Sign in with Facebook
Trish's Reviews > Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
by
We're called sticklers. Or grammar nazis. We know the difference between who's & whose & whom, they're & their & there, the correct plural for words or the fact that some words exist only in either singluar or plural and correctly use the comma, semicolon, full stop, exclamation mark and question mark. And by god, we'll make you know the difference, too! :D
It is so refreshing reading a book like this. Honestly. Many people, as the author correctly bemoaned, don't give a damn, but they should. Everybody should. Lives can depend on it; or at least my sanity (and therfore the survival of whoever made me lose it).
What is especially strange, no, downright scary, is the fact that I know most grammar and punctuation rules better than many a native speaker. Because no, my first language, my mother tongue, is not English. So if I can know this stuff, you can as well. No excuses.
It's not about getting it right all the time, but reading some posts even here (on a literary website, for crying out loud), makes me shudder! Some don't even use the full stop and especially in the English language, where almost every word starts with a minor letter (German, for example, uses capital letters at the beginning of nouns), this is the worst case scenario if you want to know what exactly a person was trying to tell you.
Mind you, English speakers are not the only ones afflicted. Auto-correct and the laissez-faire attitude (yes, I just included a French term, I'm classy that way) on the internet have made sure of that. It's not only the younger part of the populace either.
What I'm saying is: there's a reason for rules and not all rules are bad and if you don't get in gear, I might take the author up on her offer and become part of her stickler militia. *lol*
by
We're called sticklers. Or grammar nazis. We know the difference between who's & whose & whom, they're & their & there, the correct plural for words or the fact that some words exist only in either singluar or plural and correctly use the comma, semicolon, full stop, exclamation mark and question mark. And by god, we'll make you know the difference, too! :D
It is so refreshing reading a book like this. Honestly. Many people, as the author correctly bemoaned, don't give a damn, but they should. Everybody should. Lives can depend on it; or at least my sanity (and therfore the survival of whoever made me lose it).
What is especially strange, no, downright scary, is the fact that I know most grammar and punctuation rules better than many a native speaker. Because no, my first language, my mother tongue, is not English. So if I can know this stuff, you can as well. No excuses.
It's not about getting it right all the time, but reading some posts even here (on a literary website, for crying out loud), makes me shudder! Some don't even use the full stop and especially in the English language, where almost every word starts with a minor letter (German, for example, uses capital letters at the beginning of nouns), this is the worst case scenario if you want to know what exactly a person was trying to tell you.
Mind you, English speakers are not the only ones afflicted. Auto-correct and the laissez-faire attitude (yes, I just included a French term, I'm classy that way) on the internet have made sure of that. It's not only the younger part of the populace either.
What I'm saying is: there's a reason for rules and not all rules are bad and if you don't get in gear, I might take the author up on her offer and become part of her stickler militia. *lol*
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
March 5, 2018
–
Started Reading
March 5, 2018
– Shelved
March 5, 2018
–
10.0%
"Yes, YES, YESSS!!! Another person hating it when people insert apostrophes randomly or leaving them out! Ha! I'm not alone!
*shakes fist triumphantly towards heaven*
I had no idea the word "stickler" was what we're called but I shall wear my badge with pride."
*shakes fist triumphantly towards heaven*
I had no idea the word "stickler" was what we're called but I shall wear my badge with pride."
March 5, 2018
–
50.0%
"This is a fast read. Above all though, it's a funny read! :D
The incredible thing is that I often know punctuation rules better than native speakers. You know something is wrong with the educational system if that happens!"
The incredible thing is that I often know punctuation rules better than native speakers. You know something is wrong with the educational system if that happens!"
March 5, 2018
–
75.0%
"A really fast book to get through. The author has a great gift of talking about a subject many might think of as dry and boring in a very entertaining and relatable way. OK, you might need to be slightly bonkers (about grammar and punctuation) but I never had a problem in that department anyway. ;P"
March 5, 2018
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Bradley
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Mar 05, 2018 01:30PM
STOPP!!!!
reply
|
flag
*
Glad I'm not the only one. :D
I know what you mean currently reading Liz Moore's "the unseen world' and she had a line that started with "These ones, and I literally stopped reading and groaned...lol
*lol* Yeah, wouldn't have made a positive impression with me either.
