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Fun bookSep 06, 2008 I thought this was a fun book, although I'm not sure that I agree with all of the author's points. Clearly, she cares a great deal about grammar in a way that the rest of us might not. Still, it was quite entertaining. I definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys word (crossword puzzlers, Scrabble players, or just readers).
A LAUGH PER PAGEAug 12, 2008 A cute little book with some fun prose, and a lot of confusion and differences of opinion about punctuation. It's the British way or the Truss way, but often doesn't help us across "the pond." She did get me thinking about sentence and paragraph structure, and probably more confused. The book did help me with apostrophes and the dashes, and it also reassured me to know that my high school English teacher was not always right. It's good to know that there are many different ways of punctuating, as long as the message gets across clearly. So there, Ms Langley! Would I buy the book again? Yep! (did I use that exclamation point properly?)
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Better to light a candle than curse the darknessJul 25, 2008 As the old saying goes, it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness. A little cursing is actually OK, but all Lynne Truss does is sit on the ground and cuss, and she never does light any candles. This book is just endless complaining; there is hardly any actual guidance on punctuation. Moreover, even the American edition takes no notice of American usage, except to mention its existence in passing. Truss's book deals exclusively with the British rules, which are rather different from ours, so the book is worthless for Americans. Finally, she had the extremely poor taste to state that the worst thing (for her, apparently) about September 11 was the misuse of the word "enormity" in the media. (Apart from the moral horror of such a statement, the media did in fact use the word correctly in that context, for once.)
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Puzzled by all the hype...Jun 15, 2008 Frankly, I'm puzzled over the hype about this book. I have always been annoyed with mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. But even I had trouble making it through this book. Sure, there were interesting and funny sections. And I even cleared up a few punctuation rules that weren't clear to me before. However, there were parts I found downright boring. It seems like the average person cares less about punctuation than I do, so how did this get on the best-seller list? I am glad I read it, though, because I did learn something. It's also good to know there are people out there who care about punctuation even more than I do!
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Entertaining but poorly punctuated!May 28, 2008 As 532 other reviewers have (by in large) said, Lynne Truss's book is a funny and enjoyable rant about proper punctuation. It's also remarkably poorly punctuated for a grammar book. In some passages, Truss uses a forest of commas that get in the reader's way; in others, she omits commas that the reader needs to understand her meaning -- and there's little rhyme or reason for why she goes from one extreme to the other. In one section, after stating that her goal is to get "the greatest clarity from punctuation," Truss writes: "There is a rumour that in parts of the Civil Service workers have been pragmatically instructed..." when she means (for clarity): "There is a rumour that in parts of the Civil Service, workers have been pragmatically instructed...." There are many, many other examples that will (or should) leave punctuation sticklers shaking their collective heads. That said -- and I feel much better now for saying it -- Truss's good advice and entertaining writing far outweigh her occasional bad usage, making this a grammar book worth buying.
based on 540 reviews
