GETTING THE POINT

Jenny Haddon & Elizabeth Hawksley (Floris, £9.99)

If you want to know more about commas, paragraphs and semi-colons, but found Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves rather off-putting, then Jenny Haddon and Elizabeth Hawksley's useful, motivating and witty guide may be just what you're looking for.

Subtitled A Panic-Free Guide to English Punctuation for Adults, It does exactly what it says on the cover. If you have a query concerning, for example, a hyphen, a paragraph or a colon, the answer is easily found. The style is informal, each punctuation point is dealt with succinctly and clearly, and there are quizzes (with answers) for the reader to practise.

At the back is a brief resum of grammatical terms, adverbs and so on; a look at jargon and confusing words; and a useful guide on how to present a manuscript to a publisher.

The style is encouraging, with none of Truss's bile over misuse of commas. Moreover, Jenny and Elizabeth make punctuation look easy.

Three amusing stories are used for examples and quizzes - Tales of the Whole Nut Caf, Dragon Deeds and Casanova in Love. We are also introduced to Belinda Bubblewit, who is desperate to get her Restoration Novel published; however her indiscriminate use of Capital Letters, Commas, and Exclamation Marks means that her letters to agents are never answered. Such engaging examples help you painlessly get the point.

With symbols to denote recurring points such as American usage, mistakes people make and tips for creative writers, This book should appeal to a wide audience, whether you're teaching or learning punctuation or just want to refresh some hazily-remembered rules. (And if there are any punctuation errors here, it's not me. It was the editor. Honest!)