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''Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation'' is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 4's ''Cutting a Dash'' programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punctuation in the United Kingdom and the United States and describes how rules are being relaxed in today's society. Her goal is to remind readers of the importance of punctuation in the English language by mixing humour and instruction. Truss dedicates the book "to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly precipitated the first Russian Revolution"; she added this dedication as an afterthought after finding the factoid in a speech from a librarian.〔 Eats, Shoots and Leaves Google Books result〕 == Overview == There is one chapter each on apostrophes and on commas, one on semicolons and colons, one on exclamation marks, question marks, and quotation marks, italic type, dashes, brackets, ellipses, emoticons and one on hyphens. Truss touches on varied aspects of the history of punctuation and includes many anecdotes, which add another dimension to her explanations of grammatical rules. In the book's final chapter, she opines on the importance of maintaining punctuation rules and addresses the damaging effects of e-mail and the Internet on punctuation. Irish-American author Frank McCourt, author of ''Angela's Ashes'', wrote the foreword to the U.S. edition of ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves''. In keeping with the general lighthearted tone of the book, he praises Truss for bringing life back into the art of punctuation, adding, "If Lynne Truss were Roman Catholic I'd nominate her for sainthood." The book was a commercial success. In 2004, the U.S. edition became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. Contrary to usual publishing practice, the U.S. edition of the book left the original British conventions intact. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eats, Shoots & Leaves」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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