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The Associated Press Guide to Punctuation
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Rating: 3.33/5 from 3 reviews Efficient and entertaining, but slim for my personal tasteA Graceful, Witty Guide to PunctuationAs a professional editor for nearly two decades, I heartily recommend this book. Cappon's writing is clear, funny, and creative, and he makes the nuances of punctuation memorable. His reasoning is logical, and his explanations and examples are very helpful. Interestingly, though this is an Associated Press publication, some of the style differs from the official A.P. Stylebook. So if A.P. is your background, be aware of this. Cappon is a terrific writer, and anyone else who writes would benefit immensely from this lucid guide to punctuation. Don't buy this book!If you had any doubts that the media suffers from EXTREME left-wing bias, this book on punctuation should erase them. Rarely does the author pass an opportunity to make rude, offensive comments about President Bush or Republicans in general. Maybe that's your bag, but in a book on punctuation, I'm really not looking for political commentary, and especially not that slant. I can only think that the AP "guru" failed to score a big book contract of his own, and so buried his bleeding heart in this one. | ||||||||||||||||||||
To those looking for a deeper understanding of punctuation, I caution against this slim tome. Organized into seventeen chapters by punctuation, some of them no more than a half of a page ('The Ampersand') and some as many as sixteen ('The Comma'), the AP GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION lacks the philosophical depth and historical background of recent bestseller EATS, SHOOTS, & LEAVES as well as the dry grammar books of days past. The examples, while fun, are not nearly as comprehensive as one expects in any book that bills itself as a reference.
By way of example, here is the entire entry for Irregular Plurals under 'The Apostrophe':
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Irregular plurals also take the apostrophe: <i>children's hour, women's rights, gentlemen's traditions, men's club</i>, and so do nouns that are the same in singular: <i>the single moose's antlers, the deer's track, the two corps' travels.</i> The apostrophe stays whether the meaning is singular or plural.
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No mention is made that it is preferable to disambiguate the singular and plural in such cases. Especially in journalistic writing, where clarity and simplicity are the twin grails of good style.
A dedicated journalist might prefer a true grammar of the English language or the complete and comprehensive AP STYLE BOOK. While they may be dry, they will certainly go a good deal further in answering the questions that arise in all aspects of writing.