3 Review(s)

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation covers the basics and origins of punctuation, and reminds people how important punctuation is to the English language. The book is a wonderful mix of humour and education. Summary Of The Book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation, published in 2003, is a reissued edition of this non-fiction book. The author speaks about the decline in the state of punctuation in countries like USA and the UK. Filled with humour, this guide is both informative and fun. The title of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation comes from a joke, where a panda wakes into a cafe, eats a sandwich, then shoots people, and leaves. The author warns readers to keep in mind these differences between British and American English. The book has a chapter on apostrophes. Readers will also find detailed information on the usage of question marks, dashes, colons, hyphens, commas, and more. The exclamation point is defined as a screamer, a gasper or a startler, and italics is said to be the print equivalent of underlining. Truss has elaborated on different types of brackets, such as square, round, and angle. Along with the usage of punctuation marks, the author has also included their history and other anecdotes. Many will be amazed to know how the question mark was invented, or how the comma came about. These stories add a different dimension to punctuation and grammar rules. The last chapter of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation studies the negative impact that emails, the Internet, and instant messaging has had on punctuation.    This guide is informative, engaging, witty, and delightful. Those who get upset with improper use of punctuation will love Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation. Others who wish to improve their own knowledge, will find this book to be very useful. It was first published in 2003, and became a New York Times bestseller in 2004. It stayed on the list for twenty-five weeks. About Lynne Truss Lynne Truss, born in 1955, is a British author, journalist, and professional pedant. She has also written Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!, Tennyson and His Circle, Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life, and Making the Cat Laugh. Truss graduated in 1977 with a BA Hons in English Language and Literature from the University College London. She won the Rosa Morrison Scholarship, the Morley Medal, and George Smith Prize. She worked as a sub-editor at Radio Times, as a deputy literary editor at Times Higher Education Supplement, and as a literary editor at The Listener. In 2012, she graduated with a Diploma from Courtauld Institute. Truss has Honorary degrees from the University of Brighton, Open University, and the New York School of Visual Arts. She also has Fellowships at the University College London, and the Royal Society of Literature.