Can I read Semicolon : the Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark on EtoBox?

Semicolon : the Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecelia Watson; Anthony Russo is a reference work available to read on EtoBox.

What is Semicolon : the Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark about?

A page-turning, existential romp through the life and times of the worlds 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 Semicolon , Cecelia Watson 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 examplesfrom Miltons manuscripts to Martin Luther King Jr.s Letters from Birmingham Jail to Raymond Chandlers The Big Sleep Watson reveals how traditional grammar rules make us less successful at communicating with each other than wed 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, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we dont need guides

Who reads Semicolon : the Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark?

Author

Cecelia Watson; Anthony Russo

Publisher

Ecco; Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Published

2019

Language

EN

ISBN

9780062917935

Category

reference

Subjects

Literary Fiction, Humanities

Rating

4.3 / 5 (352 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14