Clarifying circumstance as a separate member of the sentence

Two sections of the science of language - syntax and punctuation - are always studied together. Simple cases of placing commas, for example, a mandatory comma before the conjugate unions A and BUT, usually do not cause difficulties. But to isolate the secondary members of the sentence, you need to know the basics of the syntax.

Secondary members under certain conditions can be separated from two sides by commas, including the circumstance.

The circumstance in the sentence answers the questions of adverbs, since it denotes a sign of action or, much less rarely, a sign of an attribute. Nevertheless, in the role of circumstance, not only an adverb, but also any independent part of speech can act .

Separation of the circumstances expressed by a gynecological turn or a single gerund, though it has its own subtleties, is easily absorbed by schoolchildren. The presence of gerunds in the sentence is a kind of signal to the statement of a comma.

Another thing is a clarifying circumstance. Examples of this kind are more difficult to detect: they are not so obvious.

What is a clarifying circumstance?

Clarifying members, as already clear from the term itself, specify the information contained in the sentence:

• All childhood friends, (who specifically?) Especially Michael, I am very dear.

• Dark, (which specifically?) Almost coal-black, his eyes stood out on his pale face.

• A little girl ran into the room, (which one?) Is not older than our son.

The refinement is always separated either by commas or by dashes.

A separate clarifying circumstance in most cases concretizes the time and place of action.

If there is a clarifying circumstance in front of us, then the sentence, in addition to it, should contain generalized information about when the action takes place:

• We left late at night, (when specifically?) At eleven o'clock.

• At the end of August, (when specifically?) On the twenty-fifth, my only brother was born.

Clarifying circumstance of the site details, narrows information about where the event described in the sentence occurs:

• Andrew lives very close to us, (where exactly?) In five minutes walk.

• Ahead (where specifically?) In the very center of the road, we noticed a huge pit.

Geographical names and addresses are often specified:

• Last summer we returned from another city, (from where exactly?) From Vladivostok.

• My friend moved to the Oktyabrsky district of the city of Samara, (where specifically?) To Michurina Street.

Less common is the clarifying circumstance of the mode of action:

• The soldiers tried to talk as quietly as possible (how exactly?) Almost in a whisper.

• Perepyolkin listened to me attentively, (how exactly?) With some special respect.

Identifying the clarifying circumstances and with other meanings.

For the correct arrangement of punctuation marks, it is important to understand the context of the sentence:

• The artists performed at the square in the center of the city. (The square is in the central part of the city)

• The artists performed at the square in the center of the city. (Artists perform in the square, located exactly in the center of the city).

A hint in the isolation of the clarifying members of the sentence is intonation. But it is not worthwhile to focus only on semantic pauses in the speech stream, it is better to pay attention to the syntactic role of the construction and to choose a question for it.