Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A No-Nonsense Guide to Punctuation

Michael: I didn't start it yet so I might update if needed.

United Kingdom on Oct 16, 2023

Nowell Wisch: Just buy it and don’t cry over spilt commas. Learn how to do real world punctuation. You won’t regret it.

United States on Sep 27, 2023

Donesa: Have read this book before and reordered it. I remembered ut as being more tongue in cheek but it us a good to illustrate the importance of punctuation.

United States on Sep 23, 2023

Dr. P.: A good book for those who a little help with writing in English.

United Kingdom on Jul 01, 2023

Vibhu Raja Suneja: Beautifully narrated book for learning punctuation. A must book for professionals.

India on Jun 29, 2023

Amazon Customer: The title put me off a bit. I assume the author called it this to attract attention. It is a very easy to read book, which explains punctuation in a very clear way. Very good examples.It helps to understand the history of the various punctuation.

United Kingdom on Mar 25, 2023

5t4n5 Dot Com: An absolute delight of a book.

Lynne has managed to take a rather dull and tedious subject — that of punctuation — and made it interesting and fun to learn.

Yes, it can come across as nothing but a curmudgeon having a rant, but it’s an intelligent curmudgeon having an amusing rant that is very educational.

We are now in an age where the written word is being used more than any other time in history to communicate; most people barely talk any more, preferring to text, or email, rather than pick up the phone or visit in person. At no other time in history has the correct meaning and interpretation of the written word been more important, while punctuation, which gives the meaning and interpretation to the written word, is so utterly neglected and misunderstood.

Yes, punctuation is important, and while some of it is art, a lot of it is not:

… is there any art involved in using the apostrophe? No. Using the apostrophe correctly is a mere negative proof: it tells the world you are not a thicko.

Whether or not you think your punctuation could use a little housekeeping, this is a fun and interesting book to read and you will learn a few...

United Kingdom on Oct 31, 2019

BT Invictus: Once I built up some immunity against the author's relentless snobbery, I thoroughly enjoyed Eats, Shoots & Leaves. I've always been somewhat suspicious of the person who makes a habit of publicly shaming any individual unlucky enough to use poor grammar and punctuation in her presence - a habit she justifies with the rather transparent and eye-roll-inducing excuse, "I just love the English language too much to let the errors slide!" It seems there is always an ulterior motive at play: like Mom always said, "The bully who puts others down might just feel insecure about himself." If Mom's words are true, this author has one major inferiority complex.

But, although she is a bit of a curmudgeon (beware of the preface), she's quite funny; I found myself appreciating her sense of humor when it wasn't being used at the expense of the poor chap with bad punctuation. And it's true that we seem to have reached an all-time low when it comes to our knowledge of punctuation's proper usage. Who can disagree with her when she argues that it is in our best interest to refresh our memory for the sake of the clarity and style of our writing? There were definitely a few places where she...

United States on Jun 08, 2013

Sahra Badou: 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,...

United States on Jan 30, 2008