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

Sep 12, 2008 Kathrynn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed, own, funny, 2008, nonfiction-writing

I thoroughly enjoyed this short, funny book about British punctuation. The author had a wonderful sense of humor and used it throughout the book. This was a quick read, with sections on the:

1. Apostrophe
2. Comma
3. Quotation Marks (single and double)
(Now I understand why I see punctuation in and outside of quotation marks; British place outside while the American custom place inside.)
4. Colon, Semicolon and Interjections
5. Dash, Exclamation, Question, Italics, Underlining...
6. Hyphen
7. Emoticons ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Stephen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-read-in-2013, humor, reference, culture

Lynne Truss waxes (what's the antonym of Rhapsodic?) about the demise of punctuation knowledge among the il-literati. You just want to hug her and whisper a comforting...There, their, they're.

As one of those who enjoyed the old commercial with the feisty grammarian... ("Winston tastes good as a cigarette should") I've always been a fan of grammar and style books. This one has now replaced my old favorite The Joy Of Lex. While grammar and punctuation are becoming increasingly less important in th ...more

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Sep 16, 2008 Ruth rated it did not like it

After having heard/read so many great reviews, I was amazed at how ploddingly boring this book is.

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Sep 12, 2008 Julie (jjmachshev) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2009-reads

A fabulously witty book that still manages to be educational. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" is a must-read for those whose school days are a dim memory. Do ellipses leave you puzzled? How about dashes and brackets? If so, have no fear. Lynne Truss will set your punctuation quandaries straight with punctilious humor.

Those of who are 'sticklers' can hold our heads high; we now have a champion who's not afraid to crack the whip on errant apostrophes and misplaced commas. Ms. Truss' descriptive prose and ...more

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Jul 01, 2009 Dan rated it liked it

Shelves: z-2009-reads, non-fiction, borrowed

Simply, a book about punctuation. The history, misuse and creect use of all our little symbols. I found the book rather useful in terms of explaining why and how to use each mark. This book could have been under fifty pages if all that we wanted were the rules of punctuation, but the origin of each punctuation mark was often interesting. Where else would I have learned the differences between British and American punctuation? Where else would I learn that one of the punctuation marks has in the ...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Nikki Boisture rated it really liked it

I'm a stickler for punctuation, though I recognize my own vast imperfections in that area. But I loved Truss' (or would that be Truss's?) passion for the subject and I definitely love that she walks a fine line between being a grammatical prescriptivist and descriptivist. It's the same line I find myself walking, unsure which way to fall.

At the very least, the book encouraged me to be more open when I see punctuation errors. ...more

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