For instance, in the section on apostrophes, she relates a law mentioned in a newspaper column, “the Law of Conservation of Apostrophes. I found myself chuckling more than once, but that could just be nerd humor. Somewhat to my surprise, not only did I find myself enjoying it, but also unwilling to put it down. Humor runs through the book, increasing its readability. Examples are pulled from personal accounts, famous writers’ anecdotes, classic literature, plays and newspaper articles, adding interest.
In fact, she when talking about the semi-colon, hyphen and dash, she notes how usage is fading with hyphenated words, but the dash is enjoying a resurgence with texting. By integrating short pieces on the history of that particular punctuation, she adds insight into language as an evolving process.
She makes brief mention of the punctuation debate surrounding the Oxford comma, a concept I’ve heard referenced but didn’t understand (Is a comma needed on the noun before ‘and’ when you are making a list? Ex.: “I need to buy cream, coffee and sugar.”) Use is reviewed from a British-English perspective, but she often makes note of where American-English differs (except for the chapter she hilariously ends with “unless, of course, you are in America”). Truss nicely covers the basics of beginner to advanced punctuation with chapters devoted to each: a rationale for punctuation, the apostrophe and its many uses, the comma, the semi-colon and colon, the dash, the hyphen, and various brackets. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning… Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play.” “The reason it’s worth standing up for punctuation is not that it’s an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied. Full of humor and information, it explains some of the easier nuances to punctuation in a useful and engaging manner. Similarly, I procrastinated on reading Eats Shoots & Leaves, and I really shouldn’t have. A few years back, I even bought a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, but have yet to read more than a chapter or two at a time before discovering something else to do, even if it’s bathing the dog. I confess: I frequently find myself self-conscious about my use of punctuation. Read April 2014 Recommended for fans of writing, communicating ★ ★ ★ ★
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