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I have got some issues with comma usage. There are plenty of punctuation rules when it comes to participles. For exmaple:

I need to use commas:

  • Hoping for a treat, the dog fetched the ball;
  • The dog, hoping for a treat, fetched the ball;
  • The dog fetched the ball, hoping for a treat.

I needn`t use commas:

  • Sarah often saw the dog fetching the ball;
  • The dog fetching the ball was mine.

(Source: https://bit.ly/3i1z0N7)

Those exmaples are quite straightforward to me. However, yesterday, I wrote a graph description, using as much participle phrases as possible, and I was a little bit confused. Here are a few exmaples with "my" punctuation:

  1. There were an undeveloped route ( ) going through the village from the southwest to the north ( ) and a rail line ( ) passing from the southeast of the town to the northeast.
  2. The old road was extended (,) branching off to the east and connecting the village and Fonton.
  3. In the northern previously empty part, between Meadowside and Fonton, a hotel has been built as well as a station (,) connected to a new railway route ( ) running along the second road.

Here is the map I described:

enter image description here

I guess that I am struggling with this rule: "If a participial phrase is required for the reader to understand the meaning of the sentence, then no commas should be used". I am not sure whether these participle phrases are essential for understanding the meaning.

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Your first example does not need commas. There are only two clauses (albeit quite long ones) and these are separated by an "and":

There were was an undeveloped route going through the village from the southwest to the north and a rail line passing from the southeast of the town to the northeast.

Your second example is correct too. There are three clauses, and you have already inserted a comma after the first clause (the fact it was extended is unrelated to the direction it branches to). Another "and" separates the final clause:

The old road was extended, branching off to the east and connecting the village and Fonton.

Your third example has just one clause but includes a parenthetical statement. You can use commas for parenthesis. I don't think this requires the additional comma you suggested as it could read that a hotel and a station have been built, and this is one statement. You could put a comma where you suggest as most readers would naturally pause there, but personally I don't think it is required:

In the northern previously empty part, between Meadowside and Fonton, A hotel has been built, as well as a station connected to a new railway route running along the second road.

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  • Thanks a lot! Could you explain me one moment? "There was an undeveloped route (going through the village from the southwest to the north). Is information in brackets is vital for understanding? Is that the reason not to use commas? And one more thing ... Should not it be "There were an undeveloped route ... and a rail line ..." due to the fact that i have 2 objects?
    – User
    Aug 1, 2020 at 15:50
  • @Suprematism Parentheses are a way of including additional information without disrupting the flow of the rest of the sentence - there is no rule that says you must use them. The example you've just given seems fine without them. Example 3 in your question already had the commas inserted, so I called them parenthetical because "between Meadowside and Fonton" is not a clause in itself as it contains no verb. You could take the parenthetical commas out but it might change the meaning - is the area northern and between the two places, or is it the most northerly part of the area between them?
    – Astralbee
    Aug 1, 2020 at 19:14
  • @Suprematism I corrected the use of "were" to "was" because you are not saying the same thing about the undeveloped route and the rail line. For example, you would say "there were two people in the house", but you would say "there was a man in the living room and a woman in the bathroom".
    – Astralbee
    Aug 1, 2020 at 19:27

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