Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, Frank McCourt (Foreword by) ISBN: 1592400876 Pub. Date: April 2004 Visit the Website: http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/esl.html Punctuation

Introduction “Punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language: they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop.” The way a sentence is punctuated can change its meaning, for example, A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Why it is necessary? Punctuate this wildlife manual entry so that it the panda is not an armed masticator A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. “Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. “I’m a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.” The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.” Image Source: http://suedo.org/james/?s=illustration

Common Mistakes found Full stops (periods) These mark the end of a thought. There is NO space before it, but there is ONE space after the full stop (or period). Following the end of a sentence The new sentence starts with a Capital Letter. NEVER start a sentence with an abbreviation e.g. “GIS is used…” should “Geographical Information Systems are used… ” Never start a sentence with a number e.g. “10% of an ecosystem” should be written “Ten-percent of an ecosystem” when at the start of a sentence.

Task one Punctuate this sentence so that it makes sense Every lady in this land hath 20 nails on each hand five and twenty on hands and feet and this is true without deceit Every lady in this land hath twenty nails. On each hand, five; and twenty on hands and feet.

Task two Add the punctuation mark Comma – I went to the bank the chemist and Shoprite Comma – I am of course going steadily insane Colon – Tom has only one rule in life never eat anything bigger than your head Semi-colon – It was the barking of an enormous dog it came from over there Exclamation mark – Phew Its hot outside Question mark – What is the capital of France Hyphen – There were thirty two rabbits Image Source: http://suedo.org/james/?s=illustration