Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

[SFG75]

Finally purchased this one over the weekend, what a fantastic read!. I loved the description of common mistakes regarding the use of the apostrophe that she witnessed in public; the three step process whereby a person experiences shock, confusion, and then a desire to fix such errors; and of course, her criticism of '60s and '70s era education when "personal expression" became the rage in England.

Any thoughts on this book? Would you agree with her assessment of blaming progressive teaching theorists for the poor state of grammar in society?

 

[curiouswonder]

I found myself being suprised that I enjoyed this books as much as I did as I've never been much of a grammar nazi. She took a subject that could easily have invoked memories of our high school freshman English teachers and turned it into a fun read.

Would you agree with her assessment of blaming progressive teaching theorists for the poor state of grammar in society?

I think grammar has been damaged more by the explosion of media forms where grammar is not something even to be considered (television, gaming, the internet, even a lot of magazines) not to mention the proliferation of celebrities who, ya know, can't complete - ummmm - sentences without, ya know, literally like punctuating them with their, like, stupidity. Ya know?

c u l8r