Straipsnyje nagrinėjami sudėtiniai prijungiamieji pažyminio sakiniai prancūzų ir lietuvių kalbose. Naudojantis aprašomuoju-lyginamuoju metodu tiriamos teorinės šio reiškinio charakteristikos abiejose kalbose. Tiek lietuvių, tiek prancūzų kalbose šalutinio pažyminio sakinio pagrindinis elementas yra santykinis įvardis, prancūzų kalboje šie sakiniai todėl ir vadinami santykiniais. Lietuvių kalboje – pažyminio šalutiniais sakiniais, t.y. pagal jų funkciją. Abiejose kalbose šalutinių pažyminio sakinių skirstymas pagal jų referencinę prasmę (sens référentiel) sutampa. Prancūzų lingvistikoje jie skirstomi į pažymimuosius (déterminatives) ir paaiškinamuosius (explicatives). Tiriant prancūzų autorių kūrinius ir jų vertimus į lietuvių kalbą atsiranda struktūrinių skirtumų: skiriasi atraminio žodžio pažyminių vieta pagrindiniame sakinyje. Taip pat keičiasi sudėtinio prijungiamojo sakinio struktūra: išnykus antrajam predikaciniam vienetui jis virsta paprastu sakiniu. Be to, šalutinis sakinys gali virsti ir savarankišku sakiniu. Semantinių skirtumų nedaug: abiejose kalbose šalutiniai pažyminio sakiniai turi ir aplinkybių (laiko, priežasties, vietos) niuansų, kurie prancūzų kalboje yra implicitiniai, o lietuvių kalboje turi eksplicitinę raišką. Skyryba prancūzų kalboje nėra tiksliai apibrėžta, lietuvių kalboje šalutinis sakinys visada atskiriamas kableliu.

The research object of this article is the essays written during the Lithuanian language and Literature State matura examination in 2019. The aim of the research is to investigate the essays from the perspective of punctuation, identify the most common punctuation mistakes based on the applicable punctuation norms and present methodological recommendations concerning the teaching/learning of punctuation of various syntactical units in the comprehensive school. The quantitative study of the essays confirmed the insights provided by earlier stud-ies concerning a strong tendency of deteriorating pupils’ punctuation skills. By their frequency the mistakes of punctuating the clauses in a complex sentence significantly exceed other mistakes. More troublesome cases include the punctuation of attributes, parentheses and explanatory parts of the sentence. Unmotivated punctuation, which is not based on the internal structure of the sentence, is also rather common in the language practice of pupils. The high number of such mistakes is determined by the poor skills of syntactical and punctuation analysis. Apparently, the overestimation of intonation as a punctuation criterion plays an important role in the occurrence of mistakes. The compulsory punctuation rules are mainly based on syntax. Therefore, it is very important to strengthen the skills and abilities of syntactical analysis. The source of mistakes is both the lack of and poor knowledge of the rules. It is important to make pupils aware that the variety of the variants of optional punctuation is only useful for those who are well versed in punctuation and understand which rules are elementary, compulsory and helping to grasp the thought and which only show its nuances and a different intonation.

The article analyses the peculiarities of punctuation of syntactic units – attributes and extended adverbial modifiers – in the simple sentence of the Lithuanian texts of the mid-19th century. To determine the tendencies of punctuation of these parts of the sentence in the written language of the period in question, the original and translated works of prose by Mikalojus Akelaitis, Juozas Silvestras Dovydaitis, Motiejus Valančius, Henrikas Balevičius and Kazimieras Michnevičius-Mikėnas were selected for the study. The study revealed that the punctuation of extended attributes, which go after the modified word, is not settled: they are separated, not separated or separated by commas on one side only. The punctuation of the extended attributes in agreement, which go before the modified word, is strictly defined in the material under analysis – they are not separated by commas. The punctuation of two or several non-extended and/or extended postpositive attributes in agreement is not consistent: they are either not separated at all or separated by a comma on one side (or by a colon in Valančius’ text). Attributes before the modified word expressing the properties of different kinds are separated by commas in order to underline the equal importance of those properties or they are not separated and considered homogeneous. The punctuation of appositions in the given texts is not random and has a rather regular pattern: postpositive extended appositions are usually separated (by commas only); it is not common at all to separate postpositive non-extended appositions. The punctuation of extended adverbial modifiers varies considerably: some prefer to punctuate them (texts by Balevičius, Michnevičius-Mikėnas), yet others tend to avoid punctuation (texts by Valančius, J. S. Dovydaitis and Akelaitis). It is a rather wide-spread phenomenon to use a comma at the end of the extended adverbial modiefier.

Learning of syntax and punctuation at the primary and basic school is progressive. Schoolchildren start learning about elementary constructions of syntax and punctuation at the primary school. At basic school the constructions get gradually more complicated and the schoolchildren start analysing more difficult variants of syntax and punctuation. Systemic learning of syntax and punctuation is fin- ished in the 10th grade, and the 11th and 12th grade schoolchildren review the abilities acquired at the basic school. Different metods in training the proficiency of the schoolchildren‘s language competence and for checking their learning results are used. The formal testing is one of the most precise ways to check the schoolchildrens‘ knowledge and abilities. Statistic results of testing facilitate the analysis of the punctuation mistakes, as well as help to identify their reasons and difficulties that the schoolchildren are facing. This method allows the subordination analy- sis between the punctuation abilities and structure of the sentence. Sufficient proficiency in language use allows to pursue higher aims for further language competence development.

Comma use in Latvian and English complex sentences differs significantly and this can cause major problems to Latvian users of English. In particular, the dependent clause that follows the independent clause is normally separated by a comma in Latvian complex sentences (Blinkena, 2009), whereas comma use/non-use in English complex sentences (Downing, Locke, 2006) depends on the semantic relation between the independent and the dependent clause. These comma use differences, as previous research reveals (Farneste, 2006b), can cause challenges in English complex sentence punctuation to students whose native language is Latvian. The goal of this study is to research Latvian students’ punctuation of English complex sentences extracted from a corpus of essays. The analysis covers the cases of nominal and relative dependent clauses that are tightly related to the independent clause they follow. Normally, as Downing and Locke (2006) note, such dependent clauses are not separated by a comma in English texts. The analysis shows that a strong semantic relation between the clauses has been relevantly recognised by students in numerous examples, which they have relevantly punctuated. However, the results also reveal unnecessary separations of relative and nominal clauses from the independent clause by a comma. These findings call for the focusing of students’ attention on the role of the semantic relation of clauses in English complex sentence punctuation by contrasting these sentences with the relevant complex sentences found in Latvian texts. In addition, further analysis of various sentence types and their punctuation in student-composed texts of different communicative purposes is required.