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Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation
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Product Description
Don’t expect Comma Sense to be a dry, academic tome. On the contrary, the authors show how each mark of punctuation—no matter how seemingly arcane—can be effortlessly associated with a great American icon: the underrated yet powerful period with Seabiscuit; the jazzy semicolon with Duke Ellington; even the rebel apostrophe with famed outlaw Jesse James. But this book is way more than a flight of whimsy. When you’ve finished Comma Sense, you’ll not only have mastered everything you need to know about punctuation through Lederer and Shore’s simple, clear, and right-on-the-mark rules, you’ll have had fun doing so. When you’re done laughing and learning, you’ll be a veritable punctuation whiz, ready to make your marks accurately, sensitively, and effectively.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #184063 in Books
- Published on: 2007-07-10
- Released on: 2007-07-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 160 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312342555
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Lederer has long been one of America's most popular experts on language and grammar, but here he seems to be taking his cue from Lynn Truss in focusing on the ins and outs of commas, semi-colons and the other little dots and dashes that punctuate our writing. Lederer, with writer and editor Shore, tries a bit too hard to convince readers of the importance of good punctuation ("Good punctuation makes for a good life") and to make the whole business amusing (the period is "a mark so dinky that farsighted fleas court it"); disquisitions on Seabiscuit and Albert Einstein's hair are distractions rather than entertainments. And all the talk of how the apostrophe is like Jesse James explains less than Lederer's straightforward usage examples, such as the serious differences in meaning between these two sentences: "The butler stood in the doorway and called the guests names"; "The butler stood in the doorway and called the guests' names." Yes, punctuation is important, and the bold-face print for basic rules does make this an easy-to-use guide for the punctuationally perplexed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Lederer is a prolific author of language books, most notably the Anguished English series. Here, along with professional journalist Shore, he offers brief chapters on 13 punctuation marks. This primer will be useful to anyone needing a refresher course on the basics of punctuation. Aware that most people find grammatical advice to be rather dry and sometimes intimidating subject matter, Lederer employs a jocular tone intended to disarm wary readers. Thus, the dash ("fluid and graceful") is introduced by way of Fred Astaire; Shirley Temple acts as a stand-in for the hyphen ("perky, yet resolute"); and Jesse James gets the apostrophe ("a tad flamboyant"). To keep things from getting altogether too cute, Lederer explains the finer points of the exclamation point by quoting wacky dialogue from the I Love Lucy show. Concise instruction from a fun-loving grammarian. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
---Bryan A. Garner, author of Garner's Modern American Usage
“A thorough field guide to the pesky little critters of the punctuation forest.
Lederer and Shore hit the marks!”
---Bill Walsh, author of The Elephants of Style
“Who else would call the exclamation point 'this titan of tingle, this prince of palpitation'? Who else would call the apostrophe the Jesse James of punctuation? Who else would compare the dash to Fred Astaire, the semicolon to Duke Ellington, and parentheses (yes, my darlings) to Louella Parsons? It can only be Richard Lederer, Viceroy of Verbivores, and his trusty sidekick, John Shore.”
---Patricia T. O'Conner, author of Woe Is I
“Punctuation needn't be perplexing or painful, as Richard Lederer and John Shore make abundantly clear. Comma Sense is full of easy-to-understand guidance for the grammatically challenged---and loads of laughs besides!”
--- Martha Barnette, author of Dog Days and Dandelions
“If America had ‘Living National Treasures,’ the way Japan and Korea do, Richard Lederer would be one.”
---Barbara Wallraff, author of Your Own Words
Writing well is important for business, but it also can be crucial in love, the writers warn. Do you want to say, "I would like to tell you that I love you. I can't stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth," or "I would like to tell you that I love you. I can't. Stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth." As Lederer and Shore say, "Punctuation can mean the difference between a second date and a restraining order."
And, a word, a real small word;
But, it's spelled with just one t;
Or, a stick we use to row;
Nor, half of a cold countreeeee;
Yet, you bet it rhymes with wet;
For, one number more than three;
So a button on your fly-
And that brings us back to do, re, mi!
---Dave Morice, Word Ways
Customer Reviews
Buy it , you'll like it.
This is the unique book that has you mentally tallying up your friend's birthdays before you get to the last chapter (lets see... I can buy it for Ken, and Susie, and my daughter so she won't dog-ear my copy...). I picked this up for an educationally boring read that would knock me out at bedtime and instead found myself staying up most of the night laughing. Comma Sense is the darndest, funniest, wittiest educational book I've ever read. You can't help but learn something... it sort of seeps into your brain while you're distracted with a mental picture of what the Andrew Sisters would look like if viewed from above (yes, of COURSE they would look like...well, read Chapter 13 and you'll find out). I would write more, but I have to rush out now and buy extra copies for everyone I know.
Not just another book on punctuation
Not just another book on punctuation! What can Comma Sense: A Fundamental Guide To Punctuation hold over its many competitors? 'Fun' is the operative word here, as Richard Lederer and John Shore poke fun at the misuse of punctuation and how choices in punctuation can have very different results. Plenty of examples come couched in this humor, which makes Comma Sense quite easy to learn. Just consider that here the exclamation point is the 'titan of tingle, the prince of palpitation' and you have some idea of the allure of Comma Sense - and its potential of educating those who traditionally wouldn't touch grammar books with a ten-foot pole.
Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Pronunciation.
For me, personally, this was the right book at the right time.
I was searching for a source that would support or contrast the recent (British) publication entitled: EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES which, while an excellent and useful guide, left me confounded regarding its appropriateness for American English. This matter was settled promptly by the authors of the subject.
My recent re-interest in writing improvement and excellence, aside from standard business letters, has been spurned by an increased usage of email.
I am familiar with Richard Lederer's work and use of humor, and this lived up to and exceeded my expectations: All issues pertaining to punctuation are addressed; and all conceivable questions answered.
Additionally, the handy "review" section following the last chapter makes this an invaluable, easy-to-use, portable guide.
This is far more than recommendable: it's necessary!
