If you have the opportunity, take the time to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. It's a best-selling book about punctuation. Yes. Punctuation.
The author is, in many ways, my hero. Admitting to a severe case of obsession on punctuation, she has always had a thing against the wrongful treatment of apostrophes, hyphens, brackets and ellipses. With her rallying cry "sticklers unite!" she calls upon people everywhere to unleash their inner stickler and correct the moronic punctuation errors we see: misplaced/missing apostrophes, confusion between it's and its, uneducated placement of commas, and many more. Much is also advocated about the colon and semi-colon: how their lack of use is slowly killing them off. Lynn Truss even took it upon herself to grab a marker (Sharpie, to you Americans) and apostrophise the horror that is the title of promotional posters for Two Weeks Notice.
Most of us have left school and lessons of grammar of any sort for quite some time now. While this book may not be a 'grammar bible' of sorts, it does point out the mistakes we fail to see, as well as the ambiguity of language in the modern day. Punctuation has come a long way since it was first introduced in the 15th century, and has many differing schools of thought and styles. In fact, more often than not, punctuation is more a question of style. However, there are some very interesting facts many of us never learnt.
For instance, 'Jones' in Bridget Jones's Diary quite rightly has a second s. Apparently, names that end in s do. Ancient names like Achilles and Archimedes, however, are an exception to the rule.
This is all hanky-panky bullshit, you say? Well, that's what separates people like you, and OCDs like us.
The author is, in many ways, my hero. Admitting to a severe case of obsession on punctuation, she has always had a thing against the wrongful treatment of apostrophes, hyphens, brackets and ellipses. With her rallying cry "sticklers unite!" she calls upon people everywhere to unleash their inner stickler and correct the moronic punctuation errors we see: misplaced/missing apostrophes, confusion between it's and its, uneducated placement of commas, and many more. Much is also advocated about the colon and semi-colon: how their lack of use is slowly killing them off. Lynn Truss even took it upon herself to grab a marker (Sharpie, to you Americans) and apostrophise the horror that is the title of promotional posters for Two Weeks Notice.
Most of us have left school and lessons of grammar of any sort for quite some time now. While this book may not be a 'grammar bible' of sorts, it does point out the mistakes we fail to see, as well as the ambiguity of language in the modern day. Punctuation has come a long way since it was first introduced in the 15th century, and has many differing schools of thought and styles. In fact, more often than not, punctuation is more a question of style. However, there are some very interesting facts many of us never learnt.
For instance, 'Jones' in Bridget Jones's Diary quite rightly has a second s. Apparently, names that end in s do. Ancient names like Achilles and Archimedes, however, are an exception to the rule.
This is all hanky-panky bullshit, you say? Well, that's what separates people like you, and OCDs like us.
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