ES&L II

Another punctuation and acting intersection from Lynne Truss:

But, as many classical actors will tell you, it can be just as effective to lower your voice for emphasis as to raise it.  Poets and writers know this too, which is where dashes and brackets come in.  Both of these marks ostensibly muffle your volume and flatten your tone; but, used carefully, they can do more to make a point than any page and a half of italics. 

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

I started Lynne Truss's book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" last night on loan from Aaron, and in the first twenty pages came across this absolute gem:

The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied.  The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.  Punctuation herds words together, keeps others apart.  Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play.  As we shall see in the chapter on commas, it was first used by Greek dramatists two thousand years ago to guide actors between breathing points...