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“The Seventh Sense”
Lynne Truss begins her seven chapter book with a challenge for the reader. Can you spot the mistake from the following advertisement: “Come inside, for CD’s, Video’s, DVD’s, and Book’s.”? If you stated that the punctuation punk used the apostrophe incorrectly, then congratulations! Unfortunately, we’re among the few people who noticed or even felt personally attacked by such an oversight that was allowed to go into print. Truss continues to share her run-ins with punctuation in the introduction of her book, which she titled: “the Seventh Sense”. Truss selected this heading for the introduction because she connects the punctuation sticklers’ emotions to Haley Joel Osment’s character in the film The Sixth Sense. While Osment’s character can see dead people, punctuation sticklers tend to “see dead punctuation”.
“The Tractable Apostrophe”
In Truss’s second chapter , “The Tractable Apostrophe”, she: lists the proper uses for apostrophes, expresses her sympathy for abuse the punctuation mark endures, and enlightens the reader about its history. For inquiring minds who want to know, there are eight official uses and twelve documented abuses of the apostrophe. The correct and official uses of the apostrophe include: (1)indicating a possessive singular noun, (2)indicating time or quantity, (3) indicating the omission of figures in dates, (4) indicating the omission of letters, (5)indicating non-standard English, (6) featuring Irish names, (7) indicating plural letters, (8)and indicating plural word forms (Truss, pp. 41-45).
The twelve apostrophe abuse scandals that readers reported to Truss were: “singular possessive instead of simple plural (the ‘greengrocer’s apostrophe’), singular possessive instead of plural possessive, plural possessive instead of singular possessive, no possessive where possessive is required, dangling expectations caused by incorrect pluralisation, unintentional sense from unmarked possessive, someone knows an apostrophe is required [but has no clue where], apostrophes put in place names/proper names, it’s or its’ instead of its, plain illiteracy, commas instead of apostrophes, signs that have given up trying”.
Truss deviates briefly to touch on the use of periods and commas in this chapter as well. She makes, what I believe to be, an apt comparison regarding the use of periods (called full-stops in the book) and commas with men and women. According to Truss: “while the full stop is the lumpen male of the punctuation world…, the apostrophe is the frantically multi-tasking female, dotting hither and yon, and succumbing to burnout from all the thankless effort” (p. 46). I believe Truss conveys her solidarity, as a woman, with the comma in the aforementioned quote. The apostrophe goes through life with all the expectations heaped up onto it, much like women have all these expectations society places on them. As much progress as the world has made toward equality of the sexes, there’s still much to be done. Women are still expected to take on traditional gender roles in addition to working, while men are typical given a patriarchal pass. Additionally, men are at the very least tacitly permitted to do whatever the hell they want without the fear of retribution. For readers thinking, well what about the Me Too and Times Up movements? Humans have been on the planet for 200,000 years (remember we mark time in two ways, Before the Common Era [B.C.E], and the Common Era [C.E]; or Before Christ [B.C.] and Anno Domini [A.D.] for my more seasoned readers). Tarana Burke coined the phrase “me too” in 2006, and it didn’t pick up steam for another eleven years. Take several seats.
To sum up, in the second chapter I learned a few things about the history of the apostrophe. For starters, the word derives from the Greek meaning for “turning away”– which coincidentally explains it’s first usage in the English language during the 16th century as a marker for elision, the omission of a letter (p.37). Next, in the 17th century we observe its use in marking singular possessives; later on, in the 18th century, the apostrophe marks plural possessives (p.38).
“That’ll Do, Comma”
Truss’s third chapter could’ve easily been dubbed The Complicated Comma, because even though hard fast rules exist for its usage in certain cases, it is left up to the stylistic choice of the writer. There are seven rules that guide the use of the comma. The rules are: (1) writing lists (2)joining two complete sentences with a conjunction (3) filling gaps, (4) indicating direct speech, (5)setting apart an interjection, (6)surrounding “weak interruptions”(Truss calls them bracketing commas, but I’ve been taught to call them appositives), and (7) not using them like an idiot (not a legitimate rule you’ll find in any grammar book). The last rule is more so an illustration of Truss’s no nonsense approach to punctuation; it also reminds me of the apostrophe scandal where the offending writer knows the punctuation mark should exist somewhere, but through the placement of said punctuation it is clear that the writer has no idea where. Moreover, in an example Truss provides which illustrates a violation of rule seven, the offending writer opted not to use commas at all, which results in a garden path sentence. Other stupid uses for the comma Truss found are “the yob’s comma” (which adds no value to a sentence), and what she calls “American telegraphese” (the use of commas in headlines to replace the word and). As an American myself, I felt personally attacked for her referring to its use in our headlines as stupid. Should I ever meet her in person, I’d refer her to her own words, from the introduction, regarding how we should view punctuation: “[we should be] staunch because we understand the advantages of being staunch; flexible because we understand the rational and historical necessity to be flexible ” (p. 27). Where’s the flexibility lady?! Nobody puts American ingenuity in a corner!
Airs and Graces
The fourth chapter dedicates itself to the uses of the colon and semicolon. I’ll admit, I’ve never heard the phrase “airs and graces” so I had to Google it. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as, “false ways of behaving that are intended to make other people feel that you are important and belong to a high social class”. So my inclination of the phrase being related to the phrase “putting on airs” was correct! Phew. Anyway, this chapter opens up with a personal anecdote from the author. Apparently Truss had an American pen pal when she was fourteen years old, and surprise surprise they didn’t get along, or rather Truss could not get along with Kerry-Anne. Why? Well, Kerry-Anne simply wasn’t as refined as Truss. So, naturally, Truss put on airs and graces in her response to the poorly written prose Kerry-Anne mailed across the pond. Truss states: “The main reason I recall this shameful teenage epiphany, however, is that in my mission to blast little Kerry-Anne out of the water, I pulled out (literally) all the stops: I used a semicolon” (p. 104). Ah, and at once the reader discovers the meaning of this embarrassing anecdote.
Like all the other punctuation marks discussed in the book, the colon and semi-colon come with their own history. Truss argues that the colon and semicolon have long frustrated many a reader and writer since its adoption into the English language prior to the 18th century (p.112). In fact, many writers have sent scathing correspondences to their contemporary colleagues over their use. For example, George Bernard Shaw was not pleased with T.E. Lawrence’s use of colons. Shaw claimed, “you are no more to be trusted with a pen than a child with a torpedo” (p.116). To which Lawrence replied, “I save up the colon jealously for certain effects that no other stop produces. As you have no rules, and sometimes throw colons about with an unhinged mind, here are some rules for you” (p.116). Clearly neither writer is playing nice, but their expression of contempt packs a clean punch unsullied by the vulgarity of cursing. I’d love for people to disagree with one another this way presently, but alas it is a dead art.
Anyhow the rules governing the use of colons are: announcing something that is to come, reminding the reader that there’s more to the preceding statement, and separating two opposing ideas that are linked (Truss describes it as “a kind of fulcrum between two antithetical or oppositional statements”p. 119). Additional rules governing the use of colons are: beginning a list, setting apart subtitles from their main titles, separating character names from dialogue, and marking a long quotation. In the case of the semicolon, the adept writer uses them when: replacing a period between two related sentences, bringing civility to a chaotic comma situation, separating two sentences that are related and without a conjunction, and where putting a comma would just be WRONG [duh] (pp. 121-127). And that’s the end of that.
Cutting a Dash
In her fifth chapter, Truss tackles some of the more controversial punctuation marks/styles used in the English language–namely: the question mark, exclamation point, italics, quotation marks, dashes, ellipses, and brackets and their variations. What could be so controversial about the question mark and the exclamation point? Well, the question mark isn’t consider controversial per se, but oh how loathsome some writers have found the exclamation point to be. One consistent naysayer, not just of the exclamation point, but to other marks as well, who happens to consistently pop-up in the book is Gertrude Stein; while the author does not provide a direct quote from Stein regarding the exclamation point, Truss does cite H.W. Fowler–whose claim to fame was having penned A Dictionary of Modern English Usage–Fowler asserted, “An excessive use of exclamation marks is a certain indication of an unpractised writer or of one who wants to add a spurious dash of sensation to something unsensational” (p.139); it would appear that Fowler, like most Brits, is a no frills fellow who views the “excessive” use of exclamation marks as unrefined. Truss, on the other hand, sympathizes with the punctuation symbol. She states, “it sometimes seems hurtful to suppress the exclamation mark when-after all-it doesn’t mean any harm to anyone, and is so desperately keen.” Truss finds the exclamation mark to be a conveyor of emotion, after all she writes, “an exclamation mark is in the business of denoting” (p. 133). In other words, the exclamation mark carries the message of sentiments.
Clearly Truss is a masterful punctuation comic who fills the leaves of her book with stories, jokes, and references. However, for the sake of brevity, I’ll wrap up this chapter’s summary with the proper uses of the punctuation marks she discusses and claims to be, “expressive, attention-seeking punctuation – punctuation that cuts a dash” (p. 135). The exclamation mark has six uses: “1. in involuntary ejaculations, 2. to salute or invoke, 3. to exclaim (or admire), 4. for drama, 5. to make a commonplace sentence more emphatic, 6. to deflect potential misunderstanding of irony” (p.138). The question mark appears in two instances. The first, when there is a direct question, and the second when there is a question inside quotation marks (pp. 140-141). There are four uses for italics: “(1) titles of books, newspapers, albums, films (2) emphasis of certain words (3) foreign words and phrases (4) examples when writing about language” (p.146).
In closing this section we’ll address: dashes, ellipses, and brackets. According to Truss, and probably the scholars she consulted in her research, one employs the dash “to connect (or separate) phrases and sentences”; one employs ellipses, ” (1)to indicate words missing…from a quoted passage (2) to trail off in an intriguing manner…”; and one employs brackets, “to add information, to clarify, to explain, to illustrate…[and] for authorial asides of various kinds” (pp. 157-167).
A Little Used Punctuation Mark
In the sixth–and shortest–chapter of her book, Truss discusses the hyphen–of which Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill apparently had strong feelings. The former referred to the hyphen as “un-American”, and the later referred to it as “a blemish, to be avoided wherever possible” (p.168). Truss enumerates ten proper uses for the hyphen. They are: “(1) to avoid ambiguity, (2) when spelling out numbers, (3) when linking nouns with nouns…[and] adjectives with adjectives, (4) when a noun phrase is used to qualify another noun, (5) certain prefixes, (6) when certain words are spelled out, (7) to avoid an unpleasant linguistic condition called ‘letter collision’, (8) to indicate that a word is unfinished and continues on the next line, (9) hesitation and stammering, (10) when a hyphenated phrase is coming up, and you are qualifying it beforehand” (pp. 171-174). In my opinion the last one is confusing even with the example she provides. If there’s a spectrum for being a stickler for punctuation that I’m left of center and Truss is clearly in the far right area. Do I care about punctuation? Of course, but evidently not as much as Truss and others.
Merely Conventional Signs
If you’ve made it to this part of the post, then congratulation! The finish line is in sight. Truss closes her book with a reflection on the downward trajectory of punctuation standards. Truss writes, “As I mentioned in this book’s introduction, by a tragic historical coincidence a period of abysmal under-educating in literacy has coincided with this unexpected explosion of global self-publishing” (p.182). Essentially with improved technology and access to the internet anybody can become an author, and unfortunately for punctuation (and grammar) sticklers not all publishers have editors. As a matter of fact, neither do I yet. So if you found flaws in my writing, then post a comment. I’d be more than happy to correct it.