In book Martin Iden many comma.

[Gabass]

In book Martin Iden many comma. How do complex sentences differ in English and Russian?

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, Gabass.

In the book Martin Iden by Jack London there are many commas.

That book was published in 1909, when punctuation conventions were rather different from those of today.

How do complex sentences differ in English and Russian?

This is an English language forum. We cannot discuss Russian, I'm afraid.

 

[Skrej]

In book Martin Iden many comma. How do complex sentences differ in English and Russian?

This is an English language forum. We cannot discuss Russian, I'm afraid.

Not only that, but the question itself is rather broad, going well beyond just punctuation. You'd have to break it down into smaller content areas - grammatical structure, punctuation, usage, etc.

 

[tllkt]

Not a teacher.

Funnily enough, I've found English to use much fewer commas than Russian. That has translated into me often making punctuation mistakes when writing in Russian.

I've not read Martin Eden, but I wouldn't be surprised to find the Russian translation to have significantly more commas than the original.

 

[Tarheel]

Do Russians pause a lot when speaking?

 

[tllkt]

Do Russians pause a lot when speaking?

I'm not sure, but I don't think we pause that much more often than English speakers do.

From what I've been able to gather after a quick Google search, it seems one of the main reasons for Russian texts employing more commas is that we mark off pretty much all subordinate clauses with them, whereas in English it will usually depend on the conjunction that connects the clause. Though, I must say, I learned what a subordinate clause even is just a moment ago, and I still only barely understand it, so take all that with a grain of salt.

For example, you'd always use a comma before "but" in Russian, which alone could probably increase the amount of commas in a big text quite notably, compared to English.

 

[Tarheel]

I always use a comma before "but"; I don't ever not do it.

 

[Rover_KE]

Even when it means ‘except’, Tarheel?

I have read all but one of Dickens’s books.

 

[Tarheel]

Even when it means ‘except’, Tarheel?

I have read all but one of Dickens’s books.

OK. I violated my rule about not saying "always". Now I've been reminded why I have that rule.