|
|
| book details |
Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life
By (author) Cecelia Watson, Read by Pam Ward
|
This book is currently unavailable. Enquire to check if we can source a used copy
|
| book description |
‘Fascinating… I loved this book; I really did’ David Crystal, Spectator A biography of a much misunderstood punctuation mark and a call to arms in favour of clear expression and against stifling grammar rules. Cecelia Watson used to be obsessive about grammar rules. But then she began teaching. And that was when she realized that strict rules aren’t always the best way of teaching people how to make words say what they want them to; that they are even, sometimes, best ignored. One punctuation mark encapsulates this thorny issue more clearly than any other. The semicolon. Hated by Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut and Orwell, and loved by Herman Melville, Henry James and Rebecca Solnit, it is the most divisive punctuation mark in the English language, and many are too scared to go near it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Should we even care? In this warm, funny, enlightening and thoroughly original book, Cecelia Watson takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the surprising history of the semicolon and explores the remarkable power it can wield, if only we would stop being afraid of it. Forget the rules; you’re in charge. It’s time to make language do what you want it to.
| product details |
Normally shipped |
Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers
Published date | 30 Jul 2019
Language |
Format | Downloadable audio file
Pages | 0
Dimensions | 0 x 0 x 0mm (L x W x H)
Weight | 0g
ISBN | 978-0-0082-9159-4
Readership Age |
BISAC | reference / writing skills
| other options |
|
|
|
To view the items in your trolley please sign in.
| sign in |
|
|
|
| specials |
|
An epic love story with the pulse of a thriller that asks: what would you risk for a second chance at first love?
|
|
|
|
Mason Coile
Paperback / softback
224 pages
was: R 542.95
now: R 488.95
|
A terrifying locked-room mystery set in a remote outpost on Mars.
|
|
|
|
