Comma Sense: A Fundamental Guide to Punctuation

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.

Dont 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 youve finished Comma Sense, youll not only have mastered everything you need to know about punctuation through Lederer and Shores simple, clear, and right-on-the-mark rules, youll have had fun doing so. When youre done laughing and learning, youll be a veritable punctuation whiz, ready to make your marks accurately, sensitively, and effectively.

Richard Lederer, Ph.D., is the author of more than thirty books on the English language, including Anguished English and A Man of My Words. His syndicated column, "Looking at Language," appears in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and he co-hosts a weekly show on San Diego Public Radio. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife.

John Shore is a magazine writer and editor in San Diego. He is the author of Penguins, Pain, & The Whole Shebang: Why I Do the Things I Do, by God (as told to John Shore).

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.

 

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.

"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 Words

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.