A witty, entertaining, impassioned guide to perfect punctuation, for everyone who cares about precise writing. Not a primer but a 'zero tolerance' manual for direct action. A panda walked into a cafe. He ordered a sandwich, ate it, then pulled out a gun and shot the waiter. 'Why?' groaned the injured man. The panda shrugged, tossed him a badly punctuated wildlife manual and walked out. And sure enough, when the waiter consulted the book, he found an explanation. 'Panda,' ran the entry for his assailant. 'Large black and white mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.' We see signs in shops every day for "Banana's" and even "Gateaux's". Competition rules remind us: "The judges decision is final." Now, many punctuation guides already exist explaining the principles of the apostrophe; the comma; the semi-colon. These books do their job but somehow punctuation abuse does not diminish. Why? Because people who can't punctuate don't read those books! Of course they don't! They laugh at books like those! Eats, Shoots and Leaves adopts a more militant approach and attempts to recruit an army of punctuation vigilantes: send letters back with the punctuation corrected. Do not accept sloppy emails. Climb ladders at dead of night with a pot of paint to remove the redundant apostrophe in "Video's sold here".
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'Lynne Truss deserves to be piled high with honours'. -- John Humphrys, Sunday Times
'Lynne Truss has written a funny and apposite book'. -- Mary Kenny, Irish Independent
'She's a soul sister. She's one of us.' -- Richard Madeley, Richard & Judy
A wonderful little treatise on the uses and misuses of punctuation. Witty and entertaining as well as informative. -- Terry Eagleton, Irish Times, November 22
Altogether enchanting...it makes you love punctuation; you want to conserve what is left and perhaps even call for more. -- Oliver Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph
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.
'Lynne Truss has written a funny and apposite book'. -- Mary Kenny, Irish Independent
'She's a soul sister. She's one of us.' -- Richard Madeley, Richard & Judy
A wonderful little treatise on the uses and misuses of punctuation. Witty and entertaining as well as informative. -- Terry Eagleton, Irish Times, November 22
Altogether enchanting...it makes you love punctuation; you want to conserve what is left and perhaps even call for more. -- Oliver Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph
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. -- Book Description
Her faint scoldiness, good humour, self-deprecatory pedantry and bloody-minded doggedness make this the most enjoyable book about punctuation ever written. -- Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard
Lovers of good English have thought of ourselves as isolated outposts...Lynne Truss has emerged as our champion. -- William Hartston, Daily Express, November 22
The book of the year, really. It meets the Zeitgeist. Very quirky and enormous fun. -- Fay Weldon,
This is more than a witty, elegant and passionate book that should be on every writer's shelf. Well. Done. Lynne!!!! -- Nigel Williams, The Observer Review
Truss is one of life's head girls. She's also jolly good fun, or at least her book is. -- Sarah Vine, the Times
From the Publisher
This international bestseller, with over 2 million copies sold worldwide, is fast becoming a modern classic. With humor, it guides us and encourages us to use punctuation in a way that will bring life and character to the written word. A book that can be read as a tale from beginning to end and used as a reference guide in moments of confusion. Be prepared to laugh out loud.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format: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!
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!
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful
By Westley
Format: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.
62 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eats Shoots and Leaves
Written for easy reading. Basic rules of punctuation explained in a clear manner. An entertaining and informative book you can read in a couple of hours.
Published 15 days ago by johanna
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eats, shoots and leaves
Loved this book as it is so comical. Bought as a Christmas present for a relative. Very unusual and different.
Published 16 days ago by bullfinch
5.0 out of 5 stars
GRAMMAR AT ITS BEST
A seminal discourse on the modern state-of-play regarding English usage. Highly amusing and outrageous in parts; a great resource for all ages..
Published 23 days ago by natalie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought as a present
I have had good reviews of the content of the book so I bought it for a friend, she loves it, maybe I will read it too!
Published 2 months ago by Lima
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, and this has really helped my poor punctuation skills.
Lynne Truss has written a book that is interesting, funny and very witty. But above all, I have learnt a great deal about personal tastes when it comes to the colon and semicolon. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Emma Burge
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good
Popular with the recipient. Excellent service from purchasers point of view. Only negative is the number of words required in this survey.
Published 2 months ago by Jane Ward-Booth
3.0 out of 5 stars
Marked copy.
It was a used copy. It provided me with the information I wanted, but the previous owner had highlighted passages with a yellow marker pen.
Published 2 months ago by Richard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
This book is both amusing and informative, being an English teacher with an interest I had to buy it. Makes the commute to Manchester easier.
Published 2 months ago by kelly kels
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, fun to read
This book has a lot of information about how to use common punctuation marks, as well as their history. It is also quite laugh-out-loud amusing to read. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Soirse
5.0 out of 5 stars
really funny
Check your grammar! You will laugh your head off and learn something as well.. Go for it! Laugh and learn
Published 3 months ago by Ms Elizabeth M Lewis
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