When a comma and a dash meet within a sentence, a comma is placed first and then a dash, for example: The history of discoveries, inventions, the history of technology that makes people’s lives and work easier - this is the actual history of culture (Gorky); Alas! My box, a sword with a silver frame, a Dagestan dagger, a gift from a friend - everything disappeared (Lermontov).

For the placement of a comma and a dash as a single punctuation mark, see § IZ.

§ 134. Question and exclamation marks

When a question mark and an exclamation mark meet, first a question mark is placed, as the main one, characterizing the sentence according to the purpose of the statement, and then an exclamation mark, as an intonation mark, for example: Is it possible to talk like that about a loved one?! Where did you get all this from?!

§ 135. Quotation marks and other signs 1.

Period, comma, semicolon, colon and dash are not placed before closing quotation marks; all these characters can only appear after quotation marks. For example: Some voted “for”, others voted “against”, but the former had a clear majority. 2.

If question marks, exclamation marks and ellipses refer to the entire sentence along with words enclosed in quotation marks, then these marks are placed after the closing quotation marks, for example: Where will you find more deposits of “black gold” than ours? I'm tired of your “Come tomorrow for the answer”! Before you start reading the novel “Fathers and Sons”... 3.

If there is a question or exclamation mark before the closing quotation marks, then a comma after the quotation marks is placed only as required by the context, for example: At some point in our lives, each of us asks ourselves the question “who to be?”, but we answer it differently. 4.

If the closing quotation marks are preceded by a question mark or exclamation mark, the same mark is not repeated after the quotation marks; unequal characters, if required by the context, are placed before and after the closing quotation marks. For example: Have you read the article in Izvestia “Where are we going?” Wed: The soldiers moved to attack shouting “Forward!” When was the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” put forward? 5.

If at the beginning or end of the text (quote, direct speech) there are internal and external quotation marks, then they should differ from each other in design (the so-called “herringbones” and “paws”), for example: The correspondent reports: ““The Ballad of a Soldier” received a high rating at the international film festival"; I received a telegram: "I'm coming tomorrow, I'll stay at the Moscow* hotel."

6. If a sentence or phrase enclosed in quotation marks should end with a busy one, and then the text continues, then a comma is not placed either before or after the closing quotation marks, for example: The verses “You know the land where everything breathes abundantly” are familiar to us since childhood; But the time came when the “old man obsessed with drawing” could no longer hold a brush.

The comma is not omitted before the opening quotation marks, for example: Remember, “how beautiful, how fresh the roses were.”

§ 136. Parentheses and other signs 1.

The opening or closing parenthesis is preceded by a comma, semicolon, colon and dash; all these signs are placed only after the closing bracket, for example: This was Pyotr Gerasimovich (Nekhlyudov never knew and even boasted a little that he did not know his last name), the former teacher of his sister’s children (JL Tolstoy); He had three daughters (he specifically named them that way): Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov; “Eugene Onegin” (as Belinsky said) is an encyclopedia of Russian life in a certain era. “Well, Sapronov is the second,” the teacher says jokingly (“ The first one is Petka,” Savka thinks) sit down here. 2.

A period, question mark and exclamation mark are placed before the closing bracket if they refer to words enclosed in brackets, for example: Kabanov. Goodbye sister! (Kisses Varvara.) Goodbye, Glasha! (Kisses Glasha.) Goodbye, mummy! (Bows.) (A. N. Ostrovsky); And every evening at the appointed hour (or is it just me dreaming?) the girl’s figure, captured in silks, moves in the foggy window (Blok); Carefully stepping on the freshly planed, not yet painted (there wasn't enough paint!) floorboards, Doronin passed the entryway and entered a bright, large room (Chakovsky). 3.

After the closing parenthesis, the punctuation mark required by the context is placed, regardless of what character appears before the closing parenthesis, for example:

Not only are there no songs,

where did the sleep go (he recognized insomnia too!);

everything is suspicious

and everything worries him... (Krylov). Perhaps (a flattering hope!), the future ignoramus will point to my famous portrait and say: That’s what the Poet was!” (Pushkin).

§ 137. Ellipsis and other signs 1.

After a question or exclamation mark, two dots are placed (the third dot is under one of the named signs), for example: How long to live in the world?.. (Tvardovsky); And how you played yesterday!.. (A.H. Ostrovsky). 2.

When an ellipsis meets a comma, the latter is absorbed by an ellipsis, which indicates not only the omission of words, but also the omission of a punctuation mark, for example: My work... but, however, we will not talk about it.

§ 138. Sequence of characters for footnote 1.

A comma, semicolon, colon, and period are placed after a footnote to indicate that the footnote refers to a word or group of words, for example (the ellipsis here denotes text):

i i. i. i 2.

A question or exclamation mark, ellipsis and quotation marks are placed before the footnote mark to indicate that the footnote applies to the entire sentence, e.g.

Tell me how to correctly formulate the title of a dictionary entry containing a participial phrase, with or without a comma: Lymphoid tissue associated with the mucosa (LTA) (,) is...?

The closing parenthesis is followed by a comma and a dash.

	Question No. 292038

Is a second comma necessary or is one dash enough? The first thing that catches your eye(,) is the abundance of lakes.

Russian help desk response

A comma is needed: subordinate clause what catches your eye stands out on both sides. Each of the characters (comma and dash) is placed on its own base.

	Question No. 287634

Good afternoon, please tell me whether a comma and a dash are needed in this case: wash-resistant colors obtained using exclusively safe dyes are the key to impeccable quality Thank you

Russian help desk response

Comma and dash before a word pledge needed.

	Question No. 286753

Hello, dear Gramota.Ru. Unfortunately, I did not receive an answer to my question yesterday, so I have to ask it again. Is the punctuation in the sentence correct? I'm especially concerned about the comma and the dash after it. But so does the rest. Thank you in advance. I really hope to receive an answer. Honestly, it's very necessary. Suggestion: From the color of the product to the material from which it is made, everything can affect...

Russian help desk response

Punctuation marks are placed correctly.

	Question No. 284948

hello, please indicate the rule by which commas and dashes are placed in a row in this sentence: The main motive that prompted doctors to contact the institution was, of course, two daughters.

Russian help desk response

Each sign is placed on its own base. The comma “closes” the attributive phrase that comes after the word being defined; a dash is placed before the predicate, attached to the subject word This.

	Question No. 284600

Good afternoon. Need a comma before the dash (because of the "what")? Or does a dash replace a comma? But this does not mean that addresses collected according to the standard scheme are useless - these are also clients.

Russian help desk response

Your choice of punctuation follows the rules. However, D. E. Rosenthal noted that before a non-union connecting clause beginning with a pronominal word This, a comma and a dash are often used as a single character .

	Question No. 284415

Thank you for your continuous service at the “post”. Your portal is a treasure trove of difficult cases of our language practice. I have doubts about the answer to question No. 281705: Please explain why a comma is needed before the dash after the phrase “in case you pronounce them incorrectly” in the passage below. “He spoke only when it was expected of him, and he spoke approximately the same way as he walked to the dining room: he stumbled, stopped, looking for the right words in his multilingual dictionary, weighing those that were clearly suitable, but he was afraid that he might pronounce them incorrectly,” - rejecting others who will not be understood here, or they will sound very rude and harsh." Help Desk Answer: A comma is placed between similar circumstances, weighing and rejecting. Dashes that highlight an inserted construction do not affect the placement of other punctuation marks in the sentence. But in this case, the comma between the participles is in a different place - before BUT: weighing those, but fearfully rejecting others... And then the comma after you pronounce is not justified by the rules? Thank you. Galina Filippovna

Russian help desk response

Design but I'm afraid you might pronounce them incorrectly refers to words looking for the right words in his multilingual dictionary, weighing those that are clearly suitable. It is precisely this semantic connection that is indicated by the single sign comma and dash.

	Question No. 282372

Hello.
I came across an unusual punctuation mark: , - (comma and dash). I did not find information about its use in modern literature. The only appearance I recorded was from Rosenthal, thus:

§113. Comma and dash in a complex sentence and in a period

A comma and a dash in a complex sentence are placed as a single sign:
1) before the main sentence, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous subordinate clauses, if the breakdown of a complex whole into two parts is emphasized, for example: Who is to blame among them, who is right, is not for us to judge (Krylov); Whether Stolz did anything for this, what he did and how he did it, we don’t know (Dobrolyubov);
2) before a word that is repeated in order to connect with it a new sentence (usually a subordinate clause) or a further part of the same sentence, for example: Could this new social movement not be reflected in literature - in literature, which is always an expression of society! (Belinsky); Now, as a judicial investigator, Ivan Ilyich felt that all, without exception, the most important, self-satisfied people, were all in his hands (L. Tolstoy); His life, which began (so wonderfully in his memories) with a huge church porch... and the voice of his mother, in which the flint path shone a thousand times and the star spoke to the star - this life was filled with every hour with new, ever new meaning (Kataev);
3) in artistic speech in a period (see §219, Types of syntactic repetition, paragraph 3) (a sentence of significant length, most often complex, which is divided by a pause into two parts - rising and falling) between its parts, for example: A person is accepted for composing a poem for various reasons: in order to win the heart of his beloved, in order to express his attitude towards the reality surrounding him, be it a landscape or a state, in order to capture the state of mind in which he is currently in, in order to leave a mark on the earth - for this he undertakes for the pen (Joseph Brodsky).
Within parts of the period, if they are significantly widespread, a semicolon is placed in artistic speech. Less often, commas are placed between parts (members) of the period, for example: Like a hawk floating in the sky, having made many circles with its strong wings, suddenly stops, spread out in the air in one place, and shoots from there with an arrow at a male quail shouting near the road, - so Tarasov son Ostap suddenly ran into the cornet and immediately threw a rope around his neck (Gogol).

Please clarify how relevant this punctuation mark is in general, whether it is now simply replaced by a dash or a comma. How far can Rosenthal be trusted in this rule?

Russian help desk response

Complete academic reference book “Rules of Russian spelling and punctuation”, ed. V.V. Lopatin (M., 2006 and later editions) provides for the placement of a comma and a dash as a single sign in a complex sentence, if the sentence is constructed in the form of a period, which is divided into two parts - pronounced with a rise and fall in tone (comma and dash are placed at the division point): If the old foliage rustled under your feet, if different branches turned red, if the willows turned around, if trees of different species began to speak with the aroma of their bark, then it means there is movement in the birches, and there is no point in spoiling the birch(Priv.). In such sentences, the main part often has a generalizing character and completes the listing of the preceding subordinate clauses: When I found myself in the bosom of the Odessa family, when I listened to Mikhail’s violin, when, floating on my back, I looked into the deep sky - everything fell into place(Grain); What was bitter to me, what was hard and what gave me strength, what life hurried me to cope with - I put it all here(TV). The reference book does not say that this sign has now lost its relevance, in other words, such punctuation also corresponds to the modern written norm.

But two other cases of using a comma and a dash as a single character in the reference book are marked as outdated. This is a comma and a dash between parts of a compound sentence: Next in line were police stations, and no one had heard anything about David there.(Priv.), as well as highlighting inserted structures with this sign: You get into the carriage - it’s so nice after the carriage - and roll along the steppe road(Ch.).

	Question No. 279406

Hello, Gramota! Is the punctuation correct: In the last years of Vladimir’s life, his relationship with his sons - Svyatopolk, the former Prince of Turov, and Yaroslav, who was appointed to reign in Novgorod (,) (-) seriously worsened. Thank you!

Russian help desk response

The specified comma and dash are needed.

	Question No. 275251

Hello, dear Diploma! Please explain something. This is the umpteenth time I’ve been doing an interactive dictation on your portal. And what’s most surprising: the computer gives me errors where I didn’t make them. For example: “I forgot the word that I wanted to say,” wrote Osip Emilievich. The computer tells me that I need a comma and a dash. Although I put a comma and a dash. Next, I repeat the task - and again the same thing. And not only in this sentence. If I didn't know the rule, I would think I was wrong. And this is not the first time... Please tell me what's wrong. Best regards, Serge.

Russian help desk response

You need a quotation mark, a comma and a dash. In this order. Check, please.

	Question No. 274368

Good afternoon, please tell me: lately I have often seen non-standard formatting of direct speech. All the spelling rules that I know clearly say: if the author’s words break direct speech, then (provided that there should be a period at the place of the break or there should be no punctuation mark at all) a comma and a dash are placed before the author’s words; The author's words are written with a lowercase letter. The following option is regularly found in fiction: instead of a comma and a dash in the case described above, they put a dot and a dash, and the author’s words begin with a capital letter. I initially sinned on the source of literature (electronic books), but then I took a couple of books from the Mayakovsky Library (St. Petersburg) - the same thing there! Perhaps my knowledge is outdated and/or insufficient, maybe there are some new/well-forgotten old norms of the Russian language according to which this design option is possible?

Russian help desk response

The rule you quote has not been canceled. But there is one more rule related to the design of direct speech: if the author’s words appearing after direct speech represent a separate sentence (do not contain a verb of speech), then they begin with a capital letter:

- Hurry, the school is on fire! - And he ran home to wake people up.

Perhaps you have come across a similar design option?

	Question No. 273587

When and according to what grammar rules are commas and dashes placed in sentences: , -
Thank you.

Russian help desk response

A comma and a dash can be placed as a single character or as a combination of characters. As a single sign, a comma and a dash are possible in a complex sentence, for example: Even the water became agitated - that’s how the frogs jumped(Prishvin). But more often you can find a combination of a comma and a dash, where each character stands on its own base, for example: An important task that the organizers of the Olympiad set for themselves is to support talented youth(a comma closes the subordinate clause, a dash is placed between the subject and the predicate).

	Question No. 269359

Is the following sentence written correctly? "With us, the law is on your side!"

Russian help desk response

Commas and dashes are not needed in this sentence.

	Question No. 266809

Hello! This is the fifth time I am writing to you. Please, if for some reason you cannot answer, tell me and I will not ask this question again. All my life I thought that I knew how direct speech was formed. But more and more often I see how in newspapers and books, after quotation marks closing direct speech, if at the end of direct speech there is a question mark, exclamation point or ellipsis, after the quotation mark they put a period or a comma. For example: “What wonderful weather!” he exclaimed. He exclaimed: “What wonderful weather!” She shouted: “Where are you going?” And recently I opened a book from the seventy-second year of the Leningrad publishing house - and there is the same story: dots after quotation marks after direct speech with an exclamation or question. Please tell me, was I taught wrong at school and at the university philology department? Or did I miss something? Why these periods and commas?

Russian help desk response

There are two parts to your question. We'll try to answer.

If direct speech is worth before introducing it in the author's words, then after direct speech there is a comma and a dash, and the author’s words begin with a lowercase letter: “We understand everything perfectly, Nikolai Vasilyevich,” Solodovnikov quipped to himself, sitting down on a white stool.(Shuksh.). If after direct speech there is a question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, then these marks are preserved and a comma is not placed; the author’s words, as in the first case, begin with a lowercase letter: “Yes, I should have said goodbye!..” - he realized when the covered car was already climbing up(Shuksh.); “My blue-eyed guardian angel, why are you looking at me with such sad anxiety?” - Krymov wanted to say ironically(Bond.).

If there is an exclamation or question mark at the place of the break, then it is preserved, followed by a dash before the words of the author (with a lowercase letter), after these words a dot and a dash are placed; the second part of direct speech begins with a capital letter: “Do I now give happiness to many people, as I did before? - thought Kiprensky. “Is it really only fools who try to arrange the well-being of their lives?”(Paust.); “Yes, be quiet! - ordered the duty officer. “Can you be quiet?!”(Shuksh.).

2. But you need to put a period at the end of the sentence (after the quotation marks).

...If the closing quotation mark is preceded by a question mark, exclamation mark, or ellipsis (and the sentence ends there), then the same marks required by the terms of the entire sentence are not repeated after the closing quotation mark; unequal characters (before the quotation mark and after the quotation mark) are placed; compare: “Have you read the novels “What is to be done?” and “Who is to blame?”; Who doesn’t know the magnificent words of A. Blok: “Erase random features. And you will see - the world is beautiful..."?; Haven’t you read the novel “What is to be done?”!

	Question No. 265632

Is it necessary to use a comma and a dash in the following sentence:

Until the age of twelve, Gluck studied at a village school, then at a gymnasium, where he acquired his first musical knowledge.

P.S. This is a fundamental point, because The fate of admission to an educational institution depends on this sign (dash). The examination commission states that there should not be a dash.

Russian help desk response

A dash is not required in this case, since where he acquired his first musical knowledge- this is a subordinate clause as part of a complex clause, it is separated by a comma.

A comma and a dash as a single punctuation mark can be placed between parts of a non-conjunctive complex sentence, but in your case there is a conjunctive word Where, and this rule does not apply. There is no reason to use two punctuation marks (comma and dash) at once.

Readers have more than once encountered student works and research on the pages of our application. The material presented to your attention was also written by a student, not a teacher. And it is dedicated to a very, very relevant topic...

......It all started with a mistake. In the dictation I came across this tricky sentence: “After all, for ordinary artists, nature in places where a shadow falls on it seems to consist of a different substance than in illuminated places - it is wood, bronze, anything you like, just not a shadowed body.”. All my desk neighbors began to argue: what to put in front of the word This– a comma, a dash, or both?
Opinions were divided, and we turned to the teacher. “Who wants to understand this problem, read grammar reference books, look in books for sentences in which a comma and a dash are next to each other, and together we will try to figure it out,” he said.
This idea seemed interesting to me, and to the next lesson I brought my “collection” (I compiled it while studying the “Anthology of Russian Literature of the 19th–20th Centuries” (M.: Lamand Enterprises, 1999).
In A Guide to Spelling, Pronunciation, and Literary Editing by D.E. Rosenthal, E.V. Dzhandzhakova and N.P. Kabanova (M.: CheRo, 1999) writes that a comma and a dash in a complex sentence are placed as a single sign:

1) before the main sentence, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous subordinate clauses, if the division of the whole into two parts is emphasized, for example: Which one is to blame? , who is right, – it's not for us to judge (I. Krylov); Did Stolz do anything for this, what did he do and how did he do it - we don’t know. (N. Dobrolyubov);

2) before a word that is repeated in order to connect with it a new sentence (usually a subordinate clause) or a further part of the same sentence, for example: Could this new social movement not be reflected in literature - in literature, which is always an expression of society! (V. Belinsky); Now, as a judicial investigator, Ivan Ilyich felt that all the most important, self-satisfied people, without exception, were all in his hands (L. Tolstoy); His life, which began (so wonderful in memories) the huge church porch... and the voice of my mother, in which the flint path shone a thousand times and the star spoke to the star - this life was filled with every hour with new, ever new meaning (V. Kataev);

3) in artistic speech in a period (a sentence of significant volume, most often complex, which is divided by a pause into two parts - rising and falling) between its parts, for example: A man begins to compose a poem according to different considerations: to win the heart of the beloved, so that express his attitude to the reality surrounding him, be it a landscape or a state, in order to capture his state of mind, in where he is currently located in order to leave a mark on the earth - for this he takes up his pen (I. Brodsky); Like a hawk swimming in the sky, having made many circles with its strong wings, suddenly stops, spread out in the air in one place, and shoots from there with an arrow at a male quail shouting near the road - so Taras’s son Ostap suddenly flew at the cornet and immediately threw it around his neck rope (N. Gogol).

Armed with this information, I began to look for examples. And this is what I found.

1. After the winter spent in Dyalizh, among the sick and the peasants, sitting in the living room, looking at this young, graceful and, probably, pure creature and listening to these noisy, annoying, but still cultural sounds - it was so pleasant, so new ... ( A. Chekhov. Ionych)
The sign “comma + dash” stands between the subject, expressed by a series of homogeneous infinitives, and the predicate; the example does not fit any of the points mentioned in the reference book. The grammatical basis of a sentence sit, it was so nice to watch and listen does not imply the appearance of any signs between the subject and the predicate, and there are no constructions separated by commas. This means that the “comma + dash” sign can be considered purely the author’s.
By the way, there is another punctuation difficulty in this sentence. Commas around the turn among the sick and men reflect the author’s intention to show the clarifying nature of the circumstance.

2. At first, Startsev was struck by what he was now seeing for the first time in his life and what he would probably never see again: a world unlike anything else - a world where the moonlight is so good and soft... ( A. Chekhov. Ionych)
Here the “comma + dash” sign corresponds to paragraph 2 of the “Directory” quoted above.

3. Startsev barely found the gate - it was already dark, like an autumn night - then he wandered around for an hour and a half, looking for the lane where he had left his horses. ( A. Chekhov. Ionych)
This example does not fit any of the cases described in the Handbook. This offer features a plug-in design (it was already dark, like an autumn night); it is marked with a double dash sign. Comma after a word night is necessary because, firstly, it closes the comparative phrase, and secondly, it separates homogeneous predicates from each other found, wandered. Comma after a word gates is not obligatory, it can be considered an author’s mark, placed for greater expressiveness (and partly, perhaps, for symmetry).

4. He was a little ashamed, and his pride was offended - he did not expect a refusal - and he could not believe that all his dreams, yearnings and hopes had led him to such a stupid end. ( A. Chekhov. Ionych)
This example also does not fit any of the cases described in the Handbook. See the comment to the previous sentence - everything is similar here.

5. He remembered his love, the dreams and hopes that worried him four years ago - and he felt embarrassed. ( A. Chekhov. Ionych)
This example also does not fit any of the cases described in the Handbook. The obligatory sign here is a comma, closing the subordinate clause. The dash was added by the author for greater expressiveness.

6. I remember when I was a boy of about fifteen, my late father - he was then selling in a shop here in the village - hit me in the face with his fist, blood started coming out of my nose... ( A. Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard)
This example also does not fit any of the cases described in the Handbook. A typical insertion design is marked here not by the standard “dash pair” sign, but by the paired “comma + dash” sign.

7. The Yaroslavl grandmother sent fifteen thousand to buy an estate in her name - she doesn’t believe us - and this money would not even be enough to pay the interest. ( A. Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard)
See comment to proposal 3: everything is similar here.

8. The young lady tells me to dance - there are many gentlemen, but few ladies - and my head is spinning from dancing, my heart is beating. ( A. Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard)
See commentary to sentence 3. However, in this sentence the author did not put that very optional comma before the first dash. In principle, it was possible to do without the second comma here, since the comma before the conjunction A in a complex sentence, a dash can be replaced.

9. The inhabitants of the suburban seaside resort - mostly Greeks and Jews, life-loving and suspicious, like all southerners - hastily moved to the city. ( A. Kuprin. Garnet bracelet)
Here we “met” a separate application, highlighted with the “paired dash” sign, and a comparative phrase. Regulatory combination of signs.

10. Fishing boats, difficult to distinguish with the eye - they seemed small, - motionlessly dozed in the surface of the sea, not far from the shore. ( A. Kuprin. Garnet bracelet)
Plug-in design they seemed small indicated by a double dash, comma after the word small closes the participial phrase. What is not trivial here is that the author decided to introduce the insertion construction into the participial phrase.

11. It was about him that Skobelev once said: “I know one officer who is much braver than me - this is Major Anosov.” ( A. Kuprin. Garnet bracelet)
A comma here closes the subordinate clause, a dash (in accordance with the norm) separates parts of the sentence connected by a non-union connection. It is possible to replace the combination of characters with a semicolon or (even worse) with a colon.

12. You will see that frozen pigs are being delivered - Christmas will come soon. ( I. Shmelev. Summer of the Lord)
A comma closes a subordinate clause, a dash separates parts connected by a non-union connection. It is not possible to replace the combination of characters.
I believe that even these examples are quite enough to understand how important it is to “track” syntactic constructions in a sentence: some, standing next to each other, create a situation of combining signs (sentences 11, 12); the latter are capable of “absorbing” a punctuation mark belonging to a neighbor (see commentary on sentence 8); As for the special sign “comma + dash”, it is mainly the author’s, it was apparently created by punctuation fashion, and now in many cases it is replaced by a simple dash.
As for the sentence that gave rise to heated debate among my classmates, now I can say with knowledge: it needs both a comma, which closes the comparative phrase, and a dash, “opening” a new part of the complex sentence. However, this combination of characters can be replaced with a semicolon.
The teacher praised me and said one more important thing: often the author’s mark appears not by the will of the author himself, but by the will of editors and proofreaders.

Handbook of the Russian language. Punctuation Rosenthal Dietmar Elyashevich

§ 64. Comma and dash

§ 64. Comma and dash

1. When “meeting” inside a sentence, a comma and a dash are placed first comma, and then dash:The history of discoveries, inventions, the history of technology that makes life and work easier for people - this, in fact, is the history of culture(M.G.); It’s not the water splashing, you can’t fool me, it’s his long oars(L.).

In most cases, each of these two punctuation marks is placed on its own basis: Alas! My box, a saber with a silver frame, a Dagestan dagger, a gift from a friend - everything disappeared(L.) - a comma closes a separate application, a dash is placed before the generalizing word after listing homogeneous members of the sentence; His gait was careless and lazy, but I noticed that he did not wave his arms - the first sign of some secretiveness of character(L.) - a comma closes the subordinate part of a complex sentence, a dash is placed before a kind of application to the preceding words, has a connecting connotation; I answered that the flies were bothering me, and we both fell silent.(L.) - a comma closes the subordinate clause, a dash is placed before the part of the sentence expressing the consequence.

Staging dash as an additional sign may depend on the context. Wed: All kinds of objects were laid out on the table: books, writing instruments, geographical maps, a box whose purpose no one knew - the subordinate part of a complex sentence refers to the last homogeneous member and is thereby included in the enumeration; no additional sign is required; All kinds of objects were laid out on the table: books, writing instruments, geographical maps - which the owner, apparently, had not used for a long time - The dash is needed to show that the subordinate clause refers to all homogeneous members, more precisely, to the generalizing word.

2. About the production comma and dash as a single sign in a complex sentence, see § 40, in a non-union complex sentence - § 46, in a period - section 13. See also: § 25, paragraph 10; § 26; § 32, note 1; § 43, paragraph 3; § 45, paragraph 9; § 48 - 50.

From the book Handbook of the Russian Language. Punctuation author Rosenthal Dietmar Elyashevich

§ 16. Comma with repeated words 1. A comma is placed between repeated words, pronounced with the intonation of enumeration and indicating: 1) the duration of the action: But he rode, rode, and Zhadrin was not in sight (P.); Nature was waiting for winter (P.); The shoemaker fought and fought and

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (ZA) by the author TSB

§ 30. Comma in a compound sentence 1. Commas separate the predicative parts of a compound sentence (simple sentences), between which there are conjunctions: 1) connecting (and, yes (“and”), neither..nor): The sand shines warm in the sun, yellow glitter, and on its velvet

From the book Handbook of Spelling and Stylistics author Rosenthal Dietmar Elyashevich

§ 40. Comma and dash in a complex sentence Comma and dash as a single sign are placed in a complex sentence: 1) before the main part, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous subordinate clauses, if the splitting of a complex sentence into two is emphasized

From the book Handbook of Spelling, Pronunciation, Literary Editing author Rosenthal Dietmar Elyashevich

§ 46. Comma and dash in a non-union complex sentence The current rules provide for the use of a comma and dash as a single punctuation mark in three cases: 1) before the main part of a complex sentence, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous

From the author's book

§ 64. Comma and dash 1. When a comma and a dash “meet” inside a sentence, a comma is placed first, and then a dash: The history of discoveries, inventions, the history of technology that makes people’s lives and work easier - this, in fact, is the history of culture (M. G.); It's not water splashing, I'm not

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§ 104. Comma in a compound sentence 1. Commas separate parts of a compound sentence between which there are conjunctions: 1) connecting: and, yes (meaning “and”), neither... nor. For example: All faces frowned, and in the silence one could hear angry grunting and coughing

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§ 113. Comma and dash in a complex sentence Comma and dash in a complex sentence are placed as a single sign: 1) before the main sentence, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous subordinate clauses, if the splitting of a complex whole into two is emphasized

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§ 133. Comma and dash When a comma and a dash occur within a sentence, a comma is placed first, followed by a dash, for example: The history of discoveries, inventions, the history of technology that makes life and work easier for people - this is the actual history of culture (Gorky); I'm at that very moment

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§ 90. Comma for repeated words 1. Between identical words repeated with the intonation of enumeration to indicate the duration of an action, to indicate a large number of objects or phenomena, to emphasize the degree of quality, etc., a comma is placed,

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§ 104. Comma in a compound sentence 1. Commas separate parts of a compound sentence between which there are conjunctions: 1) connecting: and, yes (meaning “and”), neither... nor. For example: All faces frowned, and in the silence one could hear angry grunting and coughing

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§ 108. Comma with complex subordinating conjunctions If the subordinate clause is connected to the main clause using a complex subordinating conjunction (due to the fact that, due to the fact that, due to the fact that, due to the fact that, because, because, despite the fact that, instead of

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§ 113. Comma and dash in a complex sentence and in the period Comma and dash in a complex sentence are placed as a single sign: 1) before the main sentence, which is preceded by a number of homogeneous subordinate clauses, if the disintegration of the complex is emphasized

The common formulation of the punctuation rule “there is always a dash before “this”” is both correct and incorrect. The fact is that in this version the rule covers only part of the cases of using this word. It is understood that the “dash” sign before this word is always, without exception, necessary if we are talking about a connection between the subject and the predicate; in other cases, other algorithms and rules may apply.

Dash in original designs

As you know, one of the main situations when it is necessary to put a dash is in sentences, the basis of which is expressed by a noun, numeral or infinitive, in which the sign is placed between the subject and the predicate:

A jigsaw is a tool that even a woman can easily master.(The sign is placed between expressed nouns.)

Late spring is a time of love, hopes and expectations.

School is a time for self-determination and personality development.

Dash in the same constructions containing the connective

Often, unsuccessful formulations by elementary school methodologists provoke errors in sentences where the predicate is accompanied by a connective. Everywhere, junior schoolchildren are explained that “a dash is placed instead (!) of the word “this”.” This formulation works as a tool when placing signs in sentences without a connective, but it is misleading if you need to place a sign in a sentence with this connective. The fact is that from the “hint” formulated in this way, it logically follows that if a dash is placed “instead of” a word, it means that when it is in the sentence, the need for a sign disappears. Many schoolchildren form a persistent stereotype, which leads to persistent errors: a dash is not placed in sentences with a connective.

After or single gerund

In addition, the sign is mistakenly placed after the participial or There are no logical reasons for such a sign; apparently, the writer is at the mercy of the same stereotype, transferred from particular cases to all others: “a dash is placed before “this.”

Forming gradually, this decision grew stronger and stronger, and was finally accepted.

Finding himself unattainable, this journey so consumed his thoughts that he could think of nothing else.

Having scattered across the meadow, this herd of children released into the wild heard and saw nothing but the sun, strawberries and butterflies.

As in the case described above, a sentence with a copula before the predicate, an expressed noun, numeral or infinitive and a complicated adverbial phrase should be distinguished from such a construction. In such sentences, two signs are placed before the copula following a single gerundial participle or phrase:

Leaving forever, mentally looking back on the years you have lived, is a true test.(The dash is placed for the same reason that it is necessary in the sentence " Leaving forever is a true test.”. A comma before a dash is needed as a closing comma in adverbial phrases.)

Watching children learn to live by playing and quarreling with each other and copying the behavior of their parents is not only a pleasure and an interesting activity, but also a reason to reflect on oneself. If we reduce the sentence by excluding the subordinate clause and participial phrase from its composition, then the logic of the appearance of the dash is obvious: “ Watching children is not only a pleasure and an interesting activity, but also a reason to think about yourself" A comma before this sign closes the participial phrase, and if it is excluded, the subordinate clause.

So, whether a dash is placed before “this” if it is not about depends almost entirely on which part of speech and which word we are talking about.