Preview

Punctuation and Apostrophe

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
7280 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Punctuation and Apostrophe
Below is a free essay on "analysis of "eats, shoots, and leaves"" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples.
“Eats, Shoots, and Leaves,” is written by Lynne Truss and offers a humorous look into the world of punctuation. She begins her first chapter by emphasizing the difficulties of being a “stickler” for misused punctuation, feeling frustrated as a stickler in a time when no one seems to care. She compares herself to the little boy from the movie The Sixth Sense where instead of seeing dead people, she sees dead punctuation. For example: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” Or “A woman: without her, man is nothing” (9). She mentions the use of commas in the following situations:
1. in a list
2. before dialogue
3. to mark out additional information (14)
She points out that the full stop, or period as in North America, and the comma were originally used to refer to certain pieces of writings, before they were seen as marks on paper. Truss suggests that people today are pulled between personal preferences and rules of grammar, such as those who prefer the Oxford comma or those who consider it an abomination. In amidst the hustle, she calls sticklers to unite and join together for the right use of English punctuation.
In her second chapter, The Tractable Apostrophe, she notes that English is now in a culture which has adapted the apostrophe as “visual decoration” and is not being taken serious enough. It was in the 16th century that the apostrophe was used, which meant “omission”. She informs the reader that somewhere in the 17th century, the introduction of the apostrophe before the “s” in singular possessive cases then later put after the plural possessives in the 18th century. Truss has formally outlined the use of Apostrophes, which are specifically to:
1. indicate a possessive in a singular noun
2. indicate time or quantity
3. indicate the omission of figures in dates
4. indicate the omission of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Use ‘s (apostrophe s) for a singular noun, and use ‘ (apostrophe) for a plural noun.…

    • 4484 Words
    • 35 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Figuartive Language

    • 1739 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Grammardog was founded in 2001 by Mary Jane McKinney, a high school English teacher and dedicated grammarian. She and other experienced English teachers in both high school and college regard grammar and style as the key to unlocking the essence of an author. Their philosophy, that grammar and literature are best understood when learned together, led to the formation of Grammardog.com, a means of sharing knowledge about the structure and patterns of language unique to specific authors. These patterns are what make a great book a great book. The arduous task of analyzing works for grammar and style has yielded a unique product, guaranteed to enlighten the reader of literary classics. Grammardog’s strategy is to put the author’s words under the microscope. The result yields an increased appreciation of the art of writing and awareness of the importance and power of language. Grammardog.com L.L.C. P.O. Box 299 Christoval, Texas 76935 Phone: 325-896-2479 Fax: 325-896-2676 fifi@grammardog.com…

    • 1739 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    exploration of gratuitous length, missing punctuation, and open endings, readers are given a stark look…

    • 876 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglas Stewart

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The use of anthropomorphism allows objects of the natural environment to be presented with the human characteristics the poet views them with. In the poem, the snow gum, by Douglas Steward, the composer feels an association with himself and also a connection to the royalty of the tree. Anthropomorphism is used as he interpretation the tree to be human-like as it has a “crown” like a person and “full grown”. The organic description of the “curve” of the tree, is the composer reinforcing his view of the tree being alive and human-like. The verb use of “curve” adds greater detail that the tree is moving in organic ways and interacting with its shadow, the composers sees tree as free, alive and at one with its shadow. Similarly, in municipal gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal, a poem in which explores the connection the poet has to the tree and the displacement of the tree in the municipal urban environment it is stuck in, uses sensory language is used to describe the “ hard bitumen” in which the roots of the tree are stuck. Noonuccal refers to the Gums roots as “feet”, this use of anthropomorphism demonstrates the composers empathy and sympathy towards the tree, the poet views the tree as a living, sentient being.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to many teachers, student’s usage of textspeak, the abbreviation of some words, has lowered their ability to expressing emotions in writing since emoji can be easily used while texting (pg130). Also, some teachers mentioned that some students seem to omit the use punctuation because they do not use them while texting (pg131).…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those punctuation marks in life, often called phases, more often misused – the reason I call them punctuation marks. You drew them on the day you lost something or someone special, the day you realized that your parents were human, the day you got your first paycheck, and so on. You will draw your full stop when you have reached your end.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Write a one to two page analysis on the poem “The Domesticity of Giraffes” and how it is associated with the concept of power and powerlessness.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    English for Amateurs

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Even though I had problems at the beginning of the semester, I began over time to learn many new concepts. When the semester started I figured I could write a paragraph and have no problems, but I was wrong. I had trouble figuring out the rules of commas, where they were supposed to be placed, and why. After a couple paragraph papers of trial and error, I finally had figured out how to place commas in a sentence, especially when I was taught the (FANBOYS) rule. This rule can be used as a coordinating conjunction to unite two complete sentences, thus forming a compound sentence. I think it was the easiest and most helpful part I’ve learned in this class.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everything wasn’t going to be like it used to be! After the few short lessons we did have on punctuation and grammar thereafter my true insufficiency was put to the test. We had been assigned to write an essay on what we thought “begin with the end in mind” meant. Just as I had the same confidence in turning in papers in my tenth grade English class was what had followed me then, with the hopes of getting an “A” as…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    AR 600-8-10

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    So I am beginning this essay, with a general over-view of leaves and passes, followed by a more in depth view of…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Much like a Personal/Reflective Response Essay, this assignment asks you to read an essay critically, briefly summarize its main points, and respond to those main points or ideas. In this case, however, your audience is a more academic one.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What is the meaning of the plant metaphor? See if you can spot further plant references.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theodore Roethke’s poem, Cuttings, shows how plants work and function. This poem is about a plant who drops its seeds on the ground. From this seed, a new plant takes shape, Roethke says, “One nub of growth nudges a sand-crumb loose, pokes through a musty sheath its pale tenderous horn.” When saying this,…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Denglisch

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the first instance Denglisch can also show up in German punctuation. Another sign of the decrease in German language and also blamed on Denglisch is the “Deppenapostroph”, in English called idiot´s apostrophe. German speakers do not employe apostrophes in many situations normally, but in modern times we add it to German genitive forms where it should not appear. During a walk through a street today you definitely can see business signs such as “Andrea´s Haarsalon” or “Karl´s Schnellimbis”, but the correct German possessive is “Andreas” and “Karls” without any apostrophe. Furthermore, we are an apostrophe in s-plurals such as “Auto´s”, “Handy´s” or “Trikot´s”.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    These basic examples of literary analysis can be found in most literature from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Paper town.…

    • 1467 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics