Category: Life

Defining the structure of Parenthesis, the next aspects must be taken into consideration:

1. a) Syntactical aspect;
2. b) Morphological.

Speaking about Syntactical aspect, it is important to remember that parenthesis is also called simply brackets or round brackets, curved brackets, oval brackets. It contains material that could be omitted without destroying or altering the meaning of a sentence. In most writing, overuse of parenthesis is usually a sign of a badly structured text. They can be inserted into a passage with which it doesn’t necessarily have any grammatical connection. Parentheses are usually marked off by round or square brackets, dashes, or commas [36].

For example:

A dog (not a cat) is an animal that barks [39]. The phrase not a cat is a parenthesis.

My umbrella – which is somewhat broken – can still shield the two of us from the rain [39]. The phrase which is somewhat broken is a parenthesis.

Please, Gerald, come here! Gerald is both a noun of direct address and a parenthesis [39].

Parenthesis may be used in formal writing to add supplementary information, such as:

“Sen. John McCain (R., Arizona) spoke at length”.

They can also indicate shorthand for “either singular or plural” for nouns – e.g., “the claim(s)” [36].

Any punctuation inside parentheses or other brackets is independent of the rest of the text:

“Mrs. Pennyfarthing (What? Yes, that was her name!) was my landlady.” In this usage the explanatory text in the parentheses is a parenthesis.

Parenthesized text is usually short and within a single sentence. Where several sentences of supplemental material are used in parentheses the final full stop would be within the parentheses. Again, the parenthesis implies that the meaning and flow of the text is supplemental to the rest of the text and the whole would be unchanged were the parenthesized sentences removed [36].

There are a few general rules of using punctuation around parenthesis.

Rule1. Use parentheses to enclose words or figures that clarify or are used as an aside.

Examples:

I expect five hundred dollars ($500).

He finally answered (after taking five minutes to think) that he did not understand the question.

Commas could have been used in the above example. Parentheses show less emphasis or importance. Em dashes, which could also have been used instead of parentheses, show emphasis.

Rule2. Use full parentheses to enclose numbers or letters used for listed items.

Example:

 We need an emergency room physician who can (1) think quickly, (2) treat patients respectfully, and (3) handle complaints from the public.

Rule3. Periods go inside parentheses only if an entire sentence is inside the parentheses.

Examples:

Please read the analysis (I enclosed it as Attachment A) [45].

The parenthesis may include:

A single word:

Thus, they remain poorly understood, and their importance is underappreciated [COCA, ACAD, 2011].

A phrase:

All the same, there are basic behavioral shifts that he finds can benefit many unhappy couples [COCA, MAG, 2006].

A word combination (to my regret, to my dismay/annoyance etc.):

To my disappointment, the hotel did not have an elevator and our room was on the fourth floor, we huffed and puffed all the way up the steep stairs with our heavy luggage [COCA, ACAD, 2006].

A sentence:

“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. (Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.)” [44]

As for Morphological aspect in the structural characteristic of parenthesis, it can be expressed in the form of:

An adverb (e.g. mostly, notably, hypothetically, probably, maybe):

Obviously, that’s a very dangerous situation [COCA, MAG, 2011].

A conjunct (e.g. therefore, or, so, hence, however, besides):

Besides, we have to be careful about trick-or-treating [COCA, FIC, 2011].

Prepositional phrase (e.g. in other words, in that case, in reality, on the contrary):

In conclusion, student teachers are educated through two approaches: 1- teaching theories before practice and 2- teaching theories while practicing pedagogically on top of field knowledge [COCA, ACAD, 2009].

Infinitive clause (e.g. to demonstrate, to sum up, to say the truth, speak frankly, to be honest):

And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays [43].

An -ing participle clause (e.g. putting it simply, frankly speaking):

The sole album released by a journeyman blues-rock band from Denmark in 1970, Blues Addicts is one of those records that gets its reputation for being so obscure rather than being a lost classic, frankly speaking [26].

Putting it simply, we felt the board was overstepping its bounds in evaluating personnel and should have deferred to the superintendent [COCA, NEWS, 1996].

An –ed participle clause (e.g. put frankly)

Completely defeated, he remained a popular leader [5].

Put frankly, we can resign from “isms”, welcome and support a new end of ideology [COCA, ACAD, 1990].

Some Parenthesis must be followed by a clause (Subject + verb + Object). Among them can be such words as while, why, because, so, whereas, when, etc. For example:

The quantity demanded of a good or service is inversely related to its price, whereas the quantity supplied is related directly to price, other things being equal [COCA, ACAD, 2011].

He’s been dead for 25 years, so I can only speculate [COCA, ACAD, 2011].

Other Parenthesis should be followed by a noun phrase (Cohesive word + (the) + Noun/Gerund). Some of such Parentheses are: in spite of, despite, during, because of, etc.

For instance:

That’s because you weren’t able to stand the smell, so in spite of everything, you healed yourself [COCA, FIC, 2011].

Despite being fourth in the poll for most of the season, this might be one of the least talked about of Pat Summitt’s talented teams [COCA, NEWS, 2011].

It is generally accepted that sociologists investigate society at two levels: macro and micro. Microsociology in the study of human communication in their daily lives, in their immediate interpersonal interaction.

The main attention of sociologists this micro level theory focuses on the study of the behavior of specific individuals and small groups, their actions, motivations which have a decisive influence on the interaction between people, which in turn affects the stability of society and of ongoing change.

Supporters of the microsociological level are representatives of:

• the theory of social exchange (George Homans, Peter Blau);
• the theory of ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel);
• phenomenological macro theory in sociology;
• symbolic interactionism that focuses on the interaction of individuals (Cooley, Mead, Kuhn, Blumer).

Macrosociology definition

The macrosociology interested in large scale social systems and processes, occurring over long periods of time. A macrosociology focuses on patterns of behavior that help to understand society as a whole. And it examines various social institutions such as family, science, education, religion, etc. Since its inception included in this system of social structures and feel their influence. A macrosociology deals with large communities and even humanity as a whole.

The scope of the main interest of macrosociology is the study of the relationship between different parts of society and how there is a change in these relationships over time.

Researchers macrosociological level adhere to the principles of one of several major competing theories:

• structural functionalism (H. Spencer, E. Durkheim, Parsons, Merton, etc.);
• the theory of social conflict (Karl Marx, Dahrendorf, Coser, Bolding);
• neo-evolutionism
• the theory of social change
• the theory of social systems, and others.

A fairly unambiguous definition of micro and macro perspectives does not exist and the boundary between these two levels remains conditional. The difference lies in the different understanding of the subject of study and level of generalization.

Since the time of Auguste Comte, Western sociology throughout the nineteenth century until the 20-ies of XX century was dominated by macro-sociological orientation. All sociology during this period was limited only to theoretical.

Microsociology examples

The formation of microsociology as an independent region begins at about the 30-ies To a large extent this was due to the beginning in the 20-30-ies in the United States social processes (the economic crisis, the great depression, rising unemployment, crime, etc.). All this largely stimulated the widespread deployment of sociological research focused on the empirical description of the various aspects of life of individual social groups without consideration of their connection with the processes occurring at the macro level theory.

Basically the ongoing study, performed at the micro level analysis, was aimed at resolving specific social problems.

In the late 60-ies there was a sharp demarcation at the micro – and macro level analysis, which primarily resulted from the inability to provide a full analysis of companies.

Parenthesis is used to enclose loosely related comment or explanation within the sentence, to enclose figures numbering items in a series, and to enclose figures spelled out to avoid misreading [23, 126].

In any language the goal is to convey information clearly and concisely. To achieve these goals it is important to remember to connect the ideas so that the audience can easily follow them. In other words it is necessary to use parentheses [47].

There are two extracts below.

There are many causes of air pollution. There is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Other forms of transport cause air pollution; these are buses, boats and motorcycles. Factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. These things make people’s health suffer.

To begin with, there are many causes of air pollution. Firstly, there is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Furthermore, other forms of transport cause air pollution, for example, buses, boats and motorcycles. In addition, factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. All in all, these things make people’s health suffer.

This is an example of how the use of parentheses can improve the quality of the speech, how the ideas flow more smoothly, and the logical relationships between the ideas are expressed clearer in the second paragraph. Most pieces of formal writing and presentations are organized in a similar way: introduction, development of main ideas or arguments, and conclusion. The parentheses like bridges between parts of writing. They join each part together as well as sentences and paragraphs within each part or even two ideas within one sentence. Transitions are not just verbal techniques that decorate the paper or speech by making them sound or read better. They are words with particular meanings that tell the reader (listener) to think and react in a particular way to someone’s ideas.

Parentheses are usually used to [53]:

1. a) Enclose words not directly relevant to the main topic of the sentence but

too important to omit:

Optimistic thinking people (and I count myself among them) always seem to produce positive results in any situation [53].

Enclose figures or letters marking the division of a subject:

Murrow urged that public diplomacy officials be included when and as foreign policies are made, for several reasons: (1) to ensure that policymakers are aware of the likely reaction of foreign publics to a forthcoming policy; (2) to advise how best to convincingly communicate policies to foreign audiences; and (3) to ensure that U.S. diplomats are prepared to articulate policies before they are announced [COCA, ACAD, 2002].

1. c) Add examples:

The new photo copier has many features (including scanning options and faxing capabilities) that will be most beneficial to us in this office [53].

1. d) Indicate an equivalent entity with parenthetical punctuation:

As of this writing Endothil-CR has not been banned by any amateur or professional organized sporting body including the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) [COCA, MAG, 2005].

The parentheses can also be used to link the parts of the presentation/essay together. They act as a signal to the audience/readers, telling them what they will hear/read next. Semantically parentheses are divided in the following groups [47; 41; 31; 32; 33; 52; 53; 59; 60]:

1. Sequence

There are natural sequences, like infancy followed by childhood, adolescence, maturity and old age. In language the sequences can be expressed both by the choice of tenses, and by the choice of sequence words and phrases. There are a very large number of expressions which can be used to show the sequence of what we are saying. Here are some of them, divided into 3 groups, depending on their place in the text [47]:

Beginning:

Firstly, First of all, For a short, In the first place, Initially, To begin/start with, Let us begin/start by, First and foremost, First and most importantly

Going further:

Second(ly)/third(ly), In the second place, Subsequently, Simultaneously, And then, Next, Formerly/previously, Furthermore, Moreover

Concluding:

Summing up/to sum up, To conclude, In summary, Finally, In short/in brief, In a nutshell, On the whole, Ultimately, Last/lastly, Last of all, Last but not the least

Such words as after, afterwards, before, currently, meanwhile, in the meantime, until , till, when, as soon as, soon after, etc. serve the same purpose when time sequence is indicated [47].

Here is an example of a specific sequence:

First, / To start with, / To begin with, / First of all… wash the wound with cold water. Secondly, / After that, / Afterwards, / Then, / Next,… wrap a bandage around the cut. Finally, / Lastly, / Last but not least, … place the patient in a comfortable position [47].

2. Addition to what has been previously indicated

When stating the main points the additional ideas may be needed to introduce. Then the following phrases can be used:

Above all, Along with, Additionally, As well as, Besides, Equally important, Furthermore, Further, In addition, Moreover, Not only …, But also …, Not to mention, One could also say, What is more…

Examples:

Never go fishing, swimming, eating, or bathing alone because you do not know who or what they are talking about back at camp! What is more, some of the most valuable information and alliances are built on shared experiences [COCA, ACAD, 2010].

Judge Wood’s defenders say that she has a lengthier record on social issues than other potential nominees only because more such cases came before her court. Moreover, they say, in many of those cases, including several involving abortion, Republican appointees – often including the renowned conservative Judge Richard Posner – voted the same way she did [COCA, NEWS, 2010].

3. Personal or other people’s opinion

To express personal or somebody else’s point of view or to quote the authorities, the following phrases can be used:

Personal opinion

In my opinion/in my view, To my mind, To my way of thinking, Personally I believe that/ I think that…, It strikes me that, I feel very strongly that, It seems to me that, As far as I am concerned

Another source

It’s popularly believed that, People often claim that, It is often alleged that, Some people argue that, A lot of people think/believe that, It’s widely recognized, It’s maintained

For example:

To my way of thinking, their breakup was the best thing that ever happened to him [COCA, FIC, 2010].

4. Comparison/Contrast

Sometimes it may be compared what have already been stated with what are going to be said next. The ideas may seem similar or contrast with one another.

Look at these sentences:

1. Alcohol reduces our ability to concentrate on our work. Similarly/ likewise/ in the same way, it reduces our ability to concentrate while driving.
2. 2. It is a known fact that smoking causes cancer, yet, / however, / nevertheless, / but, / at the same time, / still, / nonetheless millions of people around the world continue to smoke [47].

In the first sentence all the underlined phrases express the similarity of two ideas: alcohol badly affects our 1) work; 2) driving. In the second example the highlighted phrases help us make contrasting points: smoking is bad, but a lot of people don’t care.

Here are more of these phrases:

Similarity:

Also, Alternatively, Analogously, Both… and…, By the same token, Correspondingly, Equally, Just like, In comparison, In the same manner, In the same way, Likewise, Similarly, Too

Examples:

But by the same token, she also testified that she was confused about what was in reality and what was in her imagination [COCA, SPOK, 2009].

Likewise, they have developed patterns of value and behavior that reflect the multiple cultural influences they have encountered [COCA, ACAD, 2001].

Contrast

But/However, Conversely/On the contrary, Even though/Although, In spite of / despite, Differing from/In contrast/Instead, In reality, One the one hand / on the other hand, Notwithstanding, Nonetheless/Nevertheless, Still/Yet, Unlike, Whereas/While

For example:

Notwithstanding my previous critique, The Promised Land contains just an abbreviated discussion of a link between the sharecroppers of yesteryear and the ghetto residents of today [COCA, ACAD, 1991].

Unlike my mother, he wasn’t much of a talker, but this one time when he was drunk – more often than not, he was drunk – he told a very strange story [COCA, FIC, 2009].

5. Reinforcement

The Parentheses of reinforcement indicate the additional point in an argument, but with a slightly different meaning. They are used to reinforce an argument in a situation where a preceding argument might not seem sufficient. To stress a point, to emphasize what is said, the following phrases can be used:

Above all, Actually, Additionally, Admittedly, Again, Also, As a matter of fact, As well (as), Besides, Certainly, Especially, Further, Furthermore, Of course, Indeed/truly, In fact/actually, In addition, Mainly, More over, Needless to say, No doubt, Not only… but also, Notably, Obviously, Particularly, Specifically, Surely

Let’s see which effect they produce:

Actually, the difficulty isn’t with the iPad, but rather with the USB port: It’s not supplying enough juice [COCA, MAG, 2011].

 Needless to say, I felt such a relief that all are safe and sound [COCA, SPOK, 2011].

Notably, when pronouns – but not proper names – were read, there was activity in areas of the brain associated with spatial processing [COCA, ACAD, 2010].

6. Explanation

A point already made can be explained in three ways [5, 140]:

1. a) by expanding and clarifying its meaning: that is, that is to say, ie;
2. b) by giving a more precise description: namely, mainly, particularly, viz;
3. c) by giving illustration: for example, for instance, such as, to illustrate, as an illustration, to demonstrate, e.g.

For instance:

At least one person, namely the President himself, supports the proposal for disarmament.

It is important that young children should see things, and not merely read about them. For example, it is valuable experience to take them on a trip to a farm.

7. Classification

In order to help the audience perceive the information better, especially when it is quite sophisticated the ideas may be needed to clarify, to make them easier for understanding or give some examples. For this the following parentheses are used:

In other words, That is…, Namely, That is to say, To put in another way, One example of this is, For example/for instance, Such as, Frequently, As an illustration, To demonstrate, To illustrate

For example:

That, he told his audience, is a statistically impossible lack of diversity. In other words, it’s the product of institutional ideological bias [COCA, ACAD, 2010].

And I think he has made the determination that, you know, he is going to sacrifice any sort of real life in the cause of Wikileaks. That is to say, this is a guy who lives his whole life with a boarding pass in his hand and a knapsack over his back, and that’s about it in terms of what his life is [COCA, SPOK, 2010].

8. Alternative ideas

The parentheses present a new way of solving the problem, help to transfer from one idea to another, equally important in the situation [47].

The next phrases can be used in this case:

Besides, However, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, Only, But, Still, Yet, In any case, All the same, At the same time

There are some examples of using them:

All the same, Dion says she came here in the first place because she wanted to put down roots, back when her son Rene-Charles–known as “R.C.” and now 10–was an infant [COCA, MAG, 2011].

In any case, since childhood the novels to which I’ve returned most gladly are those that ask to detain us for weeks, even months – the novels of Lady Murasaki, Samuel Richardson, Stendhal, Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Proust, and Thomas Mann [COCA, FIC, 2011].

 

9. Expressing cause / reason

The parentheses expressing cause and reason help to motivate ideas, acts, situations that already have happened or could have happened. Usually the reason or the cause is presented in the previous sentence. There are some parentheses below:

Because of, As, Since, This is why, Due to, Owing to, For this reason

For instance:

The study of rock art would seem an unlikely candidate for settling this question — it is usually nearly impossible to date. For this reason – and because rock art is often subject to whimsical interpretations – some archaeologists aren’t particularly keen on it [COCA, ACAD, 2011].

10. Result

These phrases show the consequence or the result of what has been said in the previous sentence or sentences. They help to express relationships of cause and effect. To express these relationships one of the three following ways can be chosen [47]:

Conjuncts

Among the conjuncts because, as, since, and so can be marked out. Because, as, and since introduce a cause; so introduces an effect. These are used to join two complete sentences (or independent clauses) together:

I stayed at home because it was raining.

Since it was raining, I stayed at home.

It was raining, so I stayed at home.

1. b) Transitions

Among the transitions the most often used are therefore, consequently, and as a result. All of these introduce an effect.

It was raining; therefore, I stayed at home.

It was raining. Consequently, I stayed at home.

Other transitions are:

Accordingly, As a consequence, For this/that reason, Hence, In brief, In conclusion, In other words, In short, In the nutshell, In that case, On account of this, Overall, Therefore, Then, Thus

c) Prepositions

Among the prepositions are due to and because of. Both of these introduce a cause in the form of a noun phrase:

In a retrial in 2003 the suspects were again acquitted again due to lack of physical evidence [COCA, NEWS, 2011].

Because of lack of physical evidence, in a retrial in 2003 the suspects were again acquitted again.

 Thus, the effective usage of parentheses can help connect the ideas logically. Using them fluently and confidently helps to come across as a skilled speaker [46].

11. Summing up / concluding

The conclusion of what has been said before, summarizing the most important and brilliant ideas can be presented by the following parenthesis:

All in all, Overall, Generally, In conclusion, On the whole, In the main, To sum up, Accordingly, Consequently, Finally, Hence, So, Therefore, Thus, As a result, In brief, In short, In summary, On the whole, To conclude

For instance:

All in all, he had the face of some fairy-tale prince come to life. Some gallant knight on a quest [COCA, FIC, 2000].

In conclusion, my father is driving me down to Chicago so I can see a very anticipated “Hurt Locker” [COCA, NEWS, 2010].

The distribution of subject gerunds closely parallels the infinitive cases and this is why we will not discuss it in any detail. The constructions are often interchangeable from a syntactic perspective, though there may be differences of meaning. (43) It was great fun to swim in the sea.

It was great fun swimming in the sea.

Since the subject position is least dependent on the verb from the interpretive point of view, it brings out the more concrete meaning of the gerund which designates propositions, facts or events in contrast with the proposition-denoting infinitive. Gerunds in subject position often refer to facts or possibilities, i.e., to definite events that have causal efficacy. Gerunds are often subjects of causative verbs, or causative psychological verbs:

(44) John’s hitting Mary made her mad.

Pulling the little girl’s hair infuriated her.

In examples like those below the gerund is the subject of event-taking predicates, thus designating an event. Remember that events are identified by their space-time properties:

(45) a. Building the Panama Canal took longer than expected.

Gathering pecans in central Texas starts in September.

Comparing the frequency of various types of complements subjects, Close (1972) notices that Poss-ing and Acc-ing complements “seem to be less frequent as subjects, at least in the spoken language”. When a full ing complement is, nevertheless, used as a subject, Poss-ing appears to be the more natural construction. Acc-ing constructions in subject position are also possible, however.

Gerund complements appear as subjects of one place adjectives or nouns: likely, necessary, odd, tragic, etc. a pleasure, an event, a good / bad thing etc. When it is lexically specified, the subject appears in the Possessive or in the Accusative case (sentences (46)). Alternatively, when it is not lexically specified, the subject is control or arbitrary PRO, or it is an unspecified variable DP, whose content is recoverable only in a context (sentences (47)). Examples of extraposed gerund subjects have also been included.

(46) Poss-ing a. “Your guessing that is a proof that you’re as clever as I say.”

Her watching by the fireside for her husband’s return from an absence might superficially have appeared as the most natural act in the world.

Acc-ing.

1. Millie flirting with Christopher was one good thing.
2. Look here, Billy, it’s no good you hanging around.

(47) PRO-ing with control subject

1. Stepping into the public bar gave him a comforting sense of normality.
2. Thinking of her made him think of her embrace.

PRO-ing with arbitrary subject

1. Loving one’s enemies is a Christian duty.
2. Swimming in the sea is great fun.

Gerund complements also occur as subjects of intransitive predicates that also govern prepositional Indirect Objects introduced by to, for, of, or Prepositional Objects (adjectives: hard, easy, surprising, boring, verbs: matter, occur etc.)

(48) a. Being sorry for Austin was a sort of occupation for both of them.

Meeting him was of utmost interest to me.

As already mentioned gerund complements are subjects of the large group of causative psychological verbs (surprise, alarm, bore, etc.), as well as of other transitive verbs (alter, mean, imply, entail, cause, make, give, etc.) and intransitive verbs (suffice, will do).

(49) a. Howard’s coming to live with us disturbed the routine of our household.

The front door bell’s sharply ringing pierced his ears so rudely that he could not at first think what has happened to him.

(50) a. Aiming for truth brings one up against what she calls “the opacity of persons”.

Finding you here surprised me. c. Losing his fortune made him mad.

It had already been mentioned that Extra position is not in general allowed, due to the fact that gerunds are DPs. Certain adjectives (easy, hard, useless, fun, fine, worth, awkward, ill, jolly, awful, etc.) and nouns (it is no / not any / little use / good / avail, it’s worth while, it’s an awful job etc.) allow the application of Extraposition (exemples (52)). All of them have affective, evaluative meaning; moreover, the nouns appear in frozen idiomatic constructions.

The examination of the corpus indicates that, as also noticed by Milsark (1988), only subjectless gerunds can extrapose in contemporary English (sentences (52)). To account for this distribution, we assumed that, when it extraposes, the gerund may appear in a caseless position, because the ing suffix lacks a nominal feature in this case, so that the gerund will not be headed by a DP, being an IP. In contrast, in modern, as opposed to contemporary, English, it was possible to extrapose gerunds that had subjects as well.

Examples (51)

1. It was (of) no use my saying anything to you.
2. It is exceedingly unwise his going off to stay at Court.

(52) a. It was delightful being with him.

It’s so awful not being able to communicate.

Extraposition should not be mixed up with Right Dislocation, a rule which moves an NP to the end of the sentence, leaving behind a pronominal copy. The moved constituent is separated from the clause by comma intonation.

(53) a. John’s big cigar bothers me.

It bother’s me, John’s cigar.

Right Dislocation may operate on gerunds:

(54) a. It’s not very important to you, seeing Dorina, is it?

It will be a sad thing, parting with her.

A frequent class of idiomatic gerund constructions is the following, based on The reinsertion, in a (usually) negative sentence:

(55) a. He had a few faithful clients, but there was no denying business was rotten.

1. There’s no use saying any more about it.
2. Possessive and Accusative complements as objects of prepositions the prepositional context is the most characteristic environment for gerund complements, being the only surface context which they do not share with infinitives or finite complements. Occurrence in the context of the preposition confirms that gerunds are DPs. Secondly, the prepositional context is also historically the oldest distributional context of the gerund. “the only verbal gerunds that have been found in old English texts are prepositional gerunds based on action verbs.” (Wik, 973:196). Third, the prepositional context is the least marked semantically allowing any of the current interpretations of the gerund (function of the matrix predicate and other factors). In what follows we present the more frequent predicates that govern prepositional gerunds (verbs, verbal idioms, adjectives, nouns and which are strictly subcategorized for the respective preposition. As usual, the gerunds may or may not have an overt subject. Predicates and examples are grouped according to the preposition that governs the gerund. Lists are illustrative not exhaustive.

ABOUT. Verbs: care, hesitate, hurry, see, talk, dispute, make (no) bones, trouble oneself, brag; Adjectives: careful, anxious, annoyed, particular, positive, scrupulous, glad, sorry, happy, excited, right, wrong, mistaken, pleased, uneasy, diffident, etc.

(56) a. Mary is annoyed about Jim staying out so late.

I’m worried about Mary living abroad.

AGAINST. Verbs: rule, exclaim, murmur, fight, be on one’s, guard, set one’s face, vote. Adjectives: be dead against, etc.

(57) a. They now exclaimed against punishing in cold blood.

1. They voted against killing the prisoners.
2. (mostly psychological, non-causative predicates). Verbs: blush, delight in / at, laugh, rejoice, revolt, stare, grieve etc. Adjectives: agitated, alarmed, angry, annoyed, astonished, (un)concerned, delighted, disgusted, embarrassed, impatient, (dis)pleased, surprised, taken about, transported, stunned.

(58) a. We were delighted at (the fact of) her inheriting a fortune and surprised at it making no difference to what she did.

Barney had been shaken and rather especially pained at twice meeting Pat at the house.

FOR. Verbs: answer, vote, care, prepare, etc. Adjectives: prepared, ready, responsible, qualified, fit.

(59) a. I’ll answer for him being there in time.

He voted for outing off Cromwell’s head without a trial.

FROM. Verbs: abstain, arise, come, emerge, result, desist, discourage, escape, refrain, shrink, forbear, etc.

(60) a. This aspect of the matter, he deliberately refrained from examining in detail.

Verbs: believe, consist, join, assist, result, fail, end, persist, succeed, etc. to take delight / refuge, to take pleasure / pride / part etc. Adjectives: absorbed, engaged, deep, justified, instrumental, occupied, successful, warranted, continuous, interested, wrong, right, sunk, exact.

(61) Doro felt he had laid it on rather thick, but was certainly right in thinking that he would be forgiven.

Verbs: admit, come (= result), complain, despair, repent, think. Adjectives: apprehensive, aware, ashamed, afraid, chary, guilty, shy, conscious, hopeful, indicative, glad, desirous, jealous, (in)capable, sure, weary, worthy, etc.

(62) a. She was constantly complaining of the cold, and of [its occasioning a visitation in her back, which she called ‘the creeps’.

1. I thought that by your theory you disapproved of a writer’s marrying.
2. She is afraid of Mary being late for the party.

ON Verbs: calculate venture, decide, determine, resolve, vote, theorize, depend, fix, insist, reflect, pique, pride oneself on, etc. Adjectives: bent, determined, intent, resolved, set, intent, etc.

(63) a. She’d insist on everything’s being made comfortable, advantageous, and propitious for them.

More upsetting still, Paul insisted on spending the morning with her.

TO Verbs: admit, address, take to, confine oneself, allude, pertain, amount, consent, apply, to go far / a long way to, to lay claim to, to see clear to / one’s way to, testify, revert, settle, confess, resort, object, vouch, etc. look forward to, to be given / used to, to be on the way to. Adjectives, nouns: accessory, committed, confined, essential, opposed, subject, preferable, superior, tantamount, accustomed, near, averse, enemy, friend, party.

(64) a. I wouldn’t be a party to stealing a lot of worthless trinkets.

The next day he addressed himself to deciding what to do.

WITH Verbs: put up, dispense, content, busy / occupy oneself with, etc.

Adjectives: content, pleased, satisfied etc.

(65) a. She was forced to put up with sleeping in the kitchen.

b. She busied herself with tidying up her dress.

The parts of structures are called detached if by some specific consideration of the writer one of the secondary parts of the sentence is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to [2, 8].

The essential quality of detached construction lies in the fact that the isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. But a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of a primary member of the sentence – it always remains secondary from the semantic point of view, although structurally it possesses all the features of a primary member. This clash of the structural and semantic aspects of detached constructions produces the desired effect – forcing the reader to interpret the logical connections between the component parts of the sentence. Logical ties between them always exist in spite of the absence of syntactical indicators [40].

The structural patterns of detached constructions have not yet been classified, but the most noticeable cases are those in which an attribute or an adverbial modifier is placed not in immediate proximity to its referent, but in some other position, as in the following examples [40]:

Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fury in his eyes. Sir Pitt came in first, very much flushed, and rather unsteady in his gait.

Detached adverbials being more loosely related to the modified parts of the sentence than non-detached adverbials are never obligatory. They are separated from the rest of the sentence by intonation in speaking and by commas in writing.

Detachment of adverbials may be caused by various factors, the most important of which are their meaning, the form of expression, their extension, their position in the sentence, or the speaker’s desire for emphasis. Owing to their structure and meaning, absolute constructions are nearly always detached [4]:

‘I want to go,’ he said, miserable.

Wesley saw the boat, its decks deserted.

Adverbials are detached when they are placed in an unusual position, as in the following examples:

Like him, she saw danger in it.

Randall, for all his tiresomeness and badness, had always been her Randall.

Any adverbial may be detached if the speaker wishes to emphasize its meaning:

 “He was her father,” said Frances Wilmot, gravely.

Participial phrases as adverbials also tend to be detached:

She then returned to her place, not having spoken another word.

In many cases an attribute expressed by Participle I is detached, i.e. it acquires certain independence in the sentence; the connection between the attribute and the word it modifies is loose [4].

For example:

It was the entrance to a large family vault, extending under the north aisle.

When a participial phrase is used as attribute it follows the modified noun. Its verbal character is evident from its verbal combinability and sometimes from the passive form itself. A participial phrase may be (a) non-detached or (b) detached [4]:

1. a) We went along the street leading to the seashore.

 Emma sat in the armchair facing the door.

1. b) Once a month Tommy, arriving separately, came in for a brief drink.

Participle I can form a detached semi-predicative construction, known as the absolute participial construction, which does not intersect in any of its components with the primary sentence part [6], for instance:

The weather being fine, we decided to take a walk; I won’t speak with him staring at me like that.

When a participial phrase is detached, its position is not fixed. It may occupy the initial position, the mid-position or the final position in the sentence [4]. For example:

Greatly excited, the children followed her into the garden.

Johnson, left in charge of both officers, marched about for a little while.

And people hurried by, hidden under their dreadful umbrellas.

To the Detachment can be reckoned in propositional phases used with noun, pronoun, gerund or clause. They bring new sense to the sentence and may have an influence on the context inside the sentence. Some of these propositional phrases are:

According to

Because of

By means of

Concerning

In addition to

In case of

Instead of

In spite of / despite

On account of

 

For example:

In spite of the obstacles, a number of courageous women still put their pens to the page. Read about some American authors who broke down barriers and paved the way, through the centuries, for the contemporary women writers whose works you love to read today [COCA, ACAD, 2010].

They present, according to him and his colleagues, a previously unacknowledged, alternate native history [COCA, ACAD, 2011].

Detached constructions in their common forms make the written variety of language akin to the spoken variety where the relation between the component parts is effectively materialized by means of intonation. Detached construction, as it were, becomes a peculiar device bridging the norms of written and spoken language [39].

Parenthesis is often considered to be a variant of detached construction. A parenthesis offers additional information to a sentence. If a parenthesis is removed from a sentence, the sentence is still grammatically sound. In fact parenthesis sometimes embodies a considerable volume of predicativeness, thus giving the utterance an additional nuance of meaning or a tinge of emotional colouring.

The problem of differentiation between Parenthesis, Apposition and Detachment in Linguistics

It is generally recognized that Parenthesis (plural: parentheses; which comes from Greek, words meaning “alongside of” and “to place”) is an explanatory or qualifying word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage with which it doesn’t necessarily have any grammatical connection [24]. However, there is a marked discrepancy of opinion concerning the problem differentiation between Parenthesis, Apposition and Detachment as they also can provide some explanation and additional information in the sentence and can be – and usually are – separated by commas. Parenthesis, if treated broadly, if a multifaceted linguistic phenomenon embracing paradigmatically and syntactically heterogeneous units, namely parenthetical verbs, adverbs, prepositional noun phrases, infinitival and participial phrases, and parenthetical clauses. This may account for the fact that the boundaries between parenthesis, on the one hand, and apposition and detachment, on the other, are often blurred.

Therefore, it appears necessary to shed some light on the aforementioned issues and scrutinize their convergent and divergent features.

Apposition

Apposition is a grammatical construction in which relationship between two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to define or modify the other. They are used in the same way and refer to the same person or thing. For example:

My best friend, Jane, likes swimming [25].

In the phrase “my best friend, Jane”, the name “Jane” is in apposition to “my best friend”.

Traditionally, appositions were called by their Latin name appositio, although the English form is now more commonly used. It is derived from Latin: ad (“near”) and positio (“placement”). When this device is used, the two elements are said to be in apposition [35]. But sometimes the term “in apposition” means just “the same”. Therefore, when a parenthesis is the same thing as whatever it follows, it is called “parenthesis in apposition” [46].

Examples:

Kent Oliver – the only professional jockey from Jersey – won his first race on Tuesday. In this example ‘the only professional jockey from Jersey’ is Parenthesis.

Kent Oliver is the professional jockey. This is Parenthesis in Apposition.

At midnight last night, Skip (a guard dog for Bonds Ltd in Bury) hospitalized two intruders who broke in the company yard. Here brackets used as parentheses.

Skip is the guard dog. This is parenthesis in apposition

There are some examples of sentence which can not be reconstructed in the Parenthesis in Apposition.

Jamie Buxton, who fainted in church during his wedding, apologized to his wife… In this sentence the Parenthesis is ‘who fainted in church during his wedding’. This sentence can not be rebuilt as parenthesis in apposition.

Paul, on the other hand, in considered extremely trustworthy. Here ‘on the other hand’ used as Parenthesis.

But there are cases when the construction can be both Parenthesis and Apposition, as it can easy be removed from the sentence without damaging the sense of the whole sentence:

Barry Goldwater, the junior senator from Arizona, received the Republican nomination in 1964 [35].

John and Bob, both friends of mine, are starting a band [35].There is an interactive example:

Prices in Alton, a small town only 25 minutes from London, are soaring [35].

Apposition can be restrictive or non-restrictive where the second element parenthetically modifies the first [5, 184].

In a non-restrictive appositive, the second element parenthetically modifies the first without changing its scope. Non-restrictive appositives are not crucial to the meaning of the sentence. In a restrictive appositive, the second element limits or clarifies the foregoing one in some crucial way. Geoffrey Leech in his Communicative Grammar illustrates excellent example of Restrictive and Non-restrictive Apposition:

Which Mr. Smith do you mean? Mr. Smith the architect or Mr. Smith the electrician?

I want to speak to Mr. Smith, the electrician [5, 184].

In the phrase “Mr. Smith the architect or Mr. Smith the electrician“, “the architect/the electrician” specifies to which Mr. Smith the speaker is referring and is therefore restrictive. On the other hand, “Mr. Smith, the electrician” the parenthetical “the electrician” does not narrow down the subject, but rather provides additional information about the subject, namely, “Mr. Smith“.

In English, a non-restrictive appositive must be preceded or set off by commas, while a restrictive appositive is not set off by commas [35].

Restrictive apposition is common especially when the first element defines the meaning of the second element [5, 184]:

The famous critic Paul Jones

The number three

The novel Les Misérables

My good friend Bob

This man Smith

The letter ‘A’

Not all restrictive clauses are appositives. For example, Alice in “Bill’s friend Alice …” is an appositive noun; Alice in “Bill’s friend, whose name is Alice, …” is not an appositive but, rather, the predicate of a restrictive clause. The main difference between the two is that the second explicitly states what an apposition would omit: that the friend in question is named Alice. If the meaning is clear “Bill’s friend Alice” can be used.

The same words can change from restrictive to non-restrictive (or vice versa) depending on the speaker and context. Consider the phrase “my brother Nathan”. If the speaker has more than one brother, the name Nathan is restrictive as it clarifies which brother. However, if the speaker has only one brother, then the brother’s name is parenthetical and the correct way to write it is: “my brother, Nathan, …”. If it is not known which the case is, it is safer to omit the restrictive commas: “John’s brother Nathan” is acceptable whether or not John has more brothers, unlike “John’s brother, Nathan” [35].

Sometimes the appositional relation is made explicit by an adverbial, for example, the passenger plane of the 1980s, namely the supersonic jet. Under apposition may also be included cases where the second element exemplifies the first, or is in inclusive relation to it. In such cases a connecting adverbial, such as for example, for instance, especially, particularly, in particular, notably, chiefly, mainly, is normally present [5, 184]:

Many famous men, for example de Gaulle, Churchill and Roosevelt, have visited this university [5, 184].

The children enjoyed watching the animals, particularly the monkeys [5, 184].

Examining the Apposition it is also important to mention about appositive clauses.

According to Geoffrey Leech appositive clauses are nominal clauses which have a relation to the head similar to that between two noun phrases in apposition. They can be that-clauses or to-infinitive clauses [5, 250]:

(1) The news that he was resigning his job proved to be incorrect.

(2)The police have been investigating a plot to kidnap a prominent diplomat.

The relation of apposition can be seen if noun phrase is related to a subject + be + complement construction:

(1a)The news was that he was resigning his job.

(2a)The plot is to kidnap a prominent diplomat.

That-clause is nominal clause and not a relative clause. For example:

(3) The news that was spreading proved to be incorrect.

That in (3) is relative pronoun, and could be replaced by which. It acts as the subject of the clause. But in (1) that is conjunction [5, 250].

Blokh regards that the appositive clause, in keeping with the general nature of apposition, does not simply give some sort of qualification to its antecedent, but defines or elucidates its very meaning in the context. Due to this specialization, appositive clauses refer to substantive antecedents of abstract semantics. Since the role of appositive clauses consists in bringing about contextual limitations of the meaning of the antecedent, the status of appositive clauses in the general system of attributive clauses is intermediary between restrictive and descriptive [13, 319].

In accord with the type of the governing antecedent, all the appositive clauses fall into three groups: first, appositive clauses of nounal relation; second, appositive clauses of pronominal relation; third, appositive clauses of anticipatory relation.

Appositive clauses of nounal relation are functionally nearer to restrictive attributive clauses than the rest. They can introduce information of a widely variable categorical nature, both nominal and adverbial. The categorical features of the rendered information are defined by the type of the antecedent.

The characteristic antecedents of nominal apposition are abstract nouns like fact, idea, question, plan, suggestion, news, information, etc [13, 320].

For example:

The news that Dr. Blare had refused to join the Antarctic expedition was sensational.

We are not prepared to discuss the question who will chair the next session of the Surgical Society.

The characteristic antecedents of adverbial apposition are abstract names of adverbial relations, such as time, moment, place, condition, purpose, etc [13, 320].

For example:

We saw him at the moment he was opening the door of his Cadillac.

They did it with the purpose that no one else might share the responsibility for the outcome of the venture.

Appositive clauses of pronominal relation refer to an antecedent expressed by an indefinite or demonstrative pronoun. The constructions serve as informatively limiting and attention-focusing means in contrast to the parallel non-appositive constructions [13, 320].

For instance:

I couldn’t agree with all that she was saying in her irritation. I couldn’t agree with what she was saying in her irritation. (Limitation is expressed.)

That which did strike us was the inspector’s utter ignorance of the details of the case. → What did strike us was the inspector’s utter ignorance of the details of the case. (The utterances are practically equivalent, the one with a clausal apposition being somewhat more intense in its delimitation of the desired focus of attention.)

Appositive clauses of anticipatory relation are used in constructions with the anticipatory pronoun (namely, the anticipatory it, occasionally the demonstratives this, that). There are two varieties of these constructions — subjective and objective. The subjective clausal apposition is by far the basic one, both in terms of occurrence (it affects all the notional verbs of the vocabulary, not only transitive) and functional range (it possesses a universal sentence-transforming force). Thus, the objective anticipatory apposition is always interchangeable with the subjective anticipatory apposition, but not vice versa [13, 321].

For example:

I would consider it (this) a personal offence if they didn’t accept the forwarded invitation. It would be a personal offence (to me) if they didn’t accept the forwarded invitation.

You may depend on it that the letters won’t be left unanswered. It may be depended on that the letters won’t be left unanswered.

The anticipatory appositive constructions, as is widely known, constitute one of the most peculiar typological features of English syntax. Viewed as part of the general appositive clausal system here presented, it is quite clear that the exposure of their appositive nature does not at all contradict their anticipatory interpretation, nor does it mar or diminish their “idiomatically English” property so emphatically pointed out in grammar books.

The unique role of the subjective anticipatory appositive construction, as has been stated elsewhere, consists in the fact that it is used as a universal means of rheme identification in the actual division of the sentence [13, 319-321].

The point of view that English punctuation is not stable is widely spread. But a detailed analysis can prove that in most cases the punctuation is rather fixed. However, there are some excep­tions, especially in subordinate adverbial clauses, where the punctua­tion is not always stable. Analysis of the texts has led us to several conclu­sions. By means of our research we ascertained several conclusions:

1) In the scope of our research we covered such phenomena as: the relation between independent clauses joined asyndetically, which influences the punctuation; some methods of introducing adverbial modifiers and adverbial clauses of comparison that affect the punctuation; strict discrimination between adverbial modifiers of manner and attending circumstances, which are frequently not distinguished in foreign Grammar books, but which have different punc­tuation, being unequally attached to the predicates; double modality; compound and complex introductory sentences; complicated cases of compound sentences with subordination and complex sentences with co-ordination; group-connectives; detached and attached subordinate clauses, some details on detached parts of a sentence; and others.

2) Almost all subordinate clauses tend to preserve the punc­tuation of the corresponding parts of a sentence in English; the de­gree of dependence of the subordinate clause on the principal, the syn­tactical ways of connecting both affect the punctuation in complex sentences; the punctuation in a sentence depends to a great extent on the fact whether the parts of the sentence or the subordinate clauses have a detached or attached character, and whether pauses are necessary; since the word order in an English sentence is rather fixed, certain word order changes weaken the connection between the parts of the sen­tence, and often cause alterations in intonation and, consequently, in punctuation as well; about half of the rules presented coincide with the corre­sponding rules in Russian. They mostly refer to “The Simple Sentence” and to “The Compound Sentence”. The rules that do not coincide re­fer mostly to “The Complex Sentence”.

From the comparative charts below, based on the rules of the use of punctuation marks, we can easily trace similarities in both languages that might make it easier to imply in practice.

We have established that the punctuation in the English language is a very problematic part of grammar. We have studied the written speech of native speakers and achieved the purposes.

 

Bibliography

Truss, Lynne, 2003. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Profile Books. (e-book)

I Saw Esau/ Iona and Peter Opie, 1943. (e-book)

MacKellar, Thomas (1885). The American Printer: A Manual of Typography, Containing Practical Directions for Managing all Departments of a Printing Office, As Well as Complete Instructions for Apprentices: With Several Useful Tables, Numerous Schemes for Imposing Forms in Every Variety, Hints to Authors, Etc. (Fifteenth – Revised and Enlarged ed.). Philadelphia: MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. p. 63.

Deskbook of correct English. Michael West and P. F. Kimber. Leningrad, 1963

Notes on Punctuation, Partridge E., Oxford. (on-line recourse)

Wikipedia

The MacMillan College Handbook \ G. H. Levin, 1987. – pp. 200-257.

The Random House Handbook \ F. Crews. – 1987, pp. 345 – 464.

Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers \ L. Q. Troyka. – 2^nd ed., 1990, pp. 476 – 572.

The diploma paper sets out to explore parenthesis, a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or sentence that interrupts a syntactical construction without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicating in writing by commas, parentheses, or dashes [19].

The research of the Parenthesis is extremely important in English. It helps to connect the ideas and sentences, so that writing and speaking is fluent, accurate and clear. Using the Parenthesis helps the reader to maintain a coherent point of view, to sort out main ideas and important details, to reduce the risk of leaving out some really important fact or argument and to give verbal signposts to the reader showing how you are moving on [3, 10-12].

The work considers such branches of grammar as lexicology, morphology and syntax. At the lexicological level Parenthesis is analyzed semantically, the sets of Parenthetical phrases and structures examples are illustrated. At the morphological level the structural characteristics are discussed and the means of expressing Parenthesis are examined. At the syntactical level its position in the sentence and in the text is investigated.

As regards its meaning and function, Parenthesis can be of several types. It may express the speaker’s attitude to the relation between what is expressed in the sentence and reality (perhaps, maybe, certainly, of course, oh, dear me). It may connect the sentence it belongs to with the preceding or the following one (first, firstly, secondly, finally, after all, besides, by the way, on the contrary, that is, for example). It may specify that which is said in the sentence or express a comment (according to my taste, in my opinion, to tell the truth, in other words, in short, as I know, by the way).

The diploma paper presents different means of expressing Parenthesis, such as conjuncts, modal, viewpoint and comment adverbs. In the sentence they can be presented as a single word (conjunct, adverb), phrase (prepositional phase), word combination, clause (infinitive, participle), or sentence.

The present research is aimed at investigating the means of expressing Parenthesis and their functioning in publicistic style. The major research focus is on the modal, commenting and viewpoint adverbs, conjunctions, infinitival and participial clauses, which perform the function of Parenthesis.

Parenthesis has recently seen a surge in interest, as shown by the abundance of new publications on Germanic as well as on Romance languages. Various taxonomies have been proposed, but these are still far from complete. Most of the scientists rate Parenthesis as ‘”Linking words and Phrases” which are useful for writing essays. Among these researchers there are Mark Skipper [21, 76], John Eastwood [14, 366]. Geoffrey Leech calls them “Linking signals” [5, 139] and “Linking constructions” [5, 141], Michael Swan defines them as “discourse markers” [9, 172].

The textbooks on theoretical grammar provide only scanty information about Parenthesis, though it is liable to present us with a whole bundle of problems. Firstly, there are a lot of borderline cases of transition between Parenthesis, on the one hand, and Apposition and detached parts of the sentence, on the other. A number of fairly plausible viewpoints on the issue have been expressed and the objective criteria have been suggested. Nevertheless, they do not yield clear results and, a fully convincing solution to the problem has not been found yet [7; 8]. This calls for the need to provide a theoretical insight into the problem of Parenthesis in English, to consider the cases of grammatical homonymy at some length, to discuss the nature of relationships between parenthesis and its host construction it is embedded in.

Secondly, ignorance and wrong use of the Parenthesis appears to be one of the major errors notoriously common with the students. This determines the topicality of the research, its theoretical and practical value.

The object of investigation is Parenthesis. The subject of research is the means of expressing Parenthesis, including conjunctions, modal, commenting and viewpoint adverbs, infinitival and participial clauses, their functioning in the text. Such methods of investigation as structural-semantic, distributional and the elements of the quantitative analysis are used in this paper.

The aim of the diploma paper is many-fold and embraces the accomplishment of the following tasks:

• to compare the existing approaches and consolidate the insights into the theoretical treatment of Parenthesis and the adjacent structures such as Apposition and Detachment;
• to determine the salient characteristics of Parenthesis and examine the convergent and divergent features of Parenthesis, on the one hand, and Apposition and Detachment, on the other;
• to review the functions assigned to Parenthesis from a pragmatic perspective;
• to explore the functional potential of Parenthesis and to give its classification;
• to analyze the positional and structural peculiarities of Parenthesis on the sentence and textual level;
• to examine the syntactic usage of different parenthetical types.

According to the spheres of concern the work falls into an Introduction, three parts, conclusion and the list of references which together with the appendix comprise 87 pages. Part 1 deals with the analysis of the semantic, structural and positional characteristics of Parenthesis. Part 2 is concerned with the diverse means of its expression. Part 3 presents the analysis of Parenthesis as functioning in publicistic style. Most of the examples presented in this diploma paper are taken form Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), Macmillan English Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Besides, for Part 3 different articles from such newspapers as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent and The BBC News were presented.

The scientific value of the diploma paper is that the results of the investigation can be used for the course of Theoretical Grammar, for teaching the usage of Parenthesis during writing essays, speeches and stories etc., for preparation for diverse tests and exams not only for University students, but also for university applicants.

Introductory sentences and clauses are marked off by dashes, or brackets in case of weaker connection, to denote an explanatory, detached, additional character, pauses and lowered voice: “Then we thought we were going to have supper (we had dispensed with tea, so as to save time), but George said, no”.

Introductory sentences are often compound or complex sentences.

Such sentences are either enclosed in brackets, or set off by dashes, and may have marks of their own within the brackets, according to the rules of complex or compound sentences.

If an introductory sentence or clause comes at the end of the whole sentence, the full-stop is placed outside the second bracket. But in case of an independent introductory sentence which begins with a capital letter, there is a full-stop before the opening bracket to complete the previous sentence, and another full-stop before the closing bracket to complete the introductory sentence. Instead of a full-stop there may be a question mark or an exclamation mark, if necessary. For example: “At the foot of the ladder I called up to Pyle, “It’s me– Fowler”. (Even then I couldn’t bring myself to use my Christian name to him.)”

Appended introductory clauses, having a modal parenthetical meaning, are placed either in the middle, or at the end of a sentence, and are marked off by commas, or by dashes. These clauses are short, consisting, mainly, of a subject and a predicate: “Dinny Cherrell! Charwell they spelled it, he remembered”.

Direct speech is introduced by double (or single) quotation marks (also called ‘inverted commas’, or ‘quotes’), which are placed at the top of the line, the opening commas being inverted, the closing, regular. The closing commas come after a full-stop, a question mark, an exclamatory mark, or dots. If direct speech comes after the author’s words, it is introduced by a colon. Before a new paragraph there is a colon and a dash: “Gentlemen!” Hightower said. Then he said: “Men! Men!”

“He said distinctly: –

“Yes, I knew he was not a doctor”.

In interrupted direct speech both parts are included in double quotes. There is a comma before the author’s words (inside the quotes), and a comma after them. If necessary, there may be other marks instead of the commas: “It’s–it’s frightfully smart–but,” she smiled, “somehow it doesn’t quite seem you!”

In rare cases direct speech is introduced without any quotation marks. Single quotation marks are sometimes used to introduce direct speech: “I don’t mean what I-did, Ben said. I mean the piano. I mean the piano itself. It has a fine tone, especially for a little piano. A middle-aged clerk came over and said, How do you do? Hello, Ben said. This is a swell one”.

Non-direct speech, which introduces thoughts, meditations, somebody’s out-loud speaking to oneself, has usually no quotation marks. It is set off from the author’s words by a comma, or double commas if interrupted. In rare cases, there are quotation marks to introduce non-direct speech: “So, he said to himself, we did well to stop the quarrelling”.

Quotations are enclosed in quotation marks. In case of a secondary quotation (a quotation within a quotation), there are outer quotes (double) and inner quotes (single). Secondary quotations are usually found within direct speech: “He was their “little mystery”, their “big patriot”

Names of sputniks, luniks (moon rockets); books, poems, songs, plays, films, newspapers, magazines; theatres, cinemas; ships, boats, schooners; hotels, restaurants, inns, clubs, offices, etc., may be written in italics instead of being enclosed in quotes, when quoted.

Articles are italicized before such nouns if they belong to the names; if they do not, they are not.

Also, when quotes are used, articles are enclosed within them if they belong to the names; if they do not, they are placed outside the quotes: “He had been a member of the crew of the smuggling schooner Halcyon”.

Foreign and ironical words, obsolete and newly introduced words, strange or unusual words, are enclosed in quotes, double or single. Within direct speech single quotes are used to introduce such words: “It was his “think-machine” that had gone wrong”.

Words that do not belong to the text at all, such as translations or extra explanations, names of authors or newspapers, years and places of edition, phonetic transcription, etc., are enclosed in square brackets.

Titles and subtitles in books, in newspapers, and in stories, have no full-stops at the end. But there are exclamation marks in exclamatory titles; question marks, in interrogative titles; and dots, in implicative titles.

Addresses on envelopes, in newspapers, in letters, on invitation cards, etc., are punctuated in the following way. There is a comma between the addressee’s name and the initial letters denoting a title. In case of two or more titles, there should be a comma between each. If there is no title; a comma is placed between the addressee’s name and the house number. There is also a comma before the name of the district (not before the district number), and after the name of the town or city, if the name of the country follows. A full-stop is placed at the end of the address. In newspapers there may be a comma between the name of the street and the town.

Mr. Henry John Brown, M.A. 10 Wood Road London, N. W. Great Britain.

Printed by D. Young, 168 Day Street, Sydney at 21 Ross Street, Forest Lodge. (The Tribune)

Dates: there is no punctuation mark between the number of the day, the name of the month, and the year. There is a comma after the name of the day.

19 April 1991

19th April 1991

April 19th 1991

Saturday, April 19th 1991

A comma divides the day of the month from the year: May 17, 1930

You needn’t include it if you give only the month and the year: May 1930

The comma follows the year when the date appears before the end of the sentence: She was born February 14, 1934, in Boston.

She was born on 14 February 1934 in Boston

When only the month and the year are stated, commas before and after are optional: July 1934 was the month of her birth or July, 1934, was the month of her birth.

Use a comma between the day and the date: Sunday, July 20, 1969

Letters are written either with quotation marks before each paragraph and at the end of the letter, or without them. The direct address is followed by a comma: “Cork Street: Saturday.

Bless you for your letter. Come up here to lunch Monday. We must talk. – Wilfrid”.

“Dear Doctor Manson,

Mr. and Mrs. Watkins are coming to supper with me tomorrow, Sunday evening. If you have nothing better to do, would you care to come too? Half-past seven”.

Sincerely,

Christine Barlow

In Russian letters are quoted in the same way as direct speech is. The direct address is followed by an exclamation mark.

Like a compound sentence, a compound sentence including subordination may have a comma, a semicolon, a colon, or a dash between the independent clauses, which may be linked by a conjunction as well.

The punctuation of the subordinate clauses and their ways of connection with the principal clauses depend on the types of the subordinate clauses.

Compound sentences with subordination have two or more independent (co-ordinate) clauses, and one or more dependent (subordinate) clauses.

(/ – primarily division; || – subdivision, secondary division). For example: “Scotty’s ideal optimism about game could always be counted on, || and though Roy was realist enough to disagree, / he liked to hear it anyway”.

In long compound sentences with subordination the dependent clauses may be coordinated in their turn, that is, the subordinate clauses are homogeneous. These may have their own subordinate clauses. So the relation is:

Co-ordination -> subordination->co-ordination->subordination.

The punctuation in such sentences remains the same as stated above: “They had what they could get, || and then, | as Nab for the twentieth time was audibly wondering | what George was up to / and Margery for the dozenth time was realizing / how splendidly he had run, | George himself reappeared beaming with satisfaction”.

In complex sentences with co-ordination the homogeneous subordinate clauses are either divided by commas, or linked by the conjunctions ‘and’, ‘or’. There are often both a comma and a conjunction to connect them.

The punctuation between the principal and the subordinate clause depends on the type of the subordinate clause: “Andrew did not know || that Christine felt lonely | and that she suffered much”.

In long complex sentences with co-ordination the homogeneous subordinate clauses may have subordination in their turn, then there may come co-ordination and subordination again.

The relation will thus be:

Subordination -> co-ordination -> subordination -> co-ordination -> subordination.

The homogeneous clauses are divided, like independent clauses, by commas, sometimes by semicolons or dashes. The punctuation of other subordinate clauses depends on the types of these clauses: “Think || what you could do, | how much you could help to spread the light–| if you were to come forward tomorrow and say | that you had become a Socialist–| that you believed that the Community should own and administer the great monopolies for the benefit of all–| so that there might be labor and freedom and joy for all–| so that no man should be exploited for the benefit of any other man”.

In complex sentences, in compound sentences with subordination, and in complex sentences with co-ordination, two (even three) conjunctions, or a conjunction and a connective word, often come together, in groups, the so-called “group-connectives”. The following groups may occur:

two subordinate conjunctions – ‘because + if’, ‘because + though’, ‘because + when’, ‘so that + if’, ‘that + as’ ‘that + even if, ‘that + if, ‘that + though’, ‘that + when’;

a coordinative and a subordinate conjunction – ‘and + as’, ‘and + as if, ‘and + as though’, ‘and + if, ‘and + though’, ‘and + that’, ‘and + because’, ‘and + when’, ‘and + that + when’, ‘and + that + if;

two coordinative conjunctions – ‘and + so’, ‘and + yet’, ‘and + still;

a conjunction and a connective adverb or pronoun – ‘and + however’, ‘and + therefore’, ‘and + what’, ‘but + nevertheless’, ‘but + hardly – when’, ‘if + what’.

If some punctuation mark is necessary – a comma, a semicolon, or a dash – it usually comes before the first conjunction; it may come between the two conjunctions, or between the conjunction and the connective word, if the subordinate clause has a detached character, and a pause is needed before this clause: “She ordered him to set the table, and as he trotted into the living-room, as he hunted through the buffet for knives and forks, he felt utterly at home”.

In Russian no punctuation mark is placed between the two conjunctions, nor between the conjunction and the connective word, if one of the components of a compound conjunction follows and so the subordinate clause cannot be omitted or shifted to another place. If these components are omitted there is a comma between the two conjunctions, or between the conjunction and the connective word. In this case the subordinate clause has a detached character.