Isolating Verbal Adverbs
In written Russian, verbal adverbs (деепричастия) and their clauses (деепричастные обороты) are almost always set off by commas. This process of isolating a phrase with punctuation is known as обособление.
Verbal adverbs require commas regardless of their position in the sentence (предложение). If the clause is at the beginning or end of the sentence, use a single comma to separate it:
| While reading the text, any proofreader sets off a verbal adverb with commas. | Читая текст, любой корректор выделяет деепричастие запятыми. |
| While editing the text, I saw the author's comment. | Редактируя текст, я увидел замечание автора. |
If the clause sits in the middle of a sentence, use commas on both sides to fully isolate it:
| The editor, correcting the punctuation, left an important comment. | Редактор, исправляя пунктуацию, оставил важное замечание. |
Talking About Punctuation
When discussing editing and punctuation (пунктуация), you will often use the verbs выделять (imperfective) and выделить (perfective), meaning "to set off" or "to highlight."
| Having read your comments, I decided to highlight these words. | Прочитав твои замечания, я решил выделить эти слова. |
| Having received the manuscript from the publishing house, we must highlight the errors. | Получив рукопись из издательства, мы должны выделить ошибки. |
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