Punctuation in Slovene and English

PUNCTUATION IN SLOVENE AND ENGLISH

One general point about punctuation in English is that, although there are rules in some areas, in many other areas it is not possible to say what is 'right' and 'wrong', and writers in English are not always very consistent. There is, of course, no such thing as a pravopis for English, while different text books and dictionaries may give conflicting advice. It is important to note that there is a closer connection between the spoken and written languages in English, so that the way we punctuate is quite closely related to the way we speak – in particular, to separate intonation patterns. These, in turn, are connected to sense or meaning.

The comma in Slovene and English

The best general advice is notto use a comma when you would in Slovene, especially beforeki, ko, kaj, da and če, andbefore participles (deležniki). Although we do sometimes use a comma before 'which'or 'who'(more on that below), where Slovene speakers use a comma, English speakers generally don't. Look at the following examples:

(a)To je gospod, ki je telefoniral včeraj.

That's the man who phoned yesterday.

(b) Informacija je iz poročila, ki sem ga prebral prejšnji teden.

The information is from the report I read last week.

(c)Projekt bomo zaključili, ko dobimo preostala sredstva.

We'll finish the project when we get the rest of the financing.

(d)Rekla je, da pride ob 19h.

She said she's coming at 7.

(e) Besedilo, prevedeno v angleščino, je velikokrat daljše od izvirnika.

A text translated into English is often longer than the original.

An English speaker would not pause in any of the places where you have a comma in Slovene, because to get the sense of what is being said you have to continue. Thus the phrase 'That's the man' means little on its own – in effect, you have to carry on reading to the end of the sentence to get the full meaning.

Probably the best way to think of the comma in English is that it represents a short pause if we were speaking or reading aloud (a full stop, in that case, means a slightly longer pause). It also marks the end of one intonation pattern – which shows a unit of meaning – and the start or resumption of another.

Extra information (or not)

Consider the following sentence:

John, who comes from New Zealand, is going to tell us about his latest project.

The information that John is from New Zealand is 'extra' information that we don't need for the sentence to have the same basic sense:

John is going to tell us about his latest project.

However, if we take the information 'translated into English' out of example (e) above, we are left with something very different:

A text is often longer than the original.

In this case, we no longer know what kinds of texts are being talked about, so the meaning has been changed. The addition of extra information in this way is called parenthesis and may also be shown by the use of brackets or double dashes.

Subject, object and verb

For similar reasons, we do not use commas between nouns and verbs that are closely connected in certain ways. Thus in English, a comma does not separate the subject from its predicate, or a verb from its object. Both of these seem to be mistakes commonly made by Slovene speakers. Look at the next two examples (the * marks incorrect usage):

(f)Ženska, kakršna je ona, bo sigurno uspela.

* A woman like her, is certain to succeed.

(g)John se je odločil, da bo ostal še en teden.

* John decided, that he would stay for another week.

Restrictive vs. non-restrictive clauses

Perhaps one of the most difficult cases to decide upon is whether or not you have a restrictive relative clause. A restrictive clause helps us identify the head word and is not separated from what goes before it by a comma:

She got it from the woman who lives next door.

No, I mean Vanda who comes from Maribor.

This is the grammar book which I was referring to.

When we have a non-restrictive clause, the head word has already been identified and the clause simply adds further information. In such cases a comma is used for separation:

He looked into her mailbox, which was usually empty.

The deal includes four vineyards, which are worth 2 million.

Then I spoke to a woman called Vanda, who comes from Maribor.

Non-restrictive clauses are a bit like the parenthesis we referred to earlier, as the following example shows:

Grainger, who is well-known to the public, appeared in court in a silver suit.

However, the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive is not always clear, and in some cases native speakers of English find it difficult to decide whether there should be a comma or not. For example:

There's another one(,) which I can't remember the name of.

It is hard to say with any certainty whether the relative clause here helps us identify 'one' or not. In such situations it is perhaps better to put the comma in than leave it out, because it is probably easier for an English reader to deal with a comma that is there but shouldn't be than with a missing one.

But remember, if you are dealing with difficult cases in English it does not really help if you compare them with Slovene. Consider the following:

The journalist writing the article is my friend.

The journalist who is writing the article is my friend.

There is no comma in either case, but if you thought in Slovene terms (Novinar, ki piše ta članek, je moj prijatelj) you probably would use a comma.

Basic uses of the comma

Commas are used to separate items in a list:

The stall sells fruit, vegetables, salads, herbs and flowers.

We do not usually have a comma before 'and' in a list, but a comma may occur before 'and' if the sentence demands it:

The Incas constructed many such terraces, and archaeologists are convinced they are part of a sophisticated irrigation system.

The comma here makes clear that 'archaeologists' is not an object of the verb 'construct'.

Note that we do not use a comma after the word 'both':

He met both the president and the prime minister.

Contrast this with the following Slovene sentence, where a comma is required:

Srečal se je z obema, s predsednikom vlade in s predsednikom države.

Commas follow certain initial conjunctions:

First, she arranged the schedule.

Moreover, he is not qualified for the post.

However, that's not the only reason.

Commas separate coordinate clauses, involving conjunctions such as 'but':

This restaurant is expensive, but the one next door is even pricier.

The lecture was interesting, but it went on for too long.

It's worth going there, although it's such a long drive.

Commas occur after initial clauses and phrases which have an adverbial function:

When she saw him, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Every weekend, she visits her mother.

As usual, nobody had any questions.

Of course, we'll have to reduce our prices.

From an economic point of view, it's simply not worth it.

Even more important, he has financial backing.

With great unease, they elected him for another year.

Actually, I don't think she will.

Honestly, there's no need.

Seriously, are you really going to go through with it?

Commas are used after dependentclauses expressing such things as condition, reason or intention, when these occur in initial position (when we would pause after them):

If I have to, I'll do it.

Because of the awful weather, we came home early.

In order to encourage her, they offered her a pay rise.

However, if we turned the last three examples around so that the dependent clause came second then the comma would not be necessary:

I'll do it if I have to.

We came home early because of the awful weather.

They offered her a pay rise in order to encourage her.

An interesting example from Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, which shows how the humble comma can change meaning:

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Letters

In modern letters, especially business and official letters, commas are usually not included in the address, nor when the reader is addressed or when the writer signs off; however, one may still appear in the date. Here is an authentic example from my files (the letter was on headed paper, with the company logo at the top and the company address running across the bottom):

Mr David Limon

5 Riverway

Barry Avenue

Windsor

SL4 5JA

8 April, 1998

Dear Mr Limon

[...]

Yours sincerely

Andrea Vigille

Human Resources Officer

In the above example, note also the absence of a dot after 'Mr', which you would still expect to find in American English.

The apostrophe

The apostrophe is a badly treated punctuation mark, in the sense that many native speakers of the language simply do not know how to use it. The most common misuse is sometimes referred to as the 'greengrocer's apostrophe' because it seems very popular among those who sell fruit and vegetables on market stalls and in shops, many of whom seem convinced that this is a way of marking the plural, so you see strange forms such as 'apple's', 'mushroom's' and even 'potato's'. You also see bizarre examples on other kinds of public sign, for instance: 'No dog's allowed' or 'Ladie's' (toilets).

So how should the apostrophe be used? Well, first of all to show possession:

The company's new policy.

Alenka's sister's car.

With plural nouns that do not end in 's' the possessive form still ends with an apostrophe and 's':

Women's clothes.

Children's playground.

With plural nouns ending in 's' the apostrophe stands alone at the end of the word:

The secretaries' annual trip.

The directors' meeting.

Note that where a name ends in 's', you can still add apostrophe 's', for example:

James's brother.

There are exceptions to this, however, where the apostrophe is added on its own, such as:

Jesus' life.

Archimedes' discovery.

The apostrophe also indicates time or quantity:

In a year's time.

In two years' time.

Ten dollars' worth.

It can show where figures have been omitted in a date:

We first met in the summer of '83.

Note that the apostrophe used to be used for indicating decades (the 1990's) but that it is now becoming standard to leave it out (the 1990s).

The apostrophe also marks omission of letters, in a variety of ways:

She's going to be late[is]

She's been late every day this week.[has]

I can't believe it.[not]

I'd rather not.[would]

You'd better come in[had]

I've been here before.[have]

She comes from Jo'burg.[Johannesburg]

I did it 'cause I love you.[because]

This use of the apostrophe often causes confusion to native speakers, as well as foreign learners, when it comes to the difference between 'it's' and 'its'. Remember:

it's = it is or it has

its = possessive determiner (my, your, his, her, its, etc.) or pronoun (mine, yours, his, hers, its, etc.)

Examples:

It's on next week.[it is]

It's very hot at the moment.[it is]

It's been sitting on my desk for weeks.[it has]

The cat licked its paw.

The government published its new policy document.

Quotation marks and italics

Quotation marks – 'single' or "double" – are, of course, used to mark dialogue in books or quotes of what someone actually said in newspapers and magazines. (Note that we do not use »chevrons« in English.) They are also used to show titles, to mark foreign words and phrases, to emphasise certain words, or to give examples when writing about language. Here are examples of each of these:

(a) "Why did you do it?" she asked, with a hurt look.

(b) We're going to see "Elephant" at the cinema this evening.

(d) They treated me like a bit of a 'hero' to be honest.

(e) A good example of such an irregular verb is 'to bear'.

They are also used to show something does not quite fit in or is not to be taken literally:

(f) We returned to our 'luxury' hotel. [It was not luxurious!]

(g) He won the 'free and fair' elections with 98% of the vote. [They were clearly not free and fair.]

Similarly, the writer may use them to show that he or she does not agree with a particular use of a word:

(h) English is the most 'successful' language ever, with 1,500 million speakers world-wide.

The use of quotation marks often corresponds to the Slovene expression tako imenovano. This is not the same as the English expression 'so-called', which is often used in a negative way: for example, you would say 'my so-called friend' when someone had proved not to be your friend.

Italics (poševni tisk) are often used instead of quotation marks for titles of books, newspapers, films etc. and to mark foreign words; they may also be used to emphasise words or to give examples.

Question mark and exclamation mark

Question marks are used to mark direct questions in dialogue (see example a, above) or in rhetorical questions to the reader, especially in ads:

(i) Do you want smooth, blemish-free skin?

No question mark is required in indirect or reported speech:

(j) She asked why he had done it.

Exclamation marks, as the name implies, are used in dialogue to show surprise, excitement, anger and similar emotions; they are also used in newspaper headlines and advertising for similar reasons:

(k) "Help!"

(l) "What a wonderful surprise!"

(m) "What a load of rubbish!"

(n) PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS!

(o) SPECIAL OFFER!

An exclamation mark is not used when addressing someone in a letter (Spoštovani!). Exclamation marks seem to be used much more in Slovene letters than in English ones, but my advice would not be to use them at all in letters, otherwise the reader may feel that he or she is being SHOUTED AT!

Colon and semi-colon

Personally, I use the colon (dvopičje) to 'introduce' the next part of the sentence: for instance, when something is being explained, when examples are being given or things are being listed. That last sentence is a good example, and here are some others:

(p) There are two main reasons for this: the first is historical, while the second

is largely political.

(q) So that is what happened: Mary stayed with Ryan, and Violet went off to start a new life in Australia with Vernon.

(r) He had one main rule in life: never mix business with pleasure.

(s) There are a number of recreation activities available: cycling, walking, swimming, canoeing, fly fishing, tennis, golf – to name but a few.

And a lovely example from G B Shaw quoted by Lynne Truss:

(t) I find fault with only three things in this story of yours, Jenkins: the beginning, the middle and the end.

The semi-colon (podpičje) is used to separate two connected ideas (often instead of a conjunction like 'and' or 'but') or, to look at it another way, to join two related sentences, where a comma could not be used:

(u) I remember her as a shy young student; now she's a television newsreader.

(v) The Olympics were declared a great success; they also undermined the idea that the Greeks are not good organisers.

Often, when I am translating from Slovene to English, I feel the need to replace a comma with a semi-colon in this way.

The semi-colon is also used to separate items in a list, where commas would not be as clear:

(w) The meal was delicious, if rather filling: a soup made with the wild mushrooms that grow in abundance in the nearby woods, with a swirl of sour cream; a venison steak in a rich sauce with cranberries and red wine; and a local speciality called prekmurska gibanica, which I suppose could by described as a sort of pie with layers of apples, poppy seeds, cottage cheese and walnuts.

The dash and the hyphen

The dash (pomišljaj) is used to add an extra 'thought' to a sentence (see example s, above) or to signify a dramatic pause:

(x) It only leads to confusion – I've seen it happen so many times.

(y) There's only one thing you can do – divorce him!

Double dashes used for parenthesis (which we talked about in the first article on punctuation) show where extra information or comment has been inserted into the sentence:

(z) She then – and I'll never understand why, as long as I live – walked out of my life, never to return.

(aa) I first came to Slovenia – which was then, of course, part of Yugoslavia – in 1979.

The hyphen (vezaj) has a surprisingly wide range of uses: after certain prefixes (un-American, anti-terrorist, pre-war, inter-city, de-ice, re-enter), in some compounds (a style-guide, a lap-dog, a hair-dryer, a foot-bath), in attributive adjectives (well-designed house, environmentally-friendly fridge), to link nouns or adjectives (the London-York express, British-Slovene relations), in certain numbers (forty-nine) and in 'double-barrelled' names (Jeremy Fortescue-Smyth). Unfortunately, native speakers are not very consistent about using hyphens and even dictionaries cannot agree which compound words are hyphenated or not; all you can do is try to be consistent yourself.

One common error with hyphens arises when attributive adjectives relate to plural number or quantity. In such cases, the single form of the noun is used, for example: