Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

By Lynne Truss

  • Release Date: 2004-04-12
  • Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
Score: 4
4
From 71 Ratings

Description

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

Reviews

  • DELIGHTFUL

    5
    By zookwalker
    I found the book to be a humorous attack on bad punctuation. All of us who cringe at misplaced commas and bad verbiage will be gratified by the entertaining, at times irreverent, words of Ms. Truss.
  • Enriching

    5
    By Loud Broadcaster
    Great book! Elucidates punctuation's nuances, history, and arguments and gives logical explanations of usage through practical examples. I also like that she differentiates between the UK's and American modalities. Uses a lot of elegant humor to drive home her points. I was delighted to find that the author created a workbook. I definitely could use it.