Commas in English

[kolobok76]

Hi all. Please help me with commas in this text.

My friend which is non Russian-speaking asked me how to pronounce the vowel ‘Ы’ in Russian

Comments

[yiskah]

I'd rephrase as below:

My friend, who is non-Russian speaking, asked me how to pronounce the vowel ‘Ы’ in Russian.

The simplest advice I found on the internet is to take a pencil between your teeth and say ‘И’ ([i:]) while trying not to touch the pencil with your tongue. Lay the tip of your tongue flat, otherwise you will say ‘И’ anyway. When you have memorised the feeling, try to do it again without the pencil.

Useful advice, actually!

[thekumquat]

I agree - it needs to be who not which for the friend. I might add a comma before 'while trying', but that would be style rather than grammar.

[yiskah]

Yes, I considered a comma there as well - definitely a stylistic choice rather than a grammatical requirement!

[green_knight]

I mostly agree, with one change:

My friend, _who does not speak Russian_,

How to pronounce the

[tongueroo]

Leaving aside punctuation and grammar in your question,
here is an alternative method of producing the "Ы" sound.

If one learns the principles on which the International
Phonetic Alphabet is based, it becomes obvious that
"Ы" is exactly in the middle between "u" and "i". [*]

So if you instruct your student to sing "u" (as in cool),
and slide to "i" (as in mean), but then stop in the middle,
that will create "ы"

------------
[*] These vowels are in the primary table
in the top horizontal row.

Primary/Secondary IPA vowel tables: lips are
stretched for the front vowels and rounded
for the back ones; the secondary IPA vowel table
has stretching for the back vowels and rounding for the
front ones.

'Ы' is a top row middle primary vowel, therefore my
easy method of explaining it.

Actually, any vowel may be described using slides
between the major IPA vowels. In various languages
"impure" vowel positions are frequently used.

[avec_bonheur]

My friend, who doesn't speak Russian, asked me how to pronounce the vowel ‘Ы’ in Russian.

The simplest advice -- which I found online -- is to take a pencil between your teeth, and to try to say ‘И’ ([i:]) while trying not to touch the pencil with your tongue. Lower the tip of your tongue so that you won't say ‘И’ by mistake. When you can remember the feeling, try to do it again without the pencil.

(I speak Canadian English as a first language, hope this helps!)