Peculiarities of national typography
I don’t know what it’s about, but for some reason I’m very interested in all these squiggles and badges, like commas, dashes, quotes, dots and other, seemingly nonsensical nonsense, which is not taken seriously by most people. It is not hard to guess that this interest developed after becoming acquainted with Cowling, which included a popularized and vivid explanation of the basic norms for the use of these typographic signs in Russian. And when I began to study English more or less in depth, I began to pay attention to the peculiarity of its rules in this area and certain differences, many of which at first glance seem very unusual. This is what I want to tell; perhaps to whom it will also seem curious, and maybe even useful.
However, I must emphasize that all of the following is only the observations and the results of the questioning of the “local”, but not the formulated rules. I will be glad to remarks of people who really understand the issue.
Well, I want to say that it is not only about punctuation marks, but in general about the details of the style in which English texts are written.
')
In MS Word, as I recall, there is a function to automatically capitalize every first letter of a word in a specific piece of text. There is a similar possibility in CSS (text-transform: capitalize) . It would seem, why is it necessary? That's just to fulfill this norm. Very often (however, not always) each word in the title (usually, with the exception of prepositions) is written with a capital letter. “Because… because it’s a heading!” One of the teachers explained to us. The sacred meaning of this remains in question.
Sometimes capitalization avoids not only prepositions, but also auxiliary verbs (well, you understand: all your beloved from school English lessons is , do , does , did, and others), as well as articles ( the , a , an ). However, the latter are often completely omitted as they do not carry essential information in cases when you need to convey a message quickly and in the shortest possible form (of course, provided that this does not create the likelihood of discrepancies). Examples: newspaper headlines and signs on the roads. When repair works are being done on the side of the highway and it is closed for use (cyclists usually move there), they will hang a corresponding sign with the SHOULDER CLOSED signature, although SHOULDER IS CLOSED would be grammatically correct. However, nobody cares: the meaning of the message is clear and so, and takes up less space.
The same rule is followed by the indication of the name of the works: films, books, music albums, and so on.
Not very noticeable and interesting feature, but still having a place to be. It is mainly found in books with artistic works: the first paragraph of each new chapter does not have an indent at the first line; it is completely unnecessary to have an initial letter or another alternative way to form a paragraph. The appointment of the reception is again not clear.
As is known, in Russian typography it is customary to use two types of quotes:
In a letter, we usually refer to quotes as something like this:
In English, everything is somewhat different:
Thus, it becomes clear why in the Russian language it is more relevant to use the “correct” quotes in printed and published on the Internet texts instead of “pseudo-quotes” than in English — the differences are not very noticeable here.
Another moment. The second type of Russian quotes ("...") is rarely used, usually we use it only for alternation with nested quotes or other cases like this:
However, in English both paired and single quotes are approximately equal and are used equally often. I did not catch any patterns and rules in this area - apparently, the type of quotes does not matter much.
In a letter, quotes are simply referred to as two strokes at the top of the word to the right and left, which makes them even more like “wrong quotes”.
In Russian, quotation marks separate the text enclosed in them from the rest of the sentence in such a way that if another punctuation mark (comma or period) appears at the junction with them, it always follows them.
Exceptions: a question and exclamation mark, if the quotation marks contain a single question or exclamation sentence, respectively.
In English, the punctuation mark following the quotation mark always appears inside quotation marks, even if it is illogical from the point of view of Russian grammar.
Such is the barbaric language.
This is a difficult question, requiring separate and professional comparison research. What can I say: there are plenty of cases when, according to the rules of Russian grammar, in a complex sentence, the comma should stand, and in the English version there is none. For example:
But:
Thus, if you are not very good at punctuation rules in complex sentences in Russian, you have nothing to worry about if you are going to learn English. If you own them well and the above offer without a comma in the expected place hurts your eyes, then ... you will have to put up with it.
Another point I found is that if there is an enumeration of long concepts from several words, then when this enumeration ends with the addition and + last element , a comma can be put before and, although according to strict rules it should not be there.
Nothing clear? See an example:
Ordinary listing; all punctuation marks, as in Russian.
The comma here helps to visually separate the last two elements of the listing from each other, although grammatically its position there is not quite true. This example perfectly illustrates the whole ideology of modern written English: first of all, the reader’s perception, and then the rules. One can argue about the pros and cons of such a position, but this is not within the scope of this article ...
Very curious moment. In Russian, when writing decimal fractions, we use a comma to separate the whole number and fraction. Writing the number of more than a thousand, we either don’t separate the digits from each other, and if we separate them, it’s rather a space.
In English (and indeed, as I understand it, in all European countries and America) it is customary to use a dot in decimal fractions and commas to separate discharges in large numbers.
Thus, it is very easy for a person who is used to the Russian system to get confused ... Sometimes it takes more time to “digest” another number and figure out: a thousand is separated or an entire part.
Plus, there is an even more peculiar way to represent decimals, the most common on New Zealand road signs , to use a dot in the middle instead of the standard point:
Well, it looks very wild, but, as I found out, it is quite normal for the locals. However, I saw this application in practice only, again, on road signs and in the Basic English Usage textbook of 1988 edition.
And yet, if you pay attention to the writing of numbers above with words - the words one thousand (thousand) and one hundred (hundred) are not used in the plural, even if there are several of them.
However, this is only when writing numbers, in other cases, the plural is used calmly:
It is used quite rarely, although its area of application is approximately similar to that adopted in Russian grammar: a consequence, an explanation, a generalization, such as replacing brackets, etc. non-standard punctuation rarely occurs.
An interesting point: if in the Russian typography a dash is always beaten off with spaces from the following and preceding words, then in English it is not necessary at all.
Plus, the dash in the English language has another peculiar feature. In certain cases, it replaces our ellipsis: when the hero’s speech or the author’s thoughts are abruptly interrupted by something (in the middle of a word or phrase it doesn’t matter).
The last interesting thing about which I will tell is the use of the @ sign. For some reason in Russian it has developed to call him “dog”; in English, it is voiced as at and in some cases successfully replaces the corresponding preposition.
That's how lazy: a two-letter preposition, where possible, shamelessly reduced to one character ...
I don’t dare to draw any conclusions so far - this note was only a record of my observations. Since I happened to deal with this language, now I have to deal with it all the time, I am sure that I will continue them.Therefore , after a while, I may have enough material to accumulate in order to perform some kind of analysis.
Thanks to all.
This article, but with ruffles
However, I must emphasize that all of the following is only the observations and the results of the questioning of the “local”, but not the formulated rules. I will be glad to remarks of people who really understand the issue.
Well, I want to say that it is not only about punctuation marks, but in general about the details of the style in which English texts are written.
')
Capital Letters in Headers
In MS Word, as I recall, there is a function to automatically capitalize every first letter of a word in a specific piece of text. There is a similar possibility in CSS (text-transform: capitalize) . It would seem, why is it necessary? That's just to fulfill this norm. Very often (however, not always) each word in the title (usually, with the exception of prepositions) is written with a capital letter. “Because… because it’s a heading!” One of the teachers explained to us. The sacred meaning of this remains in question.
Sometimes capitalization avoids not only prepositions, but also auxiliary verbs (well, you understand: all your beloved from school English lessons is , do , does , did, and others), as well as articles ( the , a , an ). However, the latter are often completely omitted as they do not carry essential information in cases when you need to convey a message quickly and in the shortest possible form (of course, provided that this does not create the likelihood of discrepancies). Examples: newspaper headlines and signs on the roads. When repair works are being done on the side of the highway and it is closed for use (cyclists usually move there), they will hang a corresponding sign with the SHOULDER CLOSED signature, although SHOULDER IS CLOSED would be grammatically correct. However, nobody cares: the meaning of the message is clear and so, and takes up less space.
How Much Do You Need to Retire?
The same rule is followed by the indication of the name of the works: films, books, music albums, and so on.
Love at first sting
No red line in the first paragraph of text
Not very noticeable and interesting feature, but still having a place to be. It is mainly found in books with artistic works: the first paragraph of each new chapter does not have an indent at the first line; it is completely unnecessary to have an initial letter or another alternative way to form a paragraph. The appointment of the reception is again not clear.
Quotes
As is known, in Russian typography it is customary to use two types of quotes:
"Convergent" means "associated with convergence."
In a letter, we usually refer to quotes as something like this:
I am writing a letter to Murzilka.
In English, everything is somewhat different:
'Disinterested' means “having no interest in something”.
Thus, it becomes clear why in the Russian language it is more relevant to use the “correct” quotes in printed and published on the Internet texts instead of “pseudo-quotes” than in English — the differences are not very noticeable here.
Another moment. The second type of Russian quotes ("...") is rarely used, usually we use it only for alternation with nested quotes or other cases like this:
"The novel" Dune "- a classic of its genre."
However, in English both paired and single quotes are approximately equal and are used equally often. I did not catch any patterns and rules in this area - apparently, the type of quotes does not matter much.
In a letter, quotes are simply referred to as two strokes at the top of the word to the right and left, which makes them even more like “wrong quotes”.
Quotes next to other punctuation marks
In Russian, quotation marks separate the text enclosed in them from the rest of the sentence in such a way that if another punctuation mark (comma or period) appears at the junction with them, it always follows them.
He finished work on the book “How I spent my summer at sixteen,” when he turned eighty-three.
The best restaurant in the city is Uncle Kolya's Tavern.
Exceptions: a question and exclamation mark, if the quotation marks contain a single question or exclamation sentence, respectively.
In English, the punctuation mark following the quotation mark always appears inside quotation marks, even if it is illogical from the point of view of Russian grammar.
“Good-bye,” she said. “Be careful.”
“The Year of the Plague,” by Roger Leie, filled his ears.
Such is the barbaric language.
Comma Rules
This is a difficult question, requiring separate and professional comparison research. What can I say: there are plenty of cases when, according to the rules of Russian grammar, in a complex sentence, the comma should stand, and in the English version there is none. For example:
It was clear to everyone that I was a foreigner.
But:
Everybody realized that I was a foreigner.
Thus, if you are not very good at punctuation rules in complex sentences in Russian, you have nothing to worry about if you are going to learn English. If you own them well and the above offer without a comma in the expected place hurts your eyes, then ... you will have to put up with it.
Another point I found is that if there is an enumeration of long concepts from several words, then when this enumeration ends with the addition and + last element , a comma can be put before and, although according to strict rules it should not be there.
Nothing clear? See an example:
I went to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
Ordinary listing; all punctuation marks, as in Russian.
I spent yesterday watching TV, listening to jazz records and talking about the meaning of life.
The comma here helps to visually separate the last two elements of the listing from each other, although grammatically its position there is not quite true. This example perfectly illustrates the whole ideology of modern written English: first of all, the reader’s perception, and then the rules. One can argue about the pros and cons of such a position, but this is not within the scope of this article ...
Record numbers
Very curious moment. In Russian, when writing decimal fractions, we use a comma to separate the whole number and fraction. Writing the number of more than a thousand, we either don’t separate the digits from each other, and if we separate them, it’s rather a space.
Twenty four and a half = 24.5
Three thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven = 3,847
Million, forty five thousand, three hundred fifty two = 1,045,352
In English (and indeed, as I understand it, in all European countries and America) it is customary to use a dot in decimal fractions and commas to separate discharges in large numbers.
Twenty-four and a half (twenty-four point five) = 24.5
Three thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven = 3,847
One million, forty-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-two = 1,045,352
Thus, it is very easy for a person who is used to the Russian system to get confused ... Sometimes it takes more time to “digest” another number and figure out: a thousand is separated or an entire part.
Plus, there is an even more peculiar way to represent decimals, the most common on New Zealand road signs , to use a dot in the middle instead of the standard point:
24 · 5
Well, it looks very wild, but, as I found out, it is quite normal for the locals. However, I saw this application in practice only, again, on road signs and in the Basic English Usage textbook of 1988 edition.
And yet, if you pay attention to the writing of numbers above with words - the words one thousand (thousand) and one hundred (hundred) are not used in the plural, even if there are several of them.
... eight hundred (NOT eight hundreds) ...
However, this is only when writing numbers, in other cases, the plural is used calmly:
It costs thousands of dollars.
Dash
It is used quite rarely, although its area of application is approximately similar to that adopted in Russian grammar: a consequence, an explanation, a generalization, such as replacing brackets, etc. non-standard punctuation rarely occurs.
An interesting point: if in the Russian typography a dash is always beaten off with spaces from the following and preceding words, then in English it is not necessary at all.
I can never remember the other.
Plus, the dash in the English language has another peculiar feature. In certain cases, it replaces our ellipsis: when the hero’s speech or the author’s thoughts are abruptly interrupted by something (in the middle of a word or phrase it doesn’t matter).
He held up Three o'clock. Plenty of time to—
His heart suddenly jumping.
The watch had stopped.
@
The last interesting thing about which I will tell is the use of the @ sign. For some reason in Russian it has developed to call him “dog”; in English, it is voiced as at and in some cases successfully replaces the corresponding preposition.
Account Credit balance @ 19-Feb-08: $ 1,000,000.00
That's how lazy: a two-letter preposition, where possible, shamelessly reduced to one character ...
Conclusion
I don’t dare to draw any conclusions so far - this note was only a record of my observations. Since I happened to deal with this language, now I have to deal with it all the time, I am sure that I will continue them.
Thanks to all.
see also
This article, but with ruffles
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/68293/
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