Eats Shoots & Leaves
Published January 05, 2005
Author Lynne Truss doesn't fool around with punctuation. When she puts a comma in a sentence, adds an ellipsis, uses a semi-colon, you can bet it's a punctuation mark that belongs wherever she puts it.
Rightly so. Punctuation is the bane of many writers, this one included. Somehow, it's always easier to spot others' mistakes--commas where there shouldn't be any, or places in text where there should be one--than it is to proof one's own work effectively. The eye seldom detects those minor typos, inconsistent commas, semi-colons, or other common mistakes we all make (thanks in part to typewriters and keyboards that have minds of their own, I'm convinced) in our own writing. Yet, we make them, nonetheless.
This is why every writer needs a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves by British author, Lynne Truss.
It's been said, by better writers than many of us (and some writers not nearly as good as many of us) that the computer age has made sloppy writing acceptable. Certainly, it can be argued that text messaging and hurried emails carry numerous grammatical mistakes, and that composing a proper note in an email is fast becoming a lost art.
Lower case text in all sentences is standard with some writers. Lack of a subject line to identify the email content is not so much a gaffe as pure laziness on the part of the sender.
Ms. Truss attempts to put writers who do not know how to write properly, to shame. My favorite part of her book is the introduction, where she uses my favorite sentence, with its two forms of punctuation, to prove a point I make in much of my writing--about the differences between men and women:
"A woman, without her man, is nothing."
Conversely, in this day and age, "A woman: without her, man is nothing."
There are more gems throughout the book, but the title is probably the most famous, at this time. "Eats, shoots and leaves," according to the backcover of the book, refers to a joke, which goes like this:
"A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shot in the air.
- Eats Shoots & Leaves
- Published: January 05, 2005
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Yvonne DiVita
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Clubhouse - Perhaps the publisher forced the author to conform to their own punctuation standards in the title? To be a fly on the wall during that meeting...
I've seen some pretty good books on grammar out there, such as Sin & Syntax (not that I've spent very much time with them, to my detriment), but I must defer to The Elements of Style as the grand master. Short, concise, lays it all out.
I also defer to Stephen King, who says that most people pick up the basic elements of grammar and punctuation during grade school, or they don't.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
The best result of Truss' book is that more people recognize the importance of proper punctuation and recognize its value.
When the book drifts from passionate pleas into specific examples and instructions, then it is weaker.
EB: I'd imagine that was exactly what happened -- a clash of styles between the publisher and the style recommended in the book. But that's what good copy editors do, reconcile that kind of conflict in a way that is not stupid. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the book, and indeed it's rife with errors.
Phil is right re: when it's weakest.
Phil is right re: when it's weakest.
He's also right re: where its strength lies. Remember, this book is a run-away best-seller! Even with errors, that represents thousands of people re-exposed to rules of punctuation.
I wonder how much of the motivation to learn these rules comes from a desire not to "use commas like a stupid person" while posting online?
Clubhouse,
Which reference do copy editors and huge PITAs like you recommend?
I am a little more than obsessed with finding typographic errors in everything, especially the misuse of quote marks. I don’t know why I haven’t picked this book up yet.
Clubhouse, I’d be interested in your other reading recommendations.
This is excellent feedback. I, of course, enjoyed the book for it's easy writing style and humor and...can only speak for myself when I say I found it quite effective. That said, I admit I am not a grammar snob...though I should be...as a writer who strives to be good at what she does. (Truss hates ellipses, by the way. Oh well.) I agree with Phil who quotes Stephen King, and Clubhouse, who says he's a pain in the ass by nature-- would that we all had someone like you at our elbow.
The other book pictured above (Lapsing into a Comma) is great. Walsh is the former Washington Post deskman, and he's interesting and funny, if a little unpredictable. But his common-sense advice is great, especially about word choice and diction:
Don't use "impact" as a transitive verb.
Watch those commas for direct address:
"Thanks for coming by Alicia." is different from "Thanks for coming by, Alicia."
I think everyone should have an AP Style Book, which is the standard to answer questions like: Use the numeral or spell out the number? When do I have to include the state and when can I just use the city? What is the rule about hyphens?
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is a must also, with its famous rule of writing:
"Try to omit all the words which are not completely necessary to say what you are trying to say."
or:
"Omit needless words."
All the books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, especially the Well-Tempered Sentence, are valuable. Her Dishelveled Dictionary is a particular fave of mine.
Dos, Don'ts and Maybes of English Usage
by Theodore M. Bernstein (a condensed version of Bernstein's The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage, is also highly recommended and a standard.
Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English
by Patricia T O'Conner is pretty good for the less nerdly.
Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams is great, but very serious and not entertaining. So's the old 1970's Writing Well by poet/teacher Donald Hall, which is also more textbooky, if you can find it.
And next time you're at the library, check out the Fowler Dictionary of American Usage or its successor, which has the same name but is edited by Bryan Garner. If you are really interested in how the language and usage changes, this is fascinating stuff.
Gee, I feel so... right! I'm not sure who was quoting Stephen King, though.
Strunk & White's The Elements Of Style has the advantages of being well-known and very, very thin. I'm a fan. Now that I think about it, though, I can't remember whether it is for or against the serial comma; I'm for it.
You might say that I've bought into the serial comma lock, stock, and barrel.
Twas I who invoked Mr. King, Phillip, and I feel I should mention his On Writing as a fine piece of advice on the overall crafting of words (and a good and fun read to boot).
I think I picked up my usage of the serial comma from The Chicago Manual of Style. Not sure what Elements says about it.
~ Eric B.
Strunk is for the serial comma. I have no opinion at all about it. AP Style says no, and so I say no at my jobs that use it. My job that uses Chicago, I use it. My job that sort of makes it up as they go along, I don't use it.
This is a sort-of copy-editor's joke, that when you show up for the first day at a place, you ask "Where's the coffee, and do you use the serial comma?"
I thought King's writing book was of similar quality to his other stuff.
Diplomatically.
Clubhouse -
It took me a number of years to come "out of the closet" as an open admirer of King's work. But now I'm Out, and proud of it.
So, if you don't dig his stuff, it won't ruffle my feathers any. Appreciate the diplomacy though.
~ Eric B.
Well, that's fine, EB, as long as you shut up about it and don't try to foist your lifestyle on the rest of us!
I have actually tried Mr. King, and just find him numbingly narrative.
I am also a fan of the serial comma because it clears up possible confusion about a misperceived relationship between the last two items on the list
Hey, how come no one caught my major faux pas... -- it's-- when I should have written -- its--???? I HATE it when I do that! And (yes, you can too start a sentence with and), serial commas are in, in my book. BTW, Eric, Woe is I is another great book. Should have mentioned it in the post. What's really interesting is the amount of attention this is getting. I'm stunned to see so many folks who care about grammar and punctuation (though I shouldn't be, not here). I feel small...you guys really know your stuff. I just float along with what feels right, and check my Strunk and White in a pinch, or refer to my editor's requirements. When I have an editor.
I'm something of a drifter too, Yvonne, especially considering I have been writing "professionally" in one form or another for 25 years, but eventually you can't help but pick up the basics.
Blogging has done a shitload of good for grammar and punctuation because sooner or later people get tired of people correcting dey asses.
My peeve of the moment is people who don't know the difference between a semicolon and a colon: they are not interchangeable.
Eric, you'll be happy to learn that Truss addresses that very distinction in her book; the difference is subtle but real, and more people should use colons.
The colon means "as follows." Always. If you can't substitute it for that, you probably need something else.
This is all in running text, of course. It means different things in titles and things. In fact, one good rule in your Oscar pool is to pick the documentary with a colon in the title, like:
Not Just Crumbs: The Story of Streusel
Thicker than Water: The Tortured Life and Barely Remembered Death of Andy Gibb
CC, you are the cool voice of grammatical reason.
And a semicolon is a "little period": meaning when you could use a period but want to continue the sentence because you are fucking cool, use a semicolon. It can also be used to distinguish between items in a list where there are one or more commas within the item.
Its true.
One of my titles in life is freelance proofreader. Although I started out as an English major, I focused on psych with a minor in English literature.
This book really brought home the point that one badly misplaced punctuation mark can change the entire meaning of what a writer meant to begin with.
Not only does this bring a smile to my face, it made me chuckle as well!
Do not forget about the masters Quirk and Greenbaum. A Student's Grammar of the English Language is a great work of art.
She seems like a crazed lady. She has too much spare time on her hands. She's racist becuase she siad nigger.She is also perverted, she is from the devil.
Abby - I believe it is against site rules to post comments under more than one name.
Or is it Ethan, or Serena?
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/23927)
I am a copy editor by trade and a huge pain in the ass by nature, and so I am of two minds about this book.
1. It's incredible and exciting that so many people would buy a book about the subject.
2. This book is awful. Without going into it too deeply (which would just infuriate me), one example: The very subtitle on the book's jacket is mispunctuated ACCORDING TO THE BOOK! (It should be Zero-Tolerance, with a hyphen). Its success is infuriating and a mystery. There are some good and even fun recent books like this for grammar nerds, and I can recommend some if anyone cares.