Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

This point is driven home from the outset -- the very title of this book derives from just such importance in locating punctuation properly. It was once said of a panda bear that it 'eats shoots and leaves' -- however, punctuating it differently, one gets the sense that it eats, then fires some kind of weapon, and then departs, rather than consuming bamboo and green, leafy things.

Truss has a sardonic wit, recommending with British understatement the most horrific sentences for those who abuse their sentences. Truss has little patience (but quite a lot of fun) with common mistakes of the comma, apostrophe, quotation marks, and more. She has somewhat more sympathy for people who haven't learned the fine art of the less prominent punctuation marks: colons, semicolons, brackets and such. However, given the age of such things (some punctuation marks are a thousand years old), perhaps it is about time to start getting things write, er, right.

This is not a long book, and is full of little pieces of wisdom -- to improve one's grammar is to improve one's life, Truss would hold. Certainly, the ability to communicate with language is a primary human quality; the ability to communicate well increases our own sense of self-worth.

It must be accepted that there are different styles of punctuation -- books such as 'Elements of Style' detail these in exacting form (something one will not find in this book. However, on the whole, discovering the differences can be as interesting as any other part of this book, and it will at least show that one is paying proper attention to grammar. While Truss can come across as rather picky, that is precisely the quality one wants in one's editor and teacher of admittedly picayune and pedantic subjects. Try for just one day living life without punctuation!


Back to school!   Octobre 14, 2004
Alice CLEMOES (France)
10 sur 11 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

"Mens toilets"
"Citizens advice bureau"
"Cyclist's only"
If on reading the above quotes you cringed, then you'll love this book. If you're wondering what I'm going on about, let me explain, it should be "men's toilets", "Citizen's advice bureau" and "cyclists only". If you're now saying "oooohhhh, yeah!" to yourself then this book is also for you. If you still don't know what on earth I'm on about you really need to buy this book! An easy to understand & humerous aproach to punctuation.