- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Profile Books; 2003 First Edition edition (6 Nov 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1861976127
- ISBN-13: 978-1861976123
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13.2 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (212 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
8,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #17 in Books > Reference > Language > Grammar, Structure & Syntax
- #19 in Books > Reference > Writing > Writing Skills
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
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Product Description
Book Description
Everyone knows the basics of punctuation, surely? Aren't we all taught at school how to use full stops, commas and question marks? And yet we see ignorance and indifference everywhere. "Its Summer!" says a sign that cries out for an apostrophe. "ANTIQUE,S," says another, bizarrely. "Pansy's ready", we learn to our considerable interest ("Is she?"), as we browse among the bedding plants.
In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss dares to say that, with our system of punctuation patently endangered, it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them for the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. "Sticklers unite" is her rallying cry. "You have nothing to lose but your sense of proportion--and arguably you didn't have much of that to begin with."
This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset about it. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to Sir Roger Casement "hanged on a comma"; from George Orwell shunning the semicolon to Peter Cook saying Nevile Shute's three dots made him feel all funny", this book makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.
Oliver Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph
Altogether enchanting...it makes you love punctuation; you want to conserve what is left and perhaps even call for more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this book for the pedant in your life!,
By
This review is from: Eats Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Paperback)
I highly recommend this book IF you have an interest in the english language, its punctuation, the development and abuse of said. This book is accessible, very funny, and well written. Lynne obviously cares about her subject and actually had a long-running national newspaper column on punctuation and its abuse.
If you are regularly infuriated by the greengrocer's apostrophe (carrot's, apple's, etc.) or wonder who invented the question mark (these things don't just turn up out of the blue, you know) then this is the book for you. Buy it. Read it. Read it again. Bore everyone you know to tears with it. I did!
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Entertaining,
By Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eats shoots and leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Hardcover)
"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" is not a grammar guide per se, as it doesn't really teach the basics of punctuation. Instead, it's a grammarians dream come true - an enjoyable and illuminating discussion of the history and importance of punctuation (Hmmmm, did I use that dash correctly?). Lovers of punctuation have been decrying the use of "netspeak" with no or minimal punctuation. Accordingly, Truss wrote this engaging book with the rallying cry: "Sticklers unite!" However, Truss does not simply attack the web; indeed, she asserts that text messaging and email have made reading more important than it has been of late. However, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, "It's the punctuation stupid!" Truss's dry British wit (e.g., talking about wanting to marry the inventor of the colon) is used to great effect in her writing. And amusing vignettes are peppered through the text, including the introduction of the "interrobang" as well as the spread of the "Strukenwhite" virus. She even manages to make punctuation seem, well, sexy. If you've ever found yourself in a spirited debate about the Oxford comma (i.e., the second comma in the phrase "red, white, and blue"), then you'll likely enjoy this book. Some reviewers have asserted that American readers may be a bit lost; however, Truss is careful about pointing out American versus British punctuation uses. I was never confused. Overall, this book is delightful - most highly recommended.
53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and mildly entertaining,
By
This review is from: Eats shoots and leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Hardcover)
Punctuation is rather like taxation law - it's a dry old subject but if you don't understand it you can't use it to your advantage. Having left a rather unimpressive comprehensive school at the age of 15, I relished the chance of receiving some, albeit late, tuition in punctuation. And I got it, courtesy of Lynne Truss. OK, professional journalists, English scholars and the like may scoff. They take such skills for granted whilst forgetting that some of us are educationally disadvantaged in this respect.Although entirely comfortable with apostrophes, I was never really sure on which occasions to use a colon or a semi-colon. I liberally use dashes in my texts as alternatives to commas - but was uncertain whether this was permissible. I now know that it is. Furthermore, I am finally able to appreciate the importance of hyphenation to avoid ambiguity. Thanks, Lynne! The book was also mildly entertaining but I can't honestly say that I was unable to put it down - especially if there was something more enthralling on the telly. Glad I read it, though.
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