Whether a comma is placed before the union like. Is there a comma before the "how"? Comma before the "like" conjunction in common expressions

Both students and people with higher education can get confused in punctuation rules. One of the questionable questions on this topic is the comma before the "how". In what cases should it be installed and in what not? Let's figure it out.

In what cases is a comma placed before

A comma is put if the conjunction "as" is included in phrases that are close to the introductory words in terms of their role in the sentence. These are expressions: as a rule, as a consequence, as an exception, as for example, as deliberately, as now, as never, as now, as always, as usual.

Examples in a sentence:

• Today, as always, I stayed at home.
• The weather, as if on purpose, turned bad before going out.
• Rooks usually arrive in early spring.

The second case is if the conjunction "how" connects parts of a complex sentence.

Examples in a sentence:

• We watched the sun go down for a long time.
• The fisherman showed us how to fold the fishing rod.
• We listened attentively to the native English speaking.

The third case is if there is a circumstance in the sentence, which is expressed by a comparative turnover, starting with the conjunction "how".

Examples in a sentence:

• She was as beautiful as a princess.
• The athlete was as grippy as a tiger.
• Andrey spoke as confidently as a real professional.

The fourth case - we must put a comma if after "as" should "and".

Examples in a sentence:

• Ruslan, like Lyudmila, was madly in love.
• Clouds, like people, tend to cry.
• The sky, like the earth, was created by God.

In what cases is a comma not put in front of how

• If before "how" is "not". Example: "He didn't look the same as usual."
• If the turnover is part of the predicate. Example: "There was snow like a blanket."
• With a double alliance "like so and". Example: "We discussed this both personally and collectively."
• In the case when a turnover from one word independently answers the following questions: "How?", "How?". Example: "She left as a queen."

Hello! Everything is like in life. Do you need a comma before the how?

The comma is not included.

The African toad Sclerophrys channingi has found a great way to scare away predators: it looks like a poisonous snake and mimics the sounds it makes. Do you need a comma before the how?

Answer help desk Russian language

Comma before how need not.

Good day! Do you need a comma before the how? Unfortunately, we were unable to identify you (?) As a client of the organization.

Russian language help desk response

Comma before how not required.

Hello! Can you please tell me if a comma is needed before as in the sentence: Was it so noisy that we had to shout like in a forest? Thank you in advance!

Russian language help desk response

Comma before how needed.

Dear colleagues, is there a need for a comma before the HOW in the sentence: "... a scientist trying on this role after (,) he became a writer. Thank you!

Russian language help desk response

The comma is put.

raised as a gypsy - do you need a comma before HOW

Russian language help desk response

The comma is not included.

Hello! I have not found an answer anywhere, I ask for help. Do you need a comma before as in the sentence: "The area is not a railway junction (,) like Liski, not a resort town (,) like Sochi ..."?

Russian language help desk response

Both specified commas are required.

Is there a comma before the how and why? Where are the subject and predicate here? You are an actor (,) as a ballerina of me.

Russian language help desk response

The comma is not put (turnover with the union how is a predicate).

Good day! Please tell me if you need a comma before HOW in the phrase "Do as you feel." I have not found a similar example anywhere. Does this phrase fall under this rule? If the turnover with the union AS in the sentence acts as a circumstance of the course of action, for example: The path was twisting 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. Thanks in advance for your reply!

Russian language help desk response

Comparative turnovers with unions as if, as if, as if, rather than, than, exactly, that are not separated by commas if they are part of the predicate or are closely related to it in meaning. In this case, the verb do requires specification, so the comma before how not put.

Do I need a comma before as in the sentence "High ceilings as in the center"

Russian language help desk response

The comma is put.

Hello. Need a comma before how? You have to look at the world like an artist.

Russian language help desk response

Comma before how not required.

Hello. Help me please. 1. Do you need a comma before the how? The guys, stretching their headphones out like a spider web, were listening to a song. 2. Is such an arrangement of punctuation marks possible? Lyuska snorted, just like a hedgehog, and left. Thanks.

Russian language help desk response

1. Comma before how needed. 2. Such an arrangement of punctuation marks is possible if the semantic emphasis falls on the fact that Lyuska snorted, and not on how exactly she did it.

Good day! Can you please tell me if a comma is needed before HOW in the sentence "All wives are like wives, but my clumsy"? I would not put it, but I cannot explain.

Russian language help desk response

Turnover from how acts as a predicate, so a comma in front of it is not needed.

Good day! Is there a need for a comma before the HOW in the sentence: "The issue of diversification (?) As a priority task was raised separately ... A colleague claims that a reason and a sign are needed here. Thank you!

Russian language help desk response

The punctuation mark is not required, but can be used to underline the meaning of the reason. In this case, the author of the text should decide the issue of placing the mark.

Tell me if a comma is needed before how: We will tell you how our universe was created, we will note the successes ...

Russian language help desk response

The comma is put.

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 do not 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).

The 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).

When I went 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 murder, 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).

While Hadji Murad was entering, 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 feet unaccustomed to walking and shod with clumsy prisoner's 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 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 story to me in a whisper, first locking the doors, he swore to me that he was so dumbfounded on the spot 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.

“Torment,” 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 the winter, but by the spring they let our bellies down! " - Porfiry Vladimirich argues with himself, and he, as if on purpose, 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 of them would even die, but they do not give in to upbringing: they stand in the yard - everyone is amazed and even shy away from the walls, and everyone just mows into the sky_ like birds_ with their eyes (Leskov).

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

If you remember, not so long ago in one of the blog posts it was mentioned that the comma in front of "HOW" is only used in case of comparison.

"Such politicians as Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov ..." - the comma is put, because there is a noun "politics".

BUT: "... politicians such as Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov ..." - a comma is NOT placed before the "how".

Let's try to expand the topic a little.

The comma before the conjunction "how" is placed in three cases:

1. If this the union enters into expressions close to the introductory words, for example:

AS A RULE, AS AN EXCEPTION, AS A CONSEQUENCE, AS ALWAYS, AS NOW, AS INTENTIONALLY, AS FOR EXAMPLE, AS NOW

In the morning, as if on purpose, it started to rain;

2. If this the union connects parts of a complex sentence, for example:

We watched the embers of the fire smolder for a long time;

3. If the sentence there is a circumstance expressed by comparative turnover, which begins with the conjunction "how", for example:

Please note: if the sentence continues after the turns with the conjunction "how", then you need to put another comma at the end of the turn.

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 do not stand out with the union "how" in five cases:

1. If the turnover with the conjunction "how" in the sentence acts as a circumstance of the course of action. Shortly speaking, if the turn with "how" describes how the action took place, for example:

The path twisted like a snake- we all see that it is the action that is being described? So we don't put a comma.

In such cases, the turnover with "how" can be replaced by an adverb ("serpentine") or a noun in the instrumental case ("snake").

To consolidate, I propose to come up with several such turns and explain to myself why there should be a comma in them. If it doesn't work out, you are welcome in the comments.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to distinguish the circumstances of the course of action with complete certainty from the circumstances of the comparison, but it is always possible to explain to the doubters the setting of the comma, based on the context that you put into the sentence.

2. If the turnover with the union "how" is part of the phraseological unit

Most of them are in the promised bonus.

3. If the turnover with the conjunction "how" is part of the predicate and a sentence without such a phrase has no complete meaning, for example:

She behaves like a mistress- Note that “she holds on” does not express the meaning of the sentence, but if “as a mistress”, then we immediately imagine the whispers of the envious mistresses of the oligarch's mistress;

4. If the conjunction "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 a particle

PERFECTLY

EXACTLY THE SAME

SIMPLE, for example:

They do not do everything like neighbors or Her hair curls exactly like her mother;

In addition, it must be remembered that the word "how" can be part of the compound union "like ... so and" or "since", as well as turns

SINCE

FROM THE TIME AS

AS

AS POSSIBLE LESS (MORE), etc.

In this case, of course, no comma is placed before the "how" either.

All windows, both in the manor house and in those of the people, 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).

So, the promised bonus.

Comparative Expressions (no commas):

Offtopic

poor as a church mouse

white as a harrier

white as a sheet

white as snow

beat like a fish on ice

pale as death

shines like a mirror

the disease disappeared like a hand

scared like fire

wandering around

rushed like mad

mumbles like a sexton

ran in like crazy

lucky, as a drowned man

turns like a squirrel in a wheel

as seen during the day

squeals like a pig

lying like a gray gelding

everything is going like clockwork

everything is as on selection

jumped up like scalded

jumped up as if stung

stupid as a cork

looked like a wolf

goal like a falcon

hungry as wolf

as far as heaven from earth

trembled like a fever

trembled like an aspen leaf

everything is like water off a duck's back to him

wait like manna from heaven

wait like a holiday

lead a cat and dog life

live like a bird of heaven

fell asleep like dead

froze like a statue

lost like a needle in a haystack

sounds like music

healthy as a bull

know how flaky

have at one's fingertips

saddle fits like a cow

goes alongside as sewn

as if it has sunk into the water

roll like cheese in butter

swinging like a drunk

swayed (swayed) like jelly

handsome as god

red like a tomato

red as a lobster

strong (strong) like an oak

screams like a public

light as a feather

flies like an arrow

bald as a knee

like a shower

waving his hands like a mill

rushing about like crazy

wet as a mouse

dark as a cloud

dying like flies

hope like a stone wall

to the people like a herring in a barrel

dress up like a doll

you can't see your ears

dumb like a grave

dumb like a fish

rush (rush) like crazy

rush (rush) like crazy

worn like a fool with a written sack

worn like a chicken and an egg

needed like air

needed like last year's snow

needed as a fifth spoke in a chariot

needs a fifth leg like a dog

peel off as sticky

one like a finger

stayed like a cancer stranded

stopped dead

razor sharp

different as day from night

different as heaven from earth

bake like pancakes

turned pale as a sheet

turned pale as death

repeated as if delirious

go as cute

remember what your name was

remember as in a dream

get caught like chickens in cabbage soup

hit in the head

crumble like a cornucopia

similar as two drops of water

went down like a stone

to appear as if by pike

devotee like a dog

stuck like a bath leaf

fall through the ground

good (good) like a goat of milk

disappeared as if into the water

just like a knife to the heart

blazed like on fire

works like an ox

understands like a pig in oranges

cleared away like smoke

play like a note

grow like mushrooms after rain

grow by leaps and bounds

drop from the clouds

fresh as blood and milk

fresh like a cucumber

sat chained

sit on pins and needles

sit on coals

listened spellbound

looked enchanted

slept like a dead man

hurry like fire

stands like an idol

slender like a cedar Lebanese

melts like a candle

hard as stone

dark as night

accurate as a clock

skinny as a skeleton

cowardly as a hare

died like a hero

fell as if knocked down

rested like a ram

rested like a bull

mulish

tired as a dog

cunning as a fox

sly like a fox

gushing like a bucket

walked as if dipped in water

walked like a birthday boy

walk like a thread

cold as ice

thin as a splinter

black as coal

black as hell

feel at home

feel like a stone wall

feel like a fish in water

staggered like a drunk

how to be executed

clear as two two four

clear as day

So, let's summarize.

A comma is used if:

The union opens a new proposal;

Union opens a comparative turnover (circumstance)

Union opens the app with a causal meaning (substituted "since" or "since")

The comma is not used if:

- "how" is in a compound union ("while", "since")

Comparative turnover with "how" is a phraseological unit, a stable expression

The union can be replaced by the phrase with "as" ("Petrov, as a professor of our department, reads everything term papers", Compare," Petrov as a professor of our department reads all term papers ")

Union joins nominal part predicate. That is, if your predicate essentially consists of two words, one of which is a verb, and the second is a noun or adjective.

It's not as scary as you thought. Look.

“Ira was a short dark-skinned woman.” Ira was a dark-skinned woman. We see that the “was” and the “dark-skinned woman” seem to be connected. And in the case of the proposal “Ira, as a short dark-skinned woman, stood out sharply against the background of the others,” we do not single out “how” with a comma. Again, you can substitute - with a stretch, of course, it will come out, but it will also do - our favorite "in quality". -> "Ira stood out sharply as a short dark-skinned woman ..."

Of course, I am not one of those who give homework, but in order to better visualize each of the cases, I advise, in accordance with each rule, to come up with two or three examples. Everything will settle in your head much faster + explaining why you put or do not put a comma, you will use your own words, which are much closer than my attempts to express myself simply and clearly.) Forward!