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    Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
    Unavailable
    Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
    Unavailable
    Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
    Audiobook1 hour

    Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In 2002 Lynne Truss presented Cutting a Dash, a well-received BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation, which led to the writing of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The book became a runaway success in the UK, hitting number one on the bestseller lists and prompting extraordinary headlines such as Grammar Book Tops Bestseller List (BBC News). With more than 500,000 copies of her book in print in her native England, Lynne Truss is ready to rally the troops on this side of the pond with her rousing cry, Sticklers unite!

    Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From George Orwell shunning the semicolon, to New Yorker editor Harold Ross's epic arguments with James Thurber over commas, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.




    From the Compact Disc edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 25, 2004
    ISBN9780786552610
    Unavailable
    Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

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    Reviews for Eats, Shoots & Leaves

    4/5

    3,389 ratings207 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Hilarious take on grammar and punctuation.
    • 1/5
      Though this was billed at my library as the audio edition of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", it's actually a collection of BBC radio broadcasts that inspired the book. They're interesting enough, but not what I was looking for!
    • 3/5
      The English language (British or otherwise) seems to be in grave danger. Atrocious use of punctuation is only one symptom of the continuing decline of the language, and according to Truss, appropriate use of punctuation and spelling must be vehemently defended and employed.Because this book was originally written to address a British audience, some discrepancies creep into the American publication since British English and American English differ in grammar, spelling, punctuation, meaning, and nuance. Truss notes this briefly in her introduction to the American version; the book is still useful in addressing punctuation, although it shouldn't be used as substitute for a style manual.Part punctuation manual, and part satirical and cynical commentary, Eats, Shoots & Leaves alternates between being informative, amusing, and sometimes even annoying. Some of her examples could have been better chosen; she didn't always convince me of her arguments in some cases. Perhaps I was just being difficult, but better examples would have helped her make her point. A little bit of the history of the use and development of punctuation found its way into the text, providing a welcome diversion from the somewhat lengthy and sometimes contradictory "lessons."Experiments in Reading
    • 4/5
      This is a quirky punctuation guide; more anecdote than rote -- sort of a Bridget Jones's Elements of Style. The author uses lots of good examples ("cute" may be more accurate) and is good about pointing out the differences between British and American usage. Although aimed at punctuation sticklers, it would be an entertaining introduction for the punctuation-challenged. It covers all the basic punctuation marks and rules, but not the trickier stuff.
    • 1/5
      I couldn't get through this one. Putting aside any quibbles based on the differences between American and British usage, the "Zero Tolerance" bit in the subtitle pretty much indicates where we part ways. The usage guides I adore are based on a love for the English language. They revel in the ongoing development of the language, being part of a multi-generational conversation about how words are used and how they ought to be used. They relish the continuous tug-of-war between language snobs and language slobs, prescriptivists and descriptivists, the mavens and the guys in the street. They appreciate a well-turned sentence. They're aware of the importance of cadence. They enjoy a comma placed in just the right location. And they understand that the rules serve the language and its users, not the other way around. On the other hand, you also find people like Lynne Truss. They may be tone-deaf, but by golly, they know the rules they've been taught. And heaven help anybody who dares to break those rules in their presence. In this approach, grammar and usage aren't things to be appreciated; they're bludgeons used to pummel those lesser creatures who misuse them, and they provide ways of feeling smugly superior to others. Any alternative approaches are seen as stupidity, criminal negligence, or signs of a complete societal breakdown. I couldn't disagree more.
    • 3/5
      The history lessons were interesting...the rants less so. Good thing I used an ellipsis instead of a dash, else Ms. Truss might protest.
    • 4/5
      A delightfully written grammar guide that feels more like an extended conversation and rant rather than an attempt to teach, yet I learned so much!
    • 5/5
      An excellent book on punctuation, should be the textbook used in language arts classes!
    • 5/5
      A very amusing read that can reconcile even the most grammar phobic writer with English as it is punctuated in England.
    • 4/5
      Well this was the perfect “geek-read” for me. My writing may not always be correctly punctuated, but I do try to adhere to the general rules of grammar and punctuation. There were more than a few moments when I felt Truss was channeling the good Sisters at Ursuline Academy who first tried to drum those rules into my head. Truss writes with a delightfully irreverent style, and yet still conveys the seriousness of her purpose. Clearly there is a difference betweenA woman, without her man, is nothing.AndA woman: without her, man is nothing.It was a fast, enjoyable read, and I think I learned a few things.
    • 5/5
      An excellent book on punctuation, should be the textbook used in language arts classes!
    • 4/5
      A romp and a must for sticklers. If only all nonfiction were this much fun!
    • 5/5
      Who knew grammar could be so funny?
    • 4/5
      An amusing critical soliloquy on the state of English. Very very prescriptivist.
    • 3/5
      Interesting read.
    • 5/5
      A wonderfully witty book about grammar, making what is usually a dreaded topic something to be cherished. The author does not suffer punctuation fools gladly, and handily trounces all who would slouch through life with grammatical laziness.
    • 4/5
      Laughed out loud while reading it in the emergency room in Albany, GA (waiting to admit my mother).

      For language geeks.
    • 5/5
      Scathing as fuck. Hells yes.
    • 5/5
      A very readable book about punctuation. Entertaining and highly informative, I also learned quite a bit. Now to just put the deed into practice.
    • 5/5
      A witty yet insightful book.
    • 5/5
      I have read this book a few times, and I enjoy each time. As a former English teacher and a self-proclaimed grammar nerd, I found the writing to be laugh-out-loud funny at times. (I think I used the hyphens correctly.) There are some slight differences in usage due to the author's being British, but I had no concerns with that. The history of some of the punctuation we use today is particularly interesting too, and it's presented in an very readable manner. Good book!
    • 4/5
      If I ran the world, this would be required reading for every English speaker.
    • 2/5
      A disappointment.
    • 1/5
      I thought I would like this book. Boy howdy, was I wrong. Honestly, if the copy I read hadn't been the property of my local library, then I would have used it as compost already. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is written in a very divisive style. Readers will either laugh with their noses in the air at those who don't follow Lynne Truss's grammatical rules and pat themselves on the back for falling in line, or they'll be offended by Truss's purist take on the English language. What I found most irritating is that any worthwhile grammatical advice Truss gives her readers is prescribed in an utterly condescending and elitist tone. Essentially, her "high moral arguments" (202) amount to linguistic prescriptivism, a practice I am wholeheartedly against.

      Oh, but I did love how she has the hypocritical gall to call those who haven't mastered (and don't want to master) the semicolon "pompous sillies" (109). "I'm talking 'bout the man in the mirror/ I'm asking him to change his ways." - Michael Jackson
      pot = kettle, or whatever. While I'm on the subject of semicolons, who on earth thinks semicolons are too middle-class? Where did Truss get her research data for any of the "most common" excuses listed on pages 109-110? Probably, Truss should master the art of annotation and/or citing sources before she writes another reference book.
    • 1/5
      Painful, painful, painful, painful, painful. Yawn.
    • 3/5
      Made me smile
    • 4/5
      Hilarious and informative discussion/guide about (of all things) punctuation.
    • 5/5
      I would wager that this is one of the most famous books about the English language of the present day. It's entertaining, amusing and I found myself nodding and grinning the whole way through. Where's my marker pen, I'm off to sort out the grocer's apostrophe...
    • 4/5
      Funny, public-radio-style essay about punctuation. The book is small and the line leading large, but that just means you can digest it all in one enjoyable sitting.I confess I laughed more at the conversational Britishisms than at the poor punctuation examples; there's something hilarious about yobs and hoovering and cock-a-hoop all mixed up with proper punctuation rules.
    • 2/5
      Dull and unengaging. Given that I have a whole shelf of similar guides and it's a subject I have a great interest in, that was a surprise.