Today we have a really difficult topic, which causes a lot of controversy. We consider the question of whether, after “besides”, a comma is needed or not. Reassure the reader and say that this is not the most difficult problem on the path to truth.
The answer to the main question
In fact, there should be no doubt, for everything is clear. “In addition” is an introductory combination, and therefore it always isolates itself, regardless of location. For instance:
- Dad played football very well, boxed, in addition, he cooked well, and I grew up and became a literary critic.
It is difficult to imagine that our object of study may be at the end of the sentence, because this introductory construction indicates the connection between thoughts, and the end of the sentence is the final presentation.
But, as with any rule, one must be careful here and not confuse the introductory construction and preposition with the pronoun. For instance:
- From her, I have nothing left for me except that blue handkerchief, which she embroidered with her own hands .
If the reader needs an answer to the question about, after "besides" whether a comma is needed or not, then he is lucky, because the answer has already been given. But if we get rid of part of the design and leave only the pretext, then real adventures and difficulties begin here.
The meaning of “on top of something, extra”
People who did not plunge into the punctuation jungle of the Russian language almost automatically put a comma in front of the “except”, without really thinking about the meaning. So, this is not worth doing, because there are elusive, subtle differences that sometimes even the author himself does not notice.
According to D. E. Rosenthal, constructions with a preposition are not isolated in the meaning of inclusion. Here is an example to make it clear:
- In addition to excellent hot dogs, I would also eat some salad, I'm still on a diet.
True, here you can not do without exceptions. In some cases, even such constructions are isolated to avoid ambiguity. For instance:
- In addition to the records, there are other evidence of the guilty offender in the case.
- In addition to the records in the case, there are other evidence of guilty criminal .
Subtleties, of course, greatly complicate decision making in a particular case. As you can see, the question of how to write “besides” (whether a comma is needed or not) is not the most tricky one yet. But then even more interesting.
The meaning of "excluding, not counting"
Here, the reader and I find ourselves on familiar ground where commas will still come in handy, moreover, they will be familiar. For instance:
- Apart from the salad, there was nothing on the table. But the salad did not want to .
As you can see, it is not a single excuse that separates, but the entire turnover. There is no point in spreading too long, for this is a more or less well-known rule.
In addition and besides this - are synonyms?
And here the opinions of ordinary people and sources are divided. The former believe that these are different designs, and, accordingly, one is highlighted with commas, and the other is not. Sources claim their synonymy, which means that the “colleague” of the object of study, being an introductory combination, is also highlighted by commas in the letter, regardless of the location in the sentence.
We can debate about linguistic delights to the point of hoarseness, but in practice we will try to resolve the dispute. Suppose that “besides this” is an introductory structure, then the sentence with it will be the following:
- My sister played excellent badminton, tennis, besides this, she had a black belt in karate.
If we mentally replace “except this” with “except”, nothing will change, that is, practice shows that the sources do not deceive. Another thing is when the introductory combination breaks up into a preposition and an indicative particle with a noun following it. For instance:
- In addition to this issue, I would like to discuss the problem of low salaries of our employees.
In this case, we can’t talk about the introductory design, so the placement of commas follows the general rule. This is easy to verify: mentally remove the elements of the phrase that are in doubt, and the sentence will quickly become meaningless.
Yes, it’s not an easy job to put commas. Of course, the body can not withstand physical exertion, but the psyche from mental ones. But we try to make sure that the reader does not think what punctuation looks like for the combination “ besides”, especially since this is the easiest case.
Substitutions and other options
Russian spelling is complicated, and punctuation is even more complicated. And even a competent person can find it difficult to determine the correct punctuation. Following the line of least resistance, the question of how to correctly highlight “in addition” (whether a comma is needed here or not) can be solved radically and abandon the design altogether. There are two options:
- Remove it from the text - out of sight.
- Replace with a similar design, but not so embarrassing.
Examples of sentences without the described combination are as follows:
- Dad shoots archery perfectly, keeps himself in the saddle and cooks at the stake. Dad is a real reenactor.
- Tanya succeeds in everything: she perfectly fences, dances and interprets Hegel.
As you can see, whether we add the object of study to the proposals or not, the meaning of this will not change.
But sometimes you can’t just edit the text, replacements are required. We offer some that are most suitable for the combination of "besides":
- Part of the “besides” speech is union. One must be careful and remember that such revolutions are isolated entirely, that is, putting a comma after the union is a mistake. For example: I love books, and I also have a lot of free time to read them .
- “Also” is a union. Its plus is that it also does not require isolation by itself, which means that you do not have to rack your brains over commas. For example: I would also like to congratulate the charming Lyubov Viktorovna, she looks great at 92 years old!
- “More” is an adverb and a particle that does not require isolation. For example: I also want to note that life is beautiful!
As you can see, there is plenty to choose from to solve the problem - after "in addition" a comma is put or not.
We hope that all these difficulties will not alienate the reader, and he will continue to improve in his knowledge of the great and powerful.