Semicolon the past, present, and future of a misunderstood mark
A page-turning, existential romp through the life and times of the world's most polarizing punctuation mark. The semicolon. Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell detest it. Herman Melville, Henry James, and Rebecca Solnit love it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Shou...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,
[2019]
|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
MARC
| LEADER | 00000cam a2200000 i 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | on1060579931 | ||
| 003 | OCoLC | ||
| 005 | 20210116124700.0 | ||
| 007 | ta |||||||||||||||||||| | ||
| 008 | 181126t20192019nyua b 001 0 eng c | ||
| 010 | |a 2018045968 | ||
| 019 | |a 1090890303 |a 1101638612 |a 1108756385 | ||
| 020 | |a 9780062853059 |q (hardcover) | ||
| 020 | |a 0062853058 |q (hardcover) | ||
| 020 | |z 9780062853066 |q (ebook) | ||
| 020 | |z 0062853066 |q (ebook) | ||
| 035 | |a (OCoLC)1060579931 |z (OCoLC)1090890303 |z (OCoLC)1101638612 |z (OCoLC)1108756385 | ||
| 040 | |a PUL |b eng |e rda |c PUL |d OCLCF |d UAP |d A7U |d ILC |d DLC |d OCLCO |d XFF |d EAU |d VP@ |d AQ3 |d MLSOD |d TOH |d CHVBK |d OCLCO |d TXSCH |d PCB | ||
| 042 | |a pcc | ||
| 050 | 0 | 0 | |a PE1450 |b .W38 2019 |
| 082 | 0 | 0 | |a 428.2/3 |2 23 |
| 100 | 1 | |a Watson, Cecelia, |e author. | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Semicolon : |b the past, present, and future of a misunderstood mark / |c Cecelia Watson. |
| 250 | |a First edition. | ||
| 264 | 1 | |a New York : |b Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, |c [2019] | |
| 264 | 4 | |c Ã2019 | |
| 300 | |a 213 pages : |b illustrations ; |c 19 cm | ||
| 336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a unmediated |b n |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a volume |b nc |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and index. | ||
| 505 | 0 | |a Introduction: love, hate, and semicolons -- Deep history: the birth of the semicolon -- The science of semicolons: American grammar wars -- Sexy semicolons -- Loose women and liquor laws: the semicolon wreaks havoc in Boston -- The minutiae of mercy -- Carving semicolons in stone -- Semicolon savants -- Persuasion and pretension: are semicolons for snobs? -- Conclusion: against the rules?. | |
| 520 | |a A page-turning, existential romp through the life and times of the world's most polarizing punctuation mark. The semicolon. Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell detest it. Herman Melville, Henry James, and Rebecca Solnit love it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Should we even care? In [this book, the author] charts the rise and fall of this infamous punctuation mark, which for years was the trendiest one in the world of letters. But in the nineteenth century, as grammar books became all the rage, the rules of how we use language became both stricter and more confusing, with the semicolon a prime victim. Taking us on a breezy journey through a range of examples--from Milton's manuscripts to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letters from Birmingham Jail' to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep--[the author] reveals how traditional grammar rules make us less successful at communicating with each other than we'd think. Even the most die-hard grammar fanatics would be better served by tossing the rule books and learning a better way to engage with language. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, [the author] writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don't need guides at all, and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication. | ||
| 650 | 0 | |a English language |x Punctuation. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Semicolon. | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Russo, Anthony, |e illustrator. | |
| 776 | 0 | 8 | |i Online version: |a Watson, Cecelia. |t Semicolon. |b First edition. |d New York : Ecco, 2019 |z 9780062853073 |w (DLC) 2018056939 |
| 994 | |a C0 |b PCB | ||
| 949 | |a schlow |b SANON |c 428.23 WAT |d i |e 39635104176645 |f 694255 |g ddc |j 01/12/2021 | ||
| 999 | |a 454819 | ||
