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Eats, shoots & leaves | |
Publisher: Profile
Author: Lynne Truss
209 pages
Price £10.00
ISBN 1 86 197 612 7
If you think you have trouble with English punctuation, this book proves that the English have the same problem. Because English schools don't teach proper grammar and punctuation, the country is full of people who know that they can't write properly, but don't know what to do about it. This book became a best seller in England over Christmas. The writer of the book, Lynne Truss, has written books and articles in newspapers, and she admits that bad punctuation makes her very angry. She was especially annoyed by the film Two weeks notice because 'weeks' should have been written with an apostrophe (as weeks').
"We see ignorance and indifference everywhere" she says. After a long introduction explaining why bad punctuation annoys her so much, the writer spends six chapters explaining exactly how to use commas, exclamation marks, apostrophes and inverted commas. After you have read this book, you will know exactly how to use English punctuation. The book also looks at the way that the internet is changing punctuation. She is not upset about this, because it shows again that English is a living, dynamic language. She saves her nasty comments for people who write things like "CD's" when they mean "CDs", or who put commas in the wrong place. ("There is one rule about commas that you won't find in any grammar book - that is, don't use commas like a stupid person.")
Why the Panda, and the title of the book? It's because ther is a joke about a panda which went into a restaurant, had a meal, then shot the waiter and walked out. Police investigated, and discovered a book that explained that a panda "Eats, shoots and leaves". The sentence should be 'Eats shoots and leaves'. (Shoots are branches that are just starting to grow.)
This book is written for English people, so there are some references and idioms which are not easy for EFL students to understand. But there are not many books about punctuation, so if you are not sure about this subject, this book will be useful. But also have a look at Bill Bryson's Troublesome words which has a good set of rules for punctuation, but also has some other material for you to look at.
Who is this book for? Anyone who has ever wondered where to put the commas in a sentence, or has had a very important letter to write where the punctuation has to be exactly right. (Remember, the European Union once lost millions of Euros because a contract had a comma in the wrong place that completely changed the meaning.) But if your English reading is not top class, you will find this hard work.
Verdict: Heaven for punctuation fanatics.
Assessment 6/10