Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

FORMAL REFERENCE:
Truss, Lynne. 2003. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Penguin.

RELEVANT SECTIONS: “Cutting a Dash” chapter: pp 132-139

SUMMARY:

Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a mass-market book about punctuation in the English language. While conversationally written, the book is actually quite learned and content-filled.

The section on exclamation marks is a great overview, noting the origin, early use, and modern function and effect as well as including mentions of how, strangely, some sticklers frown upon the use of exclamation marks in many, if not all, circumstances.

Apparently, the mark was introduced by humanist printers in the 15^th century as “the note of admiration.” As in, “How pretty you are!” or, “The sun is so bright!” Today, it is used with more variety, though sometimes to chagrin: it is “unignorable and hopelessly heavy-handed”; it is hard to get right.

The author relates a good point when she says, “I can’t help thinking, in its defence, that our system of punctuation is limited enough already without dismissing half of it as rubbish.”

Truss notes eight uses of the mark: interjections, to salute or invoke, to exclaim or admire, for added drama, to emphasize, or to “deflect potential misunderstanding of irony” as in, “I don’t mean it!”

Finally, the author notes the exclamation mark’s use in humor and jokes as “the equivalent of canned laughter.” Interesting.

ASSESSMENT:
This is not a scholarly source, but the author most certainly is: she graduated with a first-class honors degree in English Language and Literature from University College London and has been an editor since 1978. She also hosts a punctuation show on BBC Radio 4; she most certainly knows what she is talking about.

Much of the material could be considered opinion, but it does seem reasonable and expected based on common understandings of the role of exclamation marks in my experience.

REFLECTION:

This book contains eminently quotable material for the introduction to the research proposal. Some of the points, such as how grammarians warn off its use, will make a good argument for further investigation.

KEYWORDS AND LABELS:

introduction, history, overview, dismissal, argument

Exclamation Marks: The Forbidden Fruit of Punctuation?

Exclamation Marks: The Forbidden Fruit of Punctuation?

For most of my academic life, I’ve been told to avoid using exclamation marks in academic and formal writing. I’ve even heard some English sticklers say that using the otherwise innocent-looking bit of punctuation is a sign of a poor writer—or that its use indicates that you the linguistic equivalent of an attention wh--… uhm, of Snooki from The Jersey Shore. Yes. Good analogy.

The gist of my experience is that there are strong opinions about exclamation marks out there in the world of English, and most of them are negative and prohibitive. I’ve always wondered, though—why? When I read exclamation marks in most cases, I read the sentence differently and with more energy, emphasis, and even enthusiasm than without. That doesn’t sound bad to me, even remembering many cases where the mark has been overused to the point of losing some of its powers. Can’t any punctuation be put to ill use? How is the exclamation different in a way that merits the disdain—assuming there is indeed widespread disdain?

I wonder if anti-exclamation guidelines started as a convention long ago, and stuck around just as a consequence of tradition and not wanting to break it. Perhaps it’s a perfectly good mark with many uses—who knows? I’d like to find out.

Specifically, I’d like to learn what people think and feel when they read different types and purposes of sentences with exclamation marks as opposed to with plain periods. What adjectives would they use describe their interpretations of the sentences?

“Everyone is welcome, so please join us.”
“Everyone is welcome, so please join us!” -

How are these two perceived? Is one “better” for a given situation—does one more match a situational intent like inviting people to a conference? Is the first sober, the second peppy? This is what I’d like to find out.

WORKING RESEARCH QUESTION: How do people describe the same sentence with and without exclamation marks?

I am assuming I will have to refine this question as I move on in my research.