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

This is a great fun book, and I really enjoyed reading it. It has been a while since I laughed so hard. Wait, should I have said, "This is a great, fun book"? When do we use Mrs. Comma? The author writes, "Punctuation has been defined many ways. Some grammarians use the analogy of stitching: punctuation as the basting that holds the fabric of language in shape. Another writer tells us that punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language: they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop." (p. 7). Punctuation can alter the sense of a string of words. Take the following example: A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing. The use of punctuation is like fashion; it has its moments. One day it might be fashionable to use a semi-colon; another day it might not! Wait a second! Did I use my punctuation right? Should there have been a semi-colon after the word semi-colon? What a conundrum! And talking of semi-colons, did you know that colon in Greek means a limb (hence part of a strophe. A strophe is the first of two movements made by a chorus during the performance of a choral ode, but you all knew that, didn't you)? So a semi-colon is a half limb. But wait a minute, does apostrophe come from strophe or the other way round? Or maybe there is no relation whatsoever? Open your dictionaries! Did you know that women use exclamation marks more than men! Wait, I really meant to put a question mark! Did you know that most punctuation marks were invented by the early printers? Punctuation can render the written word into the way we talk. For example, poses between words, marking thoughts... How about punctuation in text messages? Do any of us bother putting them? And how about in emails or while chatting on the internet, how do we use punctuation? Who invented the smileys and for what reason? Smileys are made of punctuation marks. For example, :-) is a smiley meaning a smiling face. Smileys are made of punctuation marks. Funny enough, I was looking for the plural of smiley (which I thought to be smilies) and could not find the word in either the Oxford or the Webster dictionary. I, however, was able to find it in the Collins and the American Heritage dictionary. I wonder why that is?! Hey, was that a correct usage of punctuation?!!!!! Here's a nice fact: a few years ago, the average age of email users was 20. It is now 30, and climbing. More and more of us are using email to communicate with each other, and more and more of us are at a loss of how to use punctuation properly, if any. Just look at all the punctuation mistakes I have made in this short review (please don't count the grammatical errors!!!!!). This is a book you will love reading, and you will find yourself with a smile on your face. This book does not intend to teach you. Rather, it informs you! Did you say women use exclamation marks more often than men? The title of the book came about from a dictionary definition of panda. According to the author, the dictionary defined panda as a bear-like animal that eats, shoots and leaves. On the cover of the book, you actually see a panda on a ladder erasing the comma after eats. The sentence should have correctly read, `a bear-like animal that eats shoots and leaves.' Well, no one is perfect. (I keep wondering whether I am using punctuation correctly. What hath this book done to me? I mean to me!!!!!) I highly recommend the audio version of this book as well. In fact, the book is based on the audio version. Throughout the audio you will hear interviews with punctuation professionals and secret societies with the sole goal of correcting punctuation mistakes. Really, no kidding! Well, maybe not that secret. One such society has as its goal to correct apostrophe mistakes. For example, its or it's? They actually write letters to editors and store owners (is that owner's?) making them aware of the correct usage of this infamous punctuation mark. Some store owners actually change their signposts to reflect the correct usage. But many don't. Amazing! Who said all secret societies are bad? Here's a fact: The English language first picked up the apostrophe in the 16th century. The word in Greek means "turning away", and hence "omission" or "elusion". In classical texts, it was used to mark dropped letters, as in t'cius for "tertius" (p. 37). O, before I forget, here's a useful insight: The American and British editions of this book use punctuation differently! Wait, before I go, here's another thought: hopefully the author won't read my review and use me as an example of how horrible my punctuation is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lynne Truss writes a wickedly funny treatise on the death-- if we, the faithful who care about apostrophes, are not armed and ready to fight the barbarians-- of punctuation as we know it. Of course, her dilemma is that only people who care about correct punctuation are the ones who will read this fascinating book. Those who are most guilty will not or cannot read her. But for those of us who read this book there are wonderful tidbits. For example, Oliver Wendell Holmes said that We have to dismount from an idea and get back into the saddle again at every parenthesis while the writer Gertrude Stein found question marks the most uninteresting of all punctuation marks. F. Scott Fitzgerald said that the exclamation point (as it is known in America) is "like laughing at your own jokes." My favorite image from the book is that of the semicolon that "quietly practises the piano with crossed hands." For those of us who care, Ms. Truss gives a good review of the rules of punctution. She discusses thoroughly the correct use of all forms of punctuation, from the apostrophe to the hyphen, and compares the differences between British and American usage. She also discusses the blight that e-mail messages have brought on us all. "I keep thinking that what we do now, with this medium of instant delivery, isn't writing, and doesn't even qualify as typing either: it's just sending. What did you do today? Sent a lot of stuff." I fear that punctuation problems are worse on this side of the pond than they are in England. I attended a black tie event recently for over 300 people in which words large enough to be read from the back of the dinning hall were projected on a huge screen behind the speaker. The apostrophe was used over and over to express the plural, rather than the possessive of words. I felt as obsolete as a rotary telephone.

The author describes, with wit, the troubles with punctuation in the English language. As a non-native speaker (a Brazilian living in Brazil!), I feel 'free' to a few mistakes in this review! The book is very interesting, and as a Portuguese speaker, I can relate to many probles the author faces. She references her work with many historical facts, what gives even more relevance to the work; and also, more strenght! This is the sad reality for all languages in our days: being destroyed by the use of all internet and media available everywhere. One point that, in my opinion, is affecting negatively the English language, and not worked by the author here, is the influence of foreigners in English native countries, who bring their own native language to influence English, thus 'creating' something new. That's a problem that could be analysed in another work. Very interesting read that, at least for me, helped learn and be reminded of many grammatical rules I've forgotten. Very good book!

Lynne Truss has done an excellent job educating (and entertaining) the public on punctuation. At least, she's done a great job educating and entertaining me. I began this book with the outlook that I'd finally read a non-fiction book that stood for the truth, and was neither ashamed about it nor self-flattering. This is exactly what I received from Miss Truss' (or perhaps Truss's) Eats, Shoots & Leaves. (Note the George Bernard Shaw style in the writing of the title.) Let's begin with organization (or perhaps organisation). Truss has done an excellent job organizing this book. Each section deals with a certain portion of punctuation, and sticks to that section (unlike some books such as Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus). When rules apply to the punctuation, Truss lists these rules in a very organized manner and elaborates where extra information is needed. Beginning with an Introduction, then the main sections of punctuation,[<- Notice this Oxford Comma] and following a Concluding section. During all portions of the book she acknowledges the necessary information as well as making references to examples that help to explain certain things or perhaps to offer an opposition. Writing. Truss' writing is un-matched. She has a simple technique that includes intelligence and advanced ideas. Never does she attempt to step outside her boundaries and write (...let's say: showy) in a showy way. She is quite reserved, but expresses herself and the truth when necessary. Overall position. Truss stands by herself. She is not afraid to correct those who are incorrect; she is not ashamed to admit her inconsistencies and mistakes. Often non-fiction books take a strong stance and things and don't budge. These stands are commonly outrageous and obviously incorrect in some people's eyes. Truss makes subtle stands for what she believes in, and she believes in the truth. This is an excellent, quick read. A recommended weekend reader.

i am a stickler I do go through books to correct grammar usage and punctuation not mind you with just a wussy pencil but with a pen dealing in english i am happy to imagine that my punctuation would merit ms trusss approval however in literary chinese i vastly prefer the original unpunctuated texts because they engage your attention in a way punctuated texts cannot reading this book now i suspect that i am so punctilious about english punctuation because reading unpunctuated chinese has made me more aware of the flow and rhythm of sentences on, the, other, end, of, the, spectrum, are, some, chinese, who, place, a, comma, after, every, word, Let us strike a happy medium (Slap! Take that, Maggie Fox!). If you're going to punctuate, do it properly. I am the stoutest defender of the Oxford comma (AKA the serial comma) in all of Wulai, which sounds pretty impressive until you realize that, unless Temu is back from Capetown, only two people in Wulai speak English, and the other drinks half a dozen bottles of beer every day before lunch. Truss accepts Oxford commas conditionally, and on page 120 uses semicolons in a similar manner, so I should be content, I suppose. Truss has done a magnificent job of swatting down the apostrophes which swarm around unwanted like gnats. Perhaps some of the fault for the recent plague of apostrophes lies with the US Post Office, which does not allow apostrophes in any place name but Marthas Vineyard, or something. As a sort of natural counterbalance, people unwittingly add apostrophes where they are do not belong. Unwittingly, or halfwits? In light of this problem, we see a dangerous precedent on page 45. In listing the uses of the apostrophe, we see 8. It also indicates the plurals of words. If so, what is wrong with Book's? To make the world is a safer place, this should read: it also indicates the plurals of words which do not normally have plural forms. I will close with a question about punctuation. On page 58 of the hardback edition, I read, "you have to give initial capitals to the words Biro and Hoover otherwise you automatically get tedious letters from solicitors." Is that right? Shouldn't there be one of those little whatchamacallits before otherwise?

It should not have been in the stars that a book on a subject as dry as punctuation would make it to the bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic, but it has and the reason isn't just good luck. Author Lynne Truss, a self professed punctuation stickler, writes with knowledge, passion, not to mention an entertaining jazzy wit, with the result that EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES is great fun and not a little instructive. It is odd that in an era where the conventions of language are treated so casually in even the highest places, people still bleed when their grammatical usage is assailed. In other words, nobody likes a stickler. What sets Lynne Truss apart from the stickler chorus is the fact that she does not make it personal. She never assumes that the reader needs to be improved. She does use real world examples, like the title of the Sandra Bullock-Hugh Grant movie "Two Weeks Notice," in which the possessive apostrophe eluded everyone from the screenwriter upward through the ranks of the studio brass, but she never wastes time flaying the irresponsible. Instead, she spends her time on correcting the errors, clarifying the rules (with notes on American usage where it diverges) and slipping in some historical notes. No one reading the book will feel as if they have been taken to the woodpile, only entertained and better informed. I was actually sorry to see it end.

While plodding along reading Eats Shoots & Leaves, I entered into the section about apostrophe usage, and I soon struck an “Ah, Ha!” moment. The point of impact occurred when I read about apostrophe use on names ending in “s” or with the sound of “s.” The author tells me to use an apostrophe “s” on a modern name ending with s as in a name like Keats. Her example is “Keats’s poem;” she also illustrates this use with other names with this characteristic; but, hold it—don’t go anywhere: there are exceptions. The rule does not apply for ancient names. Sure—here it is again—another exception to a rule, and I sigh in frustration. A flashback slides to the fore of stacked dreadful school memories: a wild-eyed teacher, with red pen in hand, marking up my paper like some sadistic and frenzied fiend: gashing and slashing until it drips in red— a mutilated victim no longer recognizable. Back then, I rebelled and declared war against punctuation and the rules of grammar; but, with relief to the gentle reader, I can state that those days have passed. Presently, though the fruit of careless habit persist, my papers are not victims of mutilations, and I no longer entertain thoughts of rebellion. I can say that I feel much better about this business. Unquestionably, as a frequent judge at oral interpretation contests, I recognize the usefulness of punctuation for the speaker as a guide to various pausing, tone change and inflection. There, nevertheless, are too many exceptions to the rules and it complicates my ability to use them. Other academic areas, such as mathematics, fair much better in rule consistency. In math, students are taught to use a certain order of operations called PEMDAS: a mnemonic contrivance standing for parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, respectively, when dealing with multiple arithmetic operations in a math problem. It is consistently used, and there is no exception. When a student gets the order of operations rule down, he can happily do the math. Punctuation rules, likewise, need to follow such uniformity so the student can happily do the composition. Appreciating her prime purpose to inform the reader in a whimsical and interesting manner about correct punctuation, I, nonetheless, found her roundabout— sometimes cute and sometimes catching—way of presenting the how and why of punctuation no more effective than a worn and weary copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. After reading the pages on this particular punctuation concern, I was hardly better for it. Sometimes, a few direct words will do a better job than scores of words. “The bigger the glob; the better the job,” is a bromide that tells one what not to do, and it applies to poor quality soldering of electronic components. It, however, can apply to exposition as well.

Eats Shoots & Leaves is a very helpful reference book especially if you have to write a lot of papers for school. This book has shown me a former student how much I did not know about punctuation and that is why I enjoyed it. I thought that an apostrophe only indicated possession. I also learned that an apostrophe can be used to indicate time or quantity or the omission of letters. Lynne Truss explains the functions and usage of common punctuation marks like the apostrophe, comma, semicolon, and colon very clearly. I really did not know how a semicolon or colon could be used. A semicolon shows the reader the relationship between 2 different statements. Colons separate subtitles from main titles in books or movies. She provides the reader with sentences with the punctuation marks in the right place. I really appreciated seeing how they worked in sentences. There are 17 rules about how a comma is used. Commas are not only used in lists and to join sentences. They are also used to separate clauses to make reading easier and are used before direct speech. The information in this book may sound basic to some people, but I found it pretty interesting. This book will make me a better writer and a better observer when I see a misuse of punctuation. Lynne Truss points out how punctuation can be misused everywhere on movie posters and even everyday email. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a wonderful written book.

I always punctuate my text messages and have a panic attack when I’ve sent one off without putting a full stop at the end of it; in fact, I’ve been called a grammar Nazi, which is one reason why I loved this book ! However, it’s not only because of Ms Truss’s straightforward and witty way of clarifying – as far as possible - the rules of punctuation in English that I enjoyed it so much, but also because of all the bits about its (punctuation's) history and development through the ages; from the Bible via Greek choruses, medieval illuminators, Venetian printers, Shakespeare and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” to James Thurber almost coming to blows with his editor (and lots of hilarious snippets, jokes and anecdotes in between). I never knew that the things I had detested forever were called the Oxford comma and the double possessive; now I know (but I still detest them); I’ve fallen in love with the semicolon [and am probably over-using it (or “overusing” it ?)]; and I know I’ll never be using asterisks or angle brackets to show emphasis. In summary : a very funny book on a deadly serious subject. P.S. I wish it had an index !

buen libro! me llego en buen estado, aunque es mas pequeño de lo que pense parece una edicion de bolsillo.

Great book

Lynne Truss a su allier pertinence du propos et humour. Ce livre s'adresse donc à tous : du dilettante qui veut passer un bon moment au linguiste qui peut y trouver un bon point de départ avant d'amorcer des recherches plus approfondies.

Great book about punctuation in a very entertaining format. You laugh and learn at the same time, what could be better than that?