Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation

✍ Scribed by Crystal, David

• Book ID: 108947562
• Publisher: Profile Books
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 3 MB
• Series: English 3
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781782831082

✦ Synopsis

This 'engaging history of punctuation' (Wall Street Journal) is not only the first history of its kind, but a complete guide on how to use English punctuation.

Behind every punctuation mark lies a thousand stories. The punctuation of English, marked with occasional rationality, is founded on arbitrariness and littered with oddities. For a system of a few dozen marks it generates a disproportionate degree of uncertainty and passion, inspiring organisations like the Apostrophe Protection Society and sending enthusiasts, correction-pens in hand, in a crusade against error.

Professor Crystal leads us through this minefield with characteristic wit, clarity and commonsense. He gives a fascinating account of the origin and progress of every kind of punctuation mark over one and a half millennia, and he offers sound advice on how punctuation may be used to meet the needs of every occasion and context.