基本信息·出版社：St. Martin's Griffin ·页码：160 页 ·出版日期：2007年07月 ·ISBN：0312342551 ·条形码：9780312342555 ·装帧：平装 ·正文语种 ...
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Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation |
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Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation |
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基本信息·出版社：St. Martin's Griffin
·页码：160 页
·出版日期：2007年07月
·ISBN：0312342551
·条形码：9780312342555
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语
内容简介 在线阅读本书
Are you confounded by commas, addled by apostrophes, or queasy about quotation marks? Do you believe a bracket is just a support for a wall shelf, a dash is something you make for the bathroom, and a colon and semicolon are large and small intestines? If so, language humorists Richard Lederer and John Shore (with the sprightly aid of illustrator Jim McLean), have written the perfect book to help make your written words perfectly precise and punctuationally profound.
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.
作者简介 Richard Lederer is the author of more than thirty books on the English language, including Anguished English, A Man of My Words, and Word Wizard. His syndicated column, “Looking at Language,” appears in newspapers and magazines nationwide and he is a language commentator on public radio.
John Shore is the author of I’m OK---You’re Not: The Message We’re Sending Nonbelievers and Why We Should Stop, and Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang.
Both authors live in San Diego, California.
编辑推荐 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.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition. 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 WilkinsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Review "
Comma Sense is a clear, entertaining, and just plain helpful guide to the American rules of punctuation."---Lynne Truss, #1
New York Times bestselling author of
Eats, Shoots & Leaves “Of my 465 books on punctuation---I've read them all---
Comma Sense is the wisest and funniest. It's the only one you really need.”
---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 WordsWriting 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."---Margo Hammond,
St. Petersburg Times "Lederer and Shore's Comma Sense-bear in mind that it's their first collaboration-is speckled with humor so lame that it keeps falling on its assonance." Whoever wrote that callous, brutal comment about Comma Sense must be lacking in their own sense of humor. Oh, wait, that comment was written by Lederer and Shore. My mistake. Yes, this book is truly unique! If language can be considered a cartoon, then Comma Sense is Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner, Batman, the Far Side, Charlie Brown, and Donald Duck all rolled into one. Each chapter is devoted to one of 13 punctuation marks. These punctuation marks have fun, make fun, and are fun! My favorite is the dash, who is compared to Fred Astaire: "The dash emboldens eloquence; Fred Astaire embodies elegance. Plus, they're both skinny." Comma Sense spins tales that sound like facts until you realize that they co-exist with punctuation marks in the wild and crazy world of Ledererean lingofantasy. "Little Shirley Temple chirped, '…And most of all, I'd like to thank that most wonderful of punctuation marks, the hyphen, which I personify!'" Seriously, this book has been cited as the clearest source on punctuation ever written. It is necessary for saving the human race from its dangerous slide into a punctuationless exclamation point of no return! It tells you everything you wanted to know about punctuation but were afraid to ask. If you want to see punc rock, open the pages of this comprehensive, hilarious book. Here is a song you will find in it that showcases the seven coordinating conjunctions. It is sung to the tune of the Julie Andrews smash hit, "Do, Re, Mi." Go ahead and sing it out loud! If your neighbors complain, give them this review and tell them to buy the book!
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
