Surely everyone knows that commas are always put in the opening word . However, one should pay attention to the fact that often students and those who have long graduated from a comprehensive school have great difficulties with such punctuation. What exactly is connected with this, we will consider in this article.
General information
Almost everyone knows that the introductory word is marked with commas. However, only a few can define this part of the proposal.
So, introductory words are those that are not formally related to the members of the sentence. Moreover, they are not, but only express their characteristics and attitude to the information provided.
What parts of the speech are represented?
It’s not enough to know where the comma is used to highlight introductory words, and where not. Indeed, in order to apply the rules of punctuation, you must find the very expression. And this is not always an easy task. From a grammatical point of view, such words can be represented by pronouns and nouns (without prepositions and with prepositions), various verb forms (infinitives, personal forms, participles), as well as nominal phraseological units (sometimes verbal) and adverbs.
What are the difficulties?
As you know, commas are always put in the introductory word. However, it should be noted that in their determination often there are great difficulties. What exactly are they?
- Among the introductory words and similar combinations, there are quite few of those that are used in sentences only as introductory ones, and therefore are always isolated. Let us give an example: with permission, in my opinion, first of all, and so on. In most cases, exactly the same words can be used both as introductory words, and as members of a sentence (circumstances or predicates), and as service words, that is, particles or unions. To distinguish between them, you must read the entire sentence or paragraph. After all, introductory words appear only in context.
- The second difficulty that most students face is that the punctuation of the opening words depends on their environment.
What are introductory words for?
Commas in introductory words should only be placed when they are in the sentence. But how to distinguish them?
As a rule, introductory words are used in certain sentences for:
- Indications of the degree of reliability of the fact or message (in fact, without a doubt, it is possible, of course, certainly, undoubtedly, it is known, probably, or rather, in essence, apparently, naturally, really, etc.).
- Indications of the degree of customization of any information (as always, it happens, as usual, it happened, according to the custom, as usual, it happened, it happens).
- Expressions of an emotional assessment of what is being talked about or reported (to amazement, a sinful thing, unfortunately, a well-known thing, to shame, unfortunately, oddly enough, as luck would have it, unfortunately, to chagrin, to regret, fortunately, unfortunately, to joy, to surprise, in some way, a strange thing, etc.).
- Indications of a particular source of the message (I think I see how I believe, as you know, they said, they say, I remember, I know, I remember how I remember, according to words, as I heard, according to messages, in my opinion, etc.).
- Ways of expressing thoughts (generally speaking, or rather, as they say, to blame, among other things, roughly speaking, in other words, to put it mildly, in other words, it is better to say, in other words, to say in a word, as they say, frankly, no matter how you say it, in a word, as you wish, in short, actually, and so on.).
- Indications of the expressive nature of this or that statement (there is nothing to say, without flattery, to tell the truth, to tell the truth, not to be told by night, except for jokes, in truth, between us, frankly, between us, I assure you, truth be told, honestly, etc.).
- Indications of the relationship between certain parts of the statement (in any case, to top it all, the main thing, in the end, firstly, comes out, mainly, at the same time, so, in general, it means, for example, etc.).
- Callings for attention (please believe (s) as you like, see (s), understand (s), listen (s), do not believe, imagine (s), have mercy (s), if you want, you can (imagine) imagine , you understand, you won’t believe it, and so on.).
- Expressions of limitation or refinement of a statement (at least without exaggeration, at least to one degree or another).
When are commas not put?
Commas for the introductory word should always be placed. However, immediately identifying them is quite difficult. For example, there is a deep misconception that the following words are introductory: hardly, perhaps, in addition, as if, literally, it is, all of a sudden, hardly, after all, after all, in the end, it seems, exclusively , even, as if, as if (as if), moreover, by decision (by), just, allegedly, by decision (by), approximately, almost, simply, approximately, decisively. But this is not so. These expressions are not introductory, and therefore, they do not need to be highlighted with commas.
Introductory sentences
In addition to introductory words, the text often uses whole introductory sentences. As a rule, they have a meaning that is very close to the meanings of introductory words or similar combinations. In any case, such sentences (depending on the location in the text) should be separated by commas (less often dashes).
Examples of tasks
To consolidate the material about introductory words and their isolation, teachers very often give their students a practical task. As a rule, it is aimed at identifying whether the child has mastered the topic or is required to repeat it again.
So, here is an example of one of these tasks:
You must carefully read the sentences below, which contain the numbering. Next, you need to write out all the numbers that indicate commas in the opening word.
- The girl returned the textbook to the library (1) probably (2) even (3) without reading it.
- The sky was cloudy. Soon (1) probably (2) it will rain.
- He should be given an important and (1) should be (2) a sad letter in the morning.
- What (1) could be (2) more important than cancer medication?
- Of course (1) she wanted to reward her over the years of labor (3) above all (3).