The comparative particle is part of the predicate and is underlined along with it.
2) The word has a semantic connection with the predicate: The meeting flew by like one moment that I did not even have time to come to my senses. In this case, a comma before "How" is not put, because the whole combination with it is a predicate, and the word itself comparative particle. Without it, the predicate would lose its true meaning. This award was like a gift from above. This combination also acts as a predicate, because without it the sentence completely loses its meaning. And a comma before "How" that's why it's not set.
persistent expressions
Comma before union "How" not put if it is part of There are a great many such examples. After the meeting, we gained confidence in the future, because everything went like clockwork. In this case, the combination is part compound predicate, which in this sentence is expressed by a phraseological unit. Life should be valued and cherished like the apple of an eye. The combination is also part of the predicate, which is a persistent expression. That is why the use of racial ones is unacceptable here.
A few more features of the use of punctuation marks ...
In order to correctly determine "How" whether you need a comma or not, you need to pay attention to some more nuances. Is there a particle before this word? "Not" or these words: “just”, “exactly”, “exactly”, “completely” or "almost". If they are used, then a comma is not needed. In this case, such a construction will be called a comparative turnover, and in the sentence it will be a circumstance. For example: Nikolai always behaved with dignity, he acted exactly like a real man. If the combination means "in role", then the comma is also not put: He spoke at the meeting as a teacher of mathematics. In this sentence, it means that the person acted as a teacher of mathematics. In fact, he may not be.
We see that there are quite a few nuances in the use of the comma. You need to pay special attention to them, and then you can easily and simply avoid serious mistakes.
Today we have another entry of the rubric " Literacy Minute”, and it will focus on a very common difficulty: setting or not setting a comma before the union . I think you, like me, have found yourself in a quandary more than once, wondering if a comma is needed before the union or not. Today we will learn once and for all when this unfortunate comma is put, and when it is not. So...
A comma is placed.
Let's start with those cases where a comma occurs. There are not so many of these cases and, in principle, they are not difficult to remember.
1. A comma is placed if if union connects parts of a complex sentence. Everything is easy and clear here, in this case you simply cannot do without a comma.
Example: We enjoyed watching our friend reach the finish line first..
2. When the union is included in turns close in meaning to the introductory words. There are few such turns in Russian, here are the main ones: as an exception, as a consequence, as always, as on purpose, as, for example, as now, as now, as a rule, etc.
For example: In the morning before leaving, as if on purpose, it began to rain.
3. If if the sentence contains a circumstance expressed by a comparative turnover that begins with a union .
Example: The people inside were like herring in a barrel.
I draw your attention to the fact that if, after a turnover with the union the sentence continues, then it is necessary to put one more comma at the end of the turnover (to separate it). For example: In the distance, like a mirror, the water shone.
The comma is NOT included.
Now I propose to decide on those cases when the union not separated by a comma.
1. If eif unionstands between subject and predicate, Awithouthimthere would be a need to put a dash.
For example: Nose like a beak. Night is like day.
2. If turnover with unionincluded in phraseology. As we well know, phraseological units are separate integral language constructions, as a rule, unchangeable.
For example: Duringconversationhe was sitting on pins and needles.
3. Whenturnover with the unionin the sentence acts as a circumstance of the mode of action.
For example: The path twisted like a snake.
In such cases, our turnover with the union can be replaced with an adverb ( like a snake) or a noun in the instrumental case ( snake). However, the problem is that the circumstances of the course of action cannot always be distinguished with complete certainty from the circumstances of comparison. These are the situations that cause the most trouble for writers.
4. In those cases, eif turnover with unionis part of the predicate and the sentence without such a turn has no complete meaning.
Example: Young womanholdingalaslike a hostess.
5. If the comparative turnover is preceded by negationNot orone of the following particles: quite, absolutely, almost, exactly, like, just, exactly. In this case, instead of a comma, there is, as it were, a particle ( not, like, just, etc..), so such moments, as a rule, do not cause much doubt.
For example: These two don't act like good friends. In this light, her face was exactly like her mother's.
Composite unions.
Do not forget that the word may be part of a compound union … So And… or because, as well as revolutions: since, as, since, as little (more) as possible, etc.. It is quite natural that in such cases the comma before not set.
For example: All windows as inthe house itself, as well as inannex werewide open.
That's all for today. I hope we have brought the necessary clarity to the issue of putting commas before the union , and this knowledge will be useful to you in everyday writing activities. Don't forget to follow the blog for updates! See you soon!
