Every utterance can be divided into separate segments, united by intonation, semantic and syntactic integrity. These segments are highlighted by increasing the last stress and pausing. So, the subject group is one segment of the utterance, the predicate group is another, for example: A big ginger dog / basked in the sun.

Pauses between such verbal segments are often perceived by writers as a guideline for setting punctuation marks. But do not forget that punctuation marks are not a mirror image of pauses. In some cases, the pauses between utterance segments coincide with punctuation marks, while in others they do not.

Segments of an utterance or its elements are separated from each other by a punctuation mark in case of compositional connection, when they are grammatically independent or equal, for example: He took off his hat and laid it carefully on the table. I collected stamps, / coins, / postcards. The sun goes down, / evening comes.

In the case of a subordinate relationship, when one of the segments of the utterance has a character that depends on the other, the punctuation mark is not used between them (here we mean not isolated and clarifying members of the sentence, not subject and compound predicates without a bundle, and not subordinate clauses). When subordinated, the utterance segments denote an object, phenomenon, quality, property, or object.-

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cess: an interesting book, a bird flies, a new lampshade, fun to walk, return the book to the library, conscientiously complete the task, from morning to night enthusiastically read a novel.

In our view, as in reality, each of these phrases denoting" pieces " of reality is an indecomposable concept, a single semantic whole, and therefore the statement of a separating punctuation mark in such phrases is inappropriate.

A reliable support for punctuation of sentences can serve for the writer of the compositional conjunction and. So, if you can use the conjunction and between the segments of the utterance or its elements, then they are separated by a comma, for example: Larks take off, / fly, / disappear in the sky (cf.: Larks take off, and fly, and disappear in the sky). Dry, / clean, / light from the leaves in the garden (cf.: Dry, and clean, and light from the leaves in the garden). Creak ticks, / ring orioles (cf.: Creak ticks, and ring orioles).

If you can't put the conjunction and between the segments of a statement or its elements, then they are not separated by a comma, for example: Little / Gray sparrow / boiko jumped on the path. Immediately after lunch, Tanya went to the library. A flock of sheep spent the night near the shirokaya (steppe road). Recently arrived in the village / doctor / began to give lectures. Through the thin trunks of the trees, the rays of the sun that had just risen hit my back. After moving from Moscow to St. Petersburg / I'm staying with a friend. Unaffected by any predominant influence / the magnet belt lies in the middle / between its north and south poles. An international expedition has discovered a horse of unknown breed on one of the high plateaus of Tibet isolated from the outside world.

In all the above statements, the use of the conjunction and is logically unacceptable in place of the indicated pauses, and therefore the setting of commas is excluded here.

So, to avoid punctuation errors, you should not identify pauses and punctuation marks.

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