Time is needed as a comma. Sentences with unions while, meanwhile, whereas

before what words should you put a comma and got the best answer

Answer from Bullboy Marlboro [guru]
It is rather difficult to understand where the commas are used. But you can simplify this by remembering a few simple rules.
First rule
The main thing is to understand the meaning of the sentence. After all, punctuation marks in sentences are put precisely to convey the correct meaning. When a comma is put in the wrong place in a sentence, the meaning is distorted. For example: "In the evening I entertained my brother, who was sick with reading aloud"; "Masha, with whom I quarreled yesterday with a cheerful face, ran to meet me."
Second rule
It is important to remember which conjunctions are preceded by a comma. Such unions include: because, because, where, what, when, which and many others. For example: "I'll stop by when I'm free"; "He said he'd be late."
Third rule
To highlight an independent part of the proposal, you need to read the proposal without this part. If the meaning of the sentence is clear, then the removed part is independent. The adverbial expressions, introductory sentences and words must be distinguished by commas. For example: "Recently I found out that my neighbor, returning from London, fell ill." Remove the adverbial phrase “returning from London” from the sentence, its meaning will remain practically unchanged. That is, the meaning of the sentence has been preserved - "Recently I found out that my neighbor got sick."
But not always with adverbial phrases it happens, there are sentences in which the gerunds adjoin the predicate, and the meaning becomes very similar to the adverb. In such cases, single adverbial participles are separated by commas. For example, Griboyedov's phrase: “What, sir, are you crying? Live laughing. " If you remove the participle from the sentence, then it will become incomprehensible, so there is no need to put a comma.
Regarding introductory words, they are always separated by commas on both sides. There are a lot of them: of course, fortunately, first of all, by the way, imagine, by the way, etc. It is not difficult to find them in a sentence, you just have to try to remove them from the sentence.
Fourth rule
Always use commas in sentences. When it is in the middle or at the end of a sentence, it is not very easy to identify. For example: "Alas, Margarita, but you're wrong. Because I was there too. And I saw everything. And I saw you, Lida, among those people who sang in the choir."
Fifth rule
In what cases is a comma put in comparative turns? Almost all! It is very easy to find a comparative turnover in a sentence for unions: exactly, as if, what, how, rather than than, and so on. But there are exceptions. Comparative phrases are not highlighted if they are stable phrases or phraseological units. For example: it pours like a bucket, cuts like clockwork.
Sixth rule
Between homogeneous members a comma is included, but not always. The comma is necessary for conjunctions a, yes, but, but, however.
Also, a comma is needed between homogeneous members that are connected by repeated unions (and ... and, or ... or, not that ... not that, either ... or).
There is no need to put a comma between homogeneous members that are connected by single unions yes, and, or, or.
Repeating conjunctions in front of homogeneous members of the sentence will also help determine where the commas are placed. Complexity is created only by homogeneous and heterogeneous definitions. Between homogeneous definitions you must include a comma. For example: "an interesting, exciting movie". At heterogeneous definitions no comma needed. For example: "an exciting Hollywood action movie." The word "exciting" is an expression of the experience, and "Hollywood", in turn, means the location of the film.
Seventh rule
A comma must be placed before the compositional conjunctions in complex sentences. These are such unions: and, yes, or, or, yes and. The main thing is to correctly determine where one sentence ends and another sentence begins. To do this, you need to find the subjects and the predicate in each sentence or divide difficult sentence within the meaning of.
Eighth rule
A comma is always placed before opposing unions: but, yes, a ...

The comma before the HOW union is placed in three cases:

1. If this union is included in turns that are similar in role in the sentence to the introductory words, for example: AS A RULE, AS AN EXCEPTION, AS A CONSEQUENCE, AS ALWAYS, AS NOW, AS APPROPRIATE, 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: For a long time we watched the embers of the fire smolder;

3. If the sentence contains a circumstance expressed by a comparative turnover that begins with the union AS, for example: Her voice rang like the smallest bell;

Please note: if the sentence continues after the turns with the union AS, then you need to put another comma at the end of the turn. For example: Below, like a mirror, the water glittered; We watched for a long time how the embers of the fire were smoldering, unable to tear ourselves away from this sight.

Turnovers are not isolated with the AS union in five cases:

1. If the turnover with the union AS 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 with an adverb (SNAKE) or a noun in the instrumental case (SNAKE). Unfortunately, it is not always possible to distinguish the circumstances of the course of action with complete certainty from the circumstances of comparison.

2. If the turnover with the union AS is part of a phraseological unit, for example: During dinner she sat on pins and needles;

3. If the turnover with the union AS is part of the predicate and the sentence without such a turnover has no complete meaning, for example: She behaves like a hostess;

4. If the union HOW stands between the subject and the predicate (without this union it would be required to put a dash there), for example: The lake is like a mirror;

5. If the comparative turnover is preceded by the negation of NOT or the particle AT ALL, ABSOLUTELY, ALMOST, LIKE, POINT-TO-POINT, EXACTLY, SIMPLY, for example: They don't do everything as neighbors or Her hair curls just 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 HOW, as well as turnovers SINCE, FROM THE TIME, TO THE TIME AS TO THE LESS (MORE), etc. In this case, of course, the comma in front of the HOW is also not put, for example: All windows both in the manor house and in the people’s house are wide open(Saltykov-Shchedrin). He did not take cutlets with him for breakfast and now regretted it, since he already wanted to eat(According to Chekhov).

An 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 even blacker (Bunin).

And is it really the_ as now_ Paris lived! (Bunin).

Well, I’ll help, father, just don’t blame it if it doesn’t come out as you intended.

I rarely visited "noble" houses, but in the theater I was like my own - and ate a pile of pies at pastry shops (Turgenev).

Going to bed, I myself do not know why, I turned around on one leg three times, poured myself, lay down and slept like a dead man all night (Turgenev).

It will sound and whine_ like a string, but don't expect songs from it (Turgenev).

Everything_ is not like people here! (Saltykov-Shchedrin).

Now, wrapped in a hood and a cloak, from under which a rifle protruded, he rode with one murid, trying to be as little noticed 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 a countless number of atrocities, deceptions, treason, theft, forgery and the issuance of counterfeit banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the chronicle of all the courts of the world and for which, during this period of time, people, those who committed them did not see_ as crimes (Tolstoy).

The guests arrived_ like snow on their heads.

A boy of about fifteen quickly came out of the door to meet him and stared in amazement with black_ like ripe currants_ with shining eyes at the newcomers (Tolstoy).

As Hadji Murad entered, a middle-aged, thin, thin woman came out of the inner door, wearing a red beshmet on a yellow shirt and blue trousers, carrying pillows. (Tolstoy).

I accompanied the captain_ not as a servant. She was also amused by the clean, comparatively to prison, spring air, but it was painful to step on the stones with her legs unaccustomed to walking and shod with clumsy prisoner cats with feet, and she looked at her feet and tried to step as lightly as possible (Tolstoy).

One of them, the most extravagant, was the one that I wanted to go to him, explain to him, confess everything to him, tell him everything frankly and assure him that I didn’t act like a stupid girl, but with good intentions (Dostoevsky).

So I studied, studied, but ask me how a person should live - I don't even know (Tolstoy).

These experiments could have been carried out_ both a month earlier and a month later.

The streets between the houses were narrow, crooked and deep_ like cracks in a rock (Andreev).

Amateurs use this fish_ as a natural clock in an indoor aquarium (According to V. Matizen).

In the west, the sky is greenish, transparent all night, and there, on the horizon_ as now_, everything smolders and smolders ... (Bunin).

Rostov felt_ how, under the influence of the hot rays of love ... that childish smile with which he had never smiled since_ leaving the house (Tolstoy) blossomed on his soul and on his face.

The people in the car were like herring in a barrel.

It contains irony_ not as a trait of style or technique, but as part of the author's general understanding of the world (Lakshin).

When Stepan Trofimovich, ten years later, conveyed this sad tale to me in a whisper, first locking the doors, he swore to me that he was so dumbfounded then that he did not hear or see how Varvara Petrovna disappeared (Dostoevsky).

But the eyes_ seem not to be stupid and shiny, like those of Maria Kresse (Bulgakov).

If you knew that you want this, the holiday would have been canceled, - said the prince, out of habit_ like a clock, saying things that he did not want to be believed (Tolstoy).

Armanda began to despair_ when the local priest, François Loiseau, who made friends with Moliere while he was living in Auteuil (Bulgakov), arrived from Auteuil.

But no sooner had they got up_ than a bell (Bulgakov) rang impatiently behind the doors above.

“Tear them,” he says, “them: now their prayer book is gone,” and galloped past; and behind this stratopedarch - his warriors, and behind them_ like a flock of skinny spring geese_ boring shadows stretched, and everyone nods to Vladyka sadly and pitifully, and everyone groans quietly through crying: “Let him go! - he alone prays for us ”(Leskov).

Seeing this, people stopped rooted to the spot. “Have a meal, darlings! we celebrated winter, but by the spring they let our bellies down! " - Porfiry Vladimirich argues with himself, and he, as if on purpose, had just brought all the accounts of last year's field cultivation into clarity (Saltykov-Shchedrin).

How deliberately_ he did not come today, and I still have a whole terrible night ahead! (Bunin).

Understand that this child, whom you are now adopting at the Poclein home, is none other than Monsieur de Moliere! (Bulgakov).

Bazar_ is like another city in the city (Bunin).

However, the consistent application of this method, which interprets literature_ not as a fruit of organic creativity, but as an environment for cultural communication, eventually began to slow down the development of literary criticism (Epstein).

Next to him, she felt_ like a stone wall. He was still silent, and no one paid any attention to him, but now everyone looked at him, and, probably, everyone wondered how he could still remain unnoticed (Leskov).

Still young, handsome, with a fortune, endowed with many brilliant qualities, undoubted wit, taste, inexhaustible gaiety, he appeared_ not as a seeker of happiness and protection, but rather independently (Dostoevsky).

Half even, it happened, would die, but they do not lend themselves to education: they stand in the yard - everyone is amazed and even shy away from the walls, and everyone just squints at the sky_ like birds_ with their eyes (Leskov).

Shouts_ like an eagle: stop, I will shoot! (Bunin).

WHILE, union

Subordinate clauses appended with the union "while (,) as" are separated (or separated) by commas. In this case, the union can be entirely included in the subordinate clause (and not separated by a comma), but it can also be dismembered (in this case, the comma is placed between the parts of the union, before the word "how"). For factors that affect the placement of punctuation marks, see Appendix. 3.

He was married to a poor noblewoman who died in childbirth, while he was in a driving off field... A. Pushkin, Young Peasant Woman. It’s funny for me to remember how strong the three of us smelled of lipstick. while we started going down the stairs... L. Tolstoy, Childhood. She even felt annoyed at her for the fact that she recovered just while a letter was sent... L. Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

If subordinate part a complex sentence is placed before the main one, a comma between the parts of the union "while" is usually not put (setting a comma is acceptable, but such punctuation is considered obsolete).

While we sat for whole hours on the fence, peering into the greenish water, from the depths of the tub these strange creatures now and then rose in flocks ... V. Korolenko, Paradox.

§ 3100. Comparison, formalized by unions while, meanwhile, while, is based on emphasizing the differences between situations, in one way or another similar. The listed unions differ semantically, as well as the possibilities of dismemberment; their comparative importance in varying degrees abstracted from the meaning of the temporary, which is present in the semantics of the unions themselves.

§ 3101. Sentences with conjunction while they can express the actual juxtaposition (1) and juxtaposition against the background of the meaning of simultaneity (2).

1) In the actual comparison in the semantics of the union, the dissimilarity is emphasized: the combination at that time acts as an unaccented, grammatical part of the union.

The living word is rich and generous. It has many shades, while the word term has only one single meaning and no shades (Marshak); Astrov sneers, grins, while Voinitsky is indignant, riots, weeps (V. Ermilov); The lieutenant colonel was undoubtedly a soldier, while the captain was undoubtedly a scout (Simon.); While in order to sterilize the wound, we need to resort to iodine, to potassium permanganate, to boric acid, or at least to boiled water, the wounded tree leaf surrounds itself with a sterile zone (Solouch.).

In such constructions, the union while acts as a synonym for the comparative union if - then, correlative with creative union a (see § 3096).

By emphasizing a difference, an opposing or concessive connotation of meaning can be contextually reinforced.

It was surprising that we still did not come out to the patrol, while everything spoke of his proximity (M. Sib.); A gambling person only looks like a strong-willed person, he imagines himself to be the master of the situation, while he is only a toy in the hands of other people (A. Kron); The poet's lyrics grew mainly on the moral categories of good, love, duty, interpreted in an abstract way, while reality demanded from the poet an open and unwavering response to what she lived with (journal).

Such constructions are correlated with proposals, formalized by the union but or concessional: He imagines himself to be the master of the situation, but (although) he is only a toy in the hands of other people.

2) When juxtaposed with simultaneity, the union is dismembered at the same time; component at that time in its composition may be accented. Under these conditions, the comparative value of structures is accompanied by information about simultaneity.

You are talking about theoretical assumptions, while I am talking to you about facts, about simple facts (Hertz.); While it is cloudy and damp on the seashore, it is clear, dry and warm in the mountains (V. Arseniev); She was still a small and fragile girl, while Vova was already one hundred and seventy-five centimeters tall (V. Dragunsky); I froze in dumbfoundedness on the bench, while everyone jumped up from their seats, pushed and shouted (Trif.).

For sentences with union while with temporal relations proper see § 2989.

§ 3102. Sentences with a union between (obsolete and poet. Meanwhile) express 1) such a comparison in which the temporary contact of situations is not accentuated, or 2) a comparison that includes the moment of simultaneity.

1) He incessantly moved, shrugged his shoulders ..., blinked, coughed and wiggled his fingers, while his son was distinguished by some kind of careless immobility (Turg.); The hut seems to grow into the ground, while slender and proud pines shake their heads high above it (King); After Pushkin and Lermontov, Nekrasov did not follow them, but created his own poetry, his own rhythms, his own accords, his own tone - while Alexei Tolstoy, Maikov, and Polonsky worked under the influence of Pushkin (Bunin).

2) While she was tearfully preparing everything that was needed for breakfast, Bulba was giving out his orders (Gogol); While Levin was writing his own, Kitty thought about how unnaturally attentive her husband was to the young prince Charsky (L. Tolst.); Along the banks a green burdock, caught by the water, stretched out of it, anxiously waving the tops that had not yet sunk, while a few steps away at great depth both the burdock, the mother-stepmother, and all the green brothers stood already resignedly and quietly (Korol.); A flock of stitches scatters Under a hand, pale as a month, Meanwhile, shaking the glass, Nordost is filled with evil (Bagr.); It seemed that he fell asleep under the knock of the tsifir, Meanwhile, higher, in tart amber, The most tested hours on the air Rearranged by checking the heat (Pastern.).

Both types of juxtaposition can be combined with a contextually revealed adversarial or concessional meaning: Having met Gapka, Ivan Ivanovich began to scold why she was staggering about idle while she was dragging cereal into the kitchen (Gogol); “Enough,” I said to myself, while my feet, reluctantly stepping over the steep slope of the mountain, carried me down to a quiet river (Turg.).

Note. In the XIX century. the union, meanwhile, was used in its own temporary meaning: Gerasim remained motionless, crossing his mighty arms on Mumu's back, while the boat was slowly being carried back to the city by the wave (Turg.).

§ 3103. In sentences with conjunction, whereas juxtaposition can be expressed in abstraction from the temporal meaning of simultaneity (1) or in combination with this meaning (2).

1) Moreover, she can read and write, while Marya Porfirievna is completely illiterate (S.S.); The critic knows how to look and see the beautiful, while the petty nagging critic sees only the bad, and ignores the good (Stanisl.); The grandfather tries in every possible way to humiliate him, while all other adults carefully elevate him (Gork.); The taiga landscape crushes, while in the forests of the Moscow region, a person always feels like a master (Prishv.).

2) A book was opened in front of her on the table, but her eyes, motionless and full of inexplicable sadness, seemed to be running the same page for the hundredth time, while her thoughts were far away (Lerm.); Merging with each other, the clouds covered the entire sky from behind, while in front it was still clear (Gork.).

For constructions with a union, while the contamination of the proper-comparative and comparative-temporal values ​​with the yielding component is characteristic:

These articles ... are called polemical, while there is not even a shadow of polemics in them (V. Belinsky); I am ashamed to remember in what loud, piercing, even a little desperate voice I shouted again: "Coachman!", While he was two steps away from me (L. Tolst.); He never praised me, rarely spoke about my appearance, while I was always too busy with myself and cared a lot about my appearance (T. Kuzminskaya); The hunter could not stand it: he shot at the beast sixty steps, while it is necessary to let the beast go ten-fifteen steps (Bianki).

Compared to unions, while and meanwhile in a union, while the actual comparative meaning is most abstracted from the temporal meaning. The use of this union not as a comparative, but to denote simultaneity is noted in the language of the writers of the 19th century: - Dear brother! - she said, gently pressing his head to her chest, while tears suddenly watered her face (Ven.).

§ 3104. As the equivalent of comparative unions while, meanwhile, then as can be a union when:

And we hate, and we love by chance, Without sacrificing either malice or love, And some kind of secret cold reigns in the soul, When the fire boils in the blood (Lerm.); It seemed to her strange that act after act she could sit completely still, when everything inside her was agitated by the currents of movement and her eyes sting from the hot rush of blood (Fed.); [The people] are rich and wise, with the obvious scarcity of knowledge of some of its representatives. Therefore, he remains immortal when even his best sons perish (Solouch.).

In such sentences, as in other constructions with comparative meaning, a concessive connotation can be contextually accentuated.

Yes, is it really from me for whole year want to take it when I haven't lived with you for two weeks? - Oblomov interrupted him (Gonch.); I was ... exhausted by daily visits with requests for help, when I myself barely have enough for black bread (Bunin); I was very interested in why the girls had to sew on a living thread, when in other cases such sewing was blamed for them (Lesk.).

In the presence of a concessional meaning, conditions are created for the nondiscrimination of unions when, if, although once. Such a neutralization of their meanings is especially characteristic of sentences that have the form of a question, more often a rhetorical one: Why don't you follow a brunette when you liked her so much? (Gogol); Who, in fact, would seriously think of making a date at night, far out of town, in a cemetery, when it can be easily arranged outside in a city garden? (Czech.).