Are you confounded by commas, addled by apostrophes, or queasy about quotation marks? Do you believe a bracket is just a support for a wall shelf, a dash is something you make for the bathroom, and a colon and semicolon are large and small intestines? If so, language humorists Richard Lederer and John Shore (with the sprightly aid of illustrator Jim McLean), have written the perfect book to help make your written words perfectly precise and punctuationally profound. Don't expect Comma Sense to be a dry, academic tome. On the contrary, the authors show how each mark of punctuation―no matter how seemingly arcane―can be effortlessly associated with a great American icon: the underrated yet powerful period with Seabiscuit; the jazzy semicolon with Duke Ellington; even the rebel apostrophe with famed outlaw Jesse James. But this book is way more than a flight of whimsy. When you've finished Comma Sense, you'll not only have mastered everything you need to know about punctuation through Lederer and Shore's simple, clear, and right-on-the-mark rules, you'll have had fun doing so. When you're done laughing and learning, you'll be a veritable punctuation whiz, ready to make your marks accurately, sensitively, and effectively. “ Comma Sense is a clear, entertaining, and just plain helpful guide to the American rules of punctuation.” ―Lynne Truss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves “Of my 465 books on punctuation---I've read them all---Comma Sense is the wisest and funniest. It's the only one you really need.” ―Bryan A. Garner, author of Garner's Modern American Usage “A thorough field guide to the pesky little critters of the punctuation forest.Lederer and Shore hit the marks!” ―Bill Walsh, author of The Elephants of Style “Who else would call the exclamation point 'this titan of tingle, this prince of palpitation'? Who else would call the apostrophe the Jesse James of punctuation? Who else would compare the dash to Fred Astaire, the semicolon to Duke Ellington, and parentheses (yes, my darlings) to Louella Parsons? It can only be Richard Lederer, Viceroy of Verbivores, and his trusty sidekick, John Shore.” ―Patricia T. O'Conner, author of Woe Is I “Punctuation needn't be perplexing or painful, as Richard Lederer and John Shore make abundantly clear. Comma Sense is full of easy-to-understand guidance for the grammatically challenged---and loads of laughs besides!” ―Martha Barnette, author of Dog Days and Dandelions “If America had ‘Living National Treasures,' the way Japan and Korea do, Richard Lederer would be one.” ―Barbara Wallraff, author of Your Own Words “Now a pair of U.S. writers has joined the grammar book sweepstakes, guiding us through the correct usage of 13 punctuation marks - period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, apostrophe, quotation marks, parentheses, brackets, hyphen and ellipsis - in Comma Sense (St. Martin's Press, $22.95, 140 pp). Authors Richard Lederer and John Shore don't take Truss' no-prisoners approach, but rather try to convince us that getting the comma in the right place can be fun. "The power's in the punctuation, baby," write Lederer and Shore. "And we're gonna show you how to be a power pack of punctuational potency." Lederer is the author of more than 30 books on the English language. Shore is a magazine writer and editor. Together they've linked punctuation marks to various American personalities: The dash is Fred Astaire, the exclamation point is Lucy Ricardo, the question mark is Albert Einstein and (my favorite) parentheses are gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Okay, it's goofy, but if this book stops just one person from mixing up the proper use of "its" and "it's" ever again, I hope it's nominated for the Pulitzer. For, alas, punctuation not only pays, it matters. As Lederer and Shore point out, "Like it or not, writing well - not artistically, not ornately, not floridly, but just competently - really is the difference between being largely able to define your own life and having much of your life defined for you. Writing is, in a word, power." Writing well is important for business, but it also can be crucial in love, the writers warn. Do you want to say, "I would like to tell you that I love you. I can't stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth," or "I would like to tell you that I love you. I can't. Stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth." As Lederer and Shore say, "Punctuation can mean the difference between a second date and a restraining order.” ― Margo Hammond, St. Petersburg Times “Lederer and Shore's Comma Sense-bear in mind that it's their first collaboration-is speckled with humor so lame that it keeps falling on its assonance." Whoever wrote that callous, brutal comment about Comma Sense must be lacking in their own sense of humor. Oh, wait, that comment was written by Lederer and Shore. My mistake. Yes, this book is truly unique! If languag