Books › Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
First published 2003 · 231 pages
A hilarious, exasperated battle cry for anyone who has ever winced at a misplaced apostrophe.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a cozy pub with your wittiest, most delightfully curmudgeonly friend as they rant about the decline of modern standards. It is a brisk, laugh-out-loud journey through the often-ignored landscape of punctuation, transforming what could be a dry grammar lesson into a passionate defense of clarity. The prose is sharp, conversational, and unapologetically pedantic, inviting the reader into a secret club of sticklers who care deeply about the placement of a comma. The mood is lighthearted yet fiercely protective of the English language, offering a comforting sense of camaraderie for anyone who has ever felt alone in their frustration over a greengrocer's apostrophe. It is a joyful, validating romp for the linguistically meticulous.
- Mood
- lighthearted
- intellectually playful
- curmudgeonly
- cozy
- Tone
- wry
- exasperated
- witty
- pedantic
- passionate
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the joy of precision · linguistic preservation · the humor of ambiguity · shared frustration
- The writing
- Sharp, conversational, and delightfully opinionated, with sentences that practice the exact meticulousness they preach.
- The arc
- Moves from solitary exasperation over grammatical decay to a joyful, rallying camaraderie among fellow language lovers.
- Who it's for
- Grammar nerds, writers, and anyone who secretly carries a Sharpie to correct errant apostrophes on public signage.
About the book
Anxious about the apostrophe? Confused by the comma? Stumped by the semicolon? Join Lynne Truss on a hilarious tour through the rules of punctuation that is sure to sort the dashes from the hyphens.
We all had the basic rules of punctuation drilled into us at school, but punctuation pedants have good reason to suspect they never sank in. ‘Its Summer!’ screams a sign that sets our teeth on edge. ‘Pansy’s ready’, we learn to our considerable interest (‘Is she?’) as we browse among the bedding plants.
It is not only the rules of punctuation that have come under attack but also a sense of why they matter. In this runaway bestseller, Lynne Truss takes the fight to emoticons and greengrocers’ apostrophes with a war cry of ‘Sticklers unite!’
Description from Open Library.
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