• Water supply
• Pumps
• Water purification
• Wells
• Filters

A dash before a word is placed or not. Difference between dash and hyphen. What it is

The Russian language is large and complex. One of the reasons for the difficulty of learning the Russian language is the flexibility of its grammatical structures. Remembering the entire set of rules for placing punctuation marks is an almost impossible task even for those who consider Russian their native language. One of the most difficult punctuation marks to place is the usual dash.

Rules for placing dashes

The following rules describe when to use a dash in a sentence (examples in parentheses to illustrate the rules). So, in what cases is a dash placed:

1. Between the predicate and the subject, if the predicate is a noun and is used in the nominative case. (A wolf is an animal. A good car is a man’s dream.) If the predicate is accompanied by the particle not, then the dash is omitted. (A car is not a luxury.);
2. Between the predicate and the subject, if the subject is in the nominative case and the predicate is an indefinite form of the verb, or they are both verbs of an indefinite form. (The dream is to live forever. To sleep is not to drag bags.);
3. A dash is placed before “this” if this word joins the predicate to the subject. This rule applies to the words “this is”, “here”, “this means” (Lion is a beast. Flying is a worthy dream.);
4. Before generalizing words after enumerations. (Eye, nose, mouth - everything is on the face. Neither tears, nor prayer - nothing touched him.);
5. Before the application, if it is at the end of the sentence. (He wanted one thing - money and only money.);
6. Between a pair of predicates or sentences, if in the second there is a sharp contrast or unexpected addition to the first. (I came - and everyone was already here! I wanted to drink - I dropped the glass.);
7. Between sentences or words joined without conjunctions to emphasize sharp contrasts. (Not the water in that cup - the nectar of the gods.);
8. Between sentences, if the second contains a conclusion from the first or a result and is not connected by a conjunction. (The palm itches - there will be money. Fingers in the socket - an electric shock.);
9. Between the subordinate and main clauses, if the main clause comes second and is not joined by a conjunction. (The forest is being cut down - the chips are flying.);
10. Where simple sentences split into two groups of words, if this cannot be expressed in any other way. (The enemy is in dust! And the sergeant is given a medal “For Courage.”);
11. In the middle of the sentence, two dashes highlight explanations and additions if the selection in brackets reduces the expressiveness of the text. (And Pakhomych - a rare bastard and a weasel - did not come at all.);
12. In a sentence in the middle, two dashes highlight a common application if it is necessary to show its independence. (Behind the wall of the house - an ordinary rural five-walled house - a whole detachment was hiding.);
13. In the middle of the sentence, two dashes highlight a group of homogeneous members. (Usually building materials - boards, nails, logs and staples - are prepared in advance.) If such a listing is preceded by a general word, then a dash is needed only at the end. (The entire squad, namely: Petya, Vasya, Igor and Semyon, did not go to the line.);
14. After a comma, when it is necessary to separate the main clause from a group of subordinate clauses and emphasize the breakdown of the whole into parts. (Whether the world will end or not, no one knows.);
15. After the comma, when you need to indicate an increase or decrease in the period. (People fly into space, harness atomic energy, write brilliant music, create unprecedented structures - but you don’t take out the trash!);
16. Between words, if these words limit a spatial, temporal or quantitative interval. (Flight Ankara - Yerevan. Break 5-7 minutes.);
17. Between the components of the name of the doctrine or scientific institutions. (Bio-Savart-Laplace law.);

As you can see, there are quite a lot of rules explaining when a dash is placed, and not all cases when this punctuation mark can be used are even listed here. Also, information on which sentences contain a dash can be found in the article “Why is a dash needed?”

Dash or colon

When writing, people often confuse when to use a dash and when to use a colon. As a rule, a colon is placed before an enumeration preceded by a generalizing word; before direct speech; before two or more sentences not connected by conjunctions, one of which explains the other.

A dash is placed between the subject and the predicate, expressed by a noun in the nominative case (without a connective). This rule is most often applied when the predicate defines the concept expressed by the subject, for example:

Oak is a tree.

Optics is a branch of physics.

Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Baku are the largest cities of the USSR.

The elder brother is my teacher.

My older brother is a teacher.

Note 1. If a predicate expressed by a noun in the nominative case is preceded by a negation Not, then the dash is not placed, for example:

Poverty is not a vice.

Note 2. In an interrogative sentence with the main member expressed by a pronoun, there is no dash between the main members, for example:

A dash is placed between the subject and the predicate if the subject is expressed in the nominative form of the noun, and the predicate in the indefinite form, or if both of them are expressed in the indefinite form, for example:

The purpose of each person is to develop in himself everything human, common and to enjoy it.

Belinsky

Living life is not a field to cross.

A dash is placed before This, it is, this means, Here, if the predicate, expressed by a noun in the nominative case or indefinite form, is attached to the subject through these words, for example:

Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country.

Poetry is the fiery gaze of a young man, seething with an excess of strength.

Belinsky

Romanticism was the first word that announced the Pushkin period; nationality is the alpha and omega of the new period.

Belinsky

A dash is placed before the generalizing word after the listing, for example:

Hope and the swimmer - the whole sea swallowed up.

Neither the crow of a rooster, nor the sonorous hum of horns, nor the early chirping of a swallow on the roof - nothing will call the deceased out of their graves.

Zhukovsky

A dash is placed before the application at the end of the sentence:

If you can insert it before the application without changing the meaning namely, For example:

I don't really like this tree - aspen.

Turgenev

In relations with strangers, he demanded one thing - maintaining decency.

Paying tribute to his time, Mr. Goncharov also developed an antidote to Oblomov - Stolz.

Dobrolyubov

1. If the application contains explanatory words and it is necessary to emphasize the shade of independence of such an application, for example:

   I had a cast iron kettle with me - my only joy in traveling around the Caucasus.

   Lermontov

A dash is placed between two predicates and between two independent clauses if the second of them contains an unexpected addition or sharp contrast to the first, for example:

I went out onto the terrace, not wanting to offend him, and was stunned.

I rush there - and the whole city is already there.

I wanted to travel around the whole world, but I didn’t travel a hundredth part.

Griboyedov

I wanted to paint, but my brushes fell out of my hands. I tried to read, but his eyes glanced over the lines.

Lermontov

Note 1. To enhance the sense of surprise, a dash can be placed after coordinating conjunctions connecting two parts of one sentence, for example:

Ask for payment on Saturday and march to the village.

M. Gorky

I really want to go there and meet them, but I’m afraid.

M. Gorky

Note 2. To express surprise, any part of a sentence can be separated by a dash, for example:

And they threw the pike into the river.

And she ate the poor singer to pieces.

A dash is placed between two sentences and between two homogeneous members of a sentence, connected without the help of conjunctions, to express a sharp contrast, for example:

I am a king - I am a slave, I am a worm - I am a god.

Derzhavin

It’s no wonder to cut off a head; it’s no wonder to add it.

Proverb

This is not where they live - it's paradise.

A dash is placed between sentences not connected by conjunctions if the second sentence contains a result or conclusion from what is said in the first, for example:

Praise is tempting - how can you not want it?

The sun has risen and the day begins.

Nekrasov

A dash is placed between two sentences if they are related in meaning as a subordinate clause (in first place) with the main clause (in second place), but there are no subordinating conjunctions, for example:

Gruzdev called himself get in the body.

The forest is being cut down and the chips are flying.

You yourself are confused - unravel yourself; If you knew how to brew porridge, you also knew how to dissolve it; If you love to ride, you also love to carry sleds.

Saltykov-Shchedrin

A dash is placed to indicate the place where a simple sentence splits into two verbal groups, if this cannot be expressed by other punctuation marks or word order, for example:

I ask you: do workers need to be paid?

Such a breakdown is often observed when some member of a sentence is omitted (which is why the dash placed in this case is called elliptical), for example:

Pustoroslev for faithful service - the Chizhov estate, and Chizhov - to Siberia forever.

A. N. Tolstoy

We turned villages into ashes, cities into dust, swords into sickles and plows.

Zhukovsky

Everything obeys me, but I obey nothing.

The following are distinguished by dashes:

1. Sentences and words inserted into the middle of a sentence to clarify or supplement it, in cases where bracketing would weaken the connection between the insertion and the main sentence, for example:

   There is nothing to do here - the friends kissed.

   ...When suddenly - lo and behold! oh shame! - the oracle spoke nonsense.

   Only once—and even then at the very beginning—an unpleasant and harsh conversation took place.

   Furmanov

2. A common application, placed after a qualifying noun, if it is necessary to emphasize the shade of independence of such an application, for example:

   The senior constable - a brave elderly Cossack with stripes for long-term service - gave the command to “form up”.

   In front of the doors of the club - a wide log house - workers with banners were waiting for the guests.

3. A group of homogeneous members standing in the middle of a sentence, for example:

   Usually, Cossacks were taken from the upper villages - Elanskaya, Veshenskaya, Migulinskaya and Kazanskaya - into the 11-12th Army Cossack Regiments and the Ataman Life Guards.

   Note. A dash is placed after a listing in the middle of a sentence if this listing is preceded by a generalizing word or words somehow.

A dash is placed as an additional sign after a comma before a word, which is repeated in order to connect with it a new sentence (usually a subordinate clause, reinforcing, supplementing or developing the main clause) or a further part of the same sentence, for example:

I knew very well that this was my husband, not some new, unknown person, but a good man - my husband, whom I knew as myself.

L. Tolstoy

Now, as a judicial investigator, Ivan Ilyich felt that all the most important, self-satisfied people, without exception, were all in his hands.

L. Tolstoy

A dash is placed as an additional sign after a comma, which separates the main sentence from the group of subordinate clauses preceding it, if it is necessary to emphasize the division of a single whole into two parts, for example:

Who is to blame and who is right is not for us to judge.

Whether Stolz did anything for this, what he did and how he did it, we don’t know.

Dobrolyubov

A dash is placed as an additional decimal place to indicate a transition from increase to decrease in a period, for example:

Oh, if it's true that in the night,
When the living rest
And moon rays from the sky
They slide onto the grave stones, -
Oh, if it's true, then what.
Silent graves are empty
I'm calling the shadow, I'm waiting for Leila:
To me, my friend, here, here!

In the 1800s, at a time when there were no railroads, no highways, no gas, no stearin light, no springy low sofas, no furniture without varnish, no disillusioned young men with glass, no liberal female philosophers, nor the lovely lady camellias, of which there were so many in our time, in those naive times when, leaving Moscow for St. Petersburg in a cart or carriage, they took with them a whole home-cooked kitchen, drove for eight days along a soft, dusty or dirty road and believed into Pozharsky cutlets, Valdai bells and bagels; when tallow candles burned on long autumn evenings, illuminating family circles of twenty and thirty people, at balls wax and spermaceti candles were inserted into candelabra, when furniture was placed symmetrically, when our fathers were still young not only because of the lack of wrinkles and gray hair, but they shot for women, from the other corner of the room rushed to pick up accidentally or not accidentally dropped handkerchiefs, our mothers wore short waists and huge sleeves and solved family matters by taking out tickets; when the lovely camellia ladies hid from the daylight; in the naive times of the Masonic lodges, the Martinists of the Tugendbund, in the times of the Miloradovichs, Davydovs, Pushkins, there was a congress of landowners in the provincial city of K. and the noble elections ended.

L. Tolstoy

A dash is placed between two words to indicate spatial, temporal or quantitative limits (in this case, the dash replaces the meaning of the word “from... to”), for example:

Flights USSR - America.

Manuscripts of the XI-XIV centuries.

A dash is placed between two or more proper names, the totality of which is called a doctrine, scientific institution, etc., for example:

Boyle-Mariotte physical law.

Rules of Russian spelling and punctuation 1956

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

Dash in original designs

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

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

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

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

Dash in the same constructions containing the connective

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

After or single gerund

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A dash, as a rule, is used in non-union complex sentences to indicate the nature of the semantic connection between its parts. However, there are other cases of using this punctuation mark.

The placement of dashes is governed by the following rules of Russian grammar:

1. A dash is placed in sentences with a compound nominal predicate, between the subjects and the predicate. In sentences of this kind, the predicate, as a rule, is a generic concept in relation to the subject. For example:

• Tiger is a predator;
• The cow is an artiodactyl;
• Birch is a tree;
• My older sister is a teacher;
• My older sister is my teacher.

Note 1. However, if the subject and predicate have a negative particle “not”, then the dash is not placed:

• Poverty is not a vice;
• A goose is not a bird.

Note 2. A dash is not placed between the subject and the predicate if they are used in an interrogative sentence and the subject is expressed by a pronoun, for example:

• Who is your mother?

2. If in a sentence the subject is expressed by a noun , and the predicate is an indefinite form of the verb (infinitive), or they are both expressed by an infinitive, then a dash is placed between them, for example:

• To love you is to fray my nerves;
• The desire of every person is to love and be loved.

3. Dash is placed before words “this”, “means”, “this is”, “here”, etc. in sentences where the predicate is expressed as a noun in the nominative case or infinitive. As a rule, these words serve to connect the predicate to the subject, and also indicate that a comparison or definition will now follow, for example:

• Desire is a person’s need, despite all adversity, to make his life better;
• Romance is walking under the moon and eyes full of admiration;
• Loyalty is the stronghold of true human relationships, trust is the stronghold of a strong family.

4. A dash is placed in sentences with enumerations before the generalizing word. For example:

• Dreams, hopes, beauty - everything will be swallowed up by the inexorable passage of time;
• Neither her tears, nor her pleading eyes, nor her sadness - nothing could make him come back.

5. A dash is placed before the application at the end of the sentence in two cases:

a) If before the application it is possible to put the construction “namely” without distorting the meaning of the sentence, for example:

• I don't really like this animal - the cat.
• In conversation, he demanded one thing - correctness.
• I obey only one person - my father.

b) If explanatory words are used in the application, and the author needs to further indicate the independence of this construction, for example:

• I had a cast iron kettle with me - my only joy in traveling around the Caucasus (Lermontov).

6. A dash is placed between two predicates or between parts of a complex sentence if the author needs to unexpectedly join or sharply contrast them in relation to each other. For example:

• I walked into the room, not expecting to see anyone there, and froze.
• I'd rather go to Petka - and that's all.
• I wanted to travel around the whole world, but I didn’t travel a hundredth part (Griboyedov).
• I wanted to sit down to sew, but the needle pricked my fingers, I wanted to cook porridge - the milk ran away.

Note 1. In order to enhance the connotation of surprise, a dash can also be placed after coordinating conjunctions that connect parts of one sentence. For example:

• Book your vacation and move on to your family.
• I really want to go there and meet them, but I’m afraid (M. Gorky)

Note 2: In addition, for an even greater surprise effect, a dash can separate any part of a sentence, for example:

• And she ate the poor singer to pieces (Krylov).
• And the grandfather threw the ruff into the river.

According to the rules of the Russian language, there is no need to put a dash in these sentences. However, it is staged only to better convey the meaning and reflect what actually happened.

7. A dash is placed between parts of a non-union complex sentence if the second part contains the result or conclusion from what was discussed in the first, for example:

• Praise is tempting - how can you not want it? (Krylov).
• The moon traced a path across the sea - the night lay like a light blanket.

8. A dash is placed between parts of a non-union complex sentence if between them there is a type of connection “subordinate part - main part”:

• Gruzdev called himself get in the body.
• The forest is being cut down and the chips are flying.

9. A dash is placed to indicate the boundary of the division of a simple sentence into two verbal groups. This is done only if it is not possible to isolate this decay by other means. For example:

• So I say: do guys need this?

Very often, such a breakdown is observed when one of the members of a sentence is omitted, for example:

• For good studies, Marinka received a trip to the sea, and Egorka received a new computer.
• I willed it into my fist, my heart out of my chest, and I rushed after him.
• Everything obeys me, but I obey nothing (Pushkin).

10. In addition, using a dash, the following are distinguished:

a) Sentences and words used in the middle of a sentence and serving to explain what is being said, but only if the parentheses can weaken the connection between the insertion and what is being explained, for example:

• There was nothing to do, so I got into his cart.
• Suddenly - lo and behold! oh shame! - the oracle spoke nonsense (Krylov).
• And only once – and even then by accident – ​​did I speak to him.

b) A common application if it comes after the defined noun and needs to emphasize its own independence, for example:

• The senior constable - a gallant elderly Cossack with stripes for long-term service - ordered to “form up” (Sholokhov).
• In front of the doors of the club - a wide log house - workers with banners were waiting for the guests (Fedin).

c) Homogeneous members of a sentence, if they are in the middle of a sentence and need special emphasis, for example:

• Usually, from the upper villages - Elanskaya, Vyoshenskaya, Migulinskaya and Kazanskaya - Cossacks were taken into the 11-12th army Cossack regiments and the Atamansky (Sholokhov) Life Guards.
• And again the same picture - lopsided houses, road potholes and dirty puddles - appeared before my eyes.

11. A dash can be used as an additional punctuation mark after a comma in sentences where there are two repeated words , and this repetition is needed in order to connect one part of this sentence with another. For example:

• I knew very well that this was my husband, not some new, unknown person, but a good man - my husband, whom I knew as myself (L. Tolstoy).
• Now, as a judicial investigator, Ivan Ilyich felt that all, without exception, the most important, self-satisfied people, were all in his hands (L. Tolstoy).

12. A dash is placed after a group of subordinate clauses before the main part of a complex sentence in order to emphasize the breakdown into two semantic parts. For example:

• But whether it was worth it or not is not for me to decide.
• Whether Stolz did anything for this, what he did and how he did it, we don’t know (Dobrolyubov).

13. Dash is placed in paired constructions, meaning any time, space or quantitative framework , and in this case it is synonymous with a pair of prepositions “from...to”, for example:

• Flight Novosibirsk - Moscow,
• 1991 – 2001,
• Ten - twelve grams.

14. A dash is placed between two proper names if collectively they name any teaching or discovery:

• Boyle's physical law - Mariotte.

§ 80. Dash in an incomplete sentence

1. A dash is placed when there is a pause in the so-called elliptical sentences (independently used sentences with an absent predicate), for example: There are pale circles around the month(A. N. Tolstoy); There is low-hanging dust above the square, on the square there are empty bottles of government money and pieces of cheap candy.(Sholokhov); And all over the sky there are clouds like pink feathers...(V. Panova); Peakless caps - infantry helmets(Dolmatovsky).

   There, on unknown paths, are traces of unprecedented animals...(Pushkin); Again at the hour of the night clouds above the ground(Zharov); In the steppe near Kherson there are tall grasses, in the steppe near Kherson there is a mound(M. Golodny).

   A dash is placed in elliptical sentences of a special structure, the basis of which is formed by two nouns - in the dative and accusative cases, without a subject and predicate, with a clear intonation division into two parts, for example: To the Motherland - the enthusiasm and creativity of the young; Every young worker gets a secondary education.
   

2. A dash is placed in an incomplete sentence, forming part of a complex sentence, when the missing member (usually the predicate) is restored from the previous part of the phrase and a pause is made at the place of the omission, for example: They stood opposite each other: he - confused and embarrassed, she - with an expression of challenge on her face; The pockets were double: the inner one was made of linen, the outer one was made of gray calico; One sodium atom replaces one hydrogen atom, one zinc atom replaces two hydrogen atoms, and one aluminum atom replaces three hydrogen atoms.

   If there is no pause, the dash is not placed, for example: Alyosha looked at them, and they looked at him(Dostoevsky); Yegorushka looked at him for a long time, and he looked at Yegorushka(Chekhov); You make things long and I make things short(Leonov).
   

3. A dash is placed in similarly constructed parts of a complex sentence when any member is omitted or even without omission, for example: Witnesses spoke in the hall - hastily, in discolored voices, judges - reluctantly and indifferently(Bitter); Money disappears, work remains(Bitter); The game is over and the time has come for some to rejoice in winning, for others to count their losses..

§ 81. Intonation dash

1. A dash is placed to indicate the place where a simple sentence is divided into verbal groups in order to clarify or emphasize the semantic relationships between the members of the sentence. Wed: a) I couldn’t walk for a long time; b) I couldn’t walk for a long time. Such a dash is called an intonation dash; it can separate any part of a sentence, for example: I'm asking you: Do workers need to be paid?(Chekhov).
2. The dash, which is placed between the members of a sentence to express surprise, also has an intonation character, for example: And they threw the pike into the river(Krylov).

§ 82. Connecting dash

1. A dash is placed between two or more words to indicate limits:

   a) spatial ones, for example: train Moscow – Irkutsk – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok;

   b) time, for example: crusades of the 11th–13th centuries; mass holidays in July – August;

   c) quantitative, for example: manuscript of eight to ten author's pages(same in numbers: 8–10 ); 5-6 times superiority.

   In these cases, the dash replaces the meaning of the word “from... to”. If between two adjacent numerals you can meaningfully insert a conjunction or, then they are connected by a hyphen, for example: left for two or three days(but with a digital designation a dash is placed: …2–3 days).
   

2. A dash is placed between two or more proper names, the totality of which is called a teaching, scientific institution, competition, etc., for example: Cosmogonic theory of Kant - Laplace; Match Alekhine – Capablanca.