The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed: Amazon.ca: Karen Elizabeth Gordon: Books

Product Description

Book Description

For over a decade THE WELL TEMPERED SENTENCE has provided instruction and pleasure to the wariest student and the most punctilious scholar alike. Now Karen Elizabeth Gordon has revised and enlarged her classic handbook with fuller explanations of the rules of punctuation, additional whimsical graphics, and further character development and drama -- all the while redeeming punctuation from the perils of boredom. For anyone who has despaired of opening a punctuation handbook (but whose sentences despair without one), THE NEW WELL TEMPERED SENTENCE will teach you clearly and simply where to place a comma and how to use an apostrophe. And as you master the elusive slashes, dots, and dashes that give expression to our most perplexing thoughts, you will find yourself in the grip of a bizarre and beguiling comedy of manners. Long-time fans will delight in the further intrigues of cover girl Loona, the duke and duchess, and the mysterious Rosie and Nimrod. The New Well-Tempered Sentence is sure to entertain while teaching you everything you want to know about punctuation. Never before has punctuation been so much fun!

About the Author

Karen Elizabeth Gordon is the author of the classic and comic reference books The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, The New Well-Tempered Sentence, and Torn Wings and Faux Pas. Her wanderlusting fiction includes The Ravenous Muse, The Red Shoes and Other Tattered Tales, and Paris Out of Hand. She lives in Berkeley, California and Paris.

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars just what the writter needs!, Mar 1 2003

By

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (Hardcover)

To comma or not to comma that is the question...whether it is nobler to use a semi-colon....well you get the idea.
Writers just starting out can really use this, people needed a little stylish brush up this will be your cup of tea. Prose are everything, but those little dots, dashes and slashes can enforce the prose or sink them. But what to do what to do?...well here is a very easy to understand and absorb and apply 'Robert's Rules of Order' for all those punctuation marks that often seem contradictory. Gordon gives you the rules the differences and then offers you quick to grasp examples.

So, for young writers needed extra insurance or people away from the school room too long and needed a refresher course....
you cannot do better!!

Go ahead...make your editor happy!

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5.0 out of 5 stars just what the writer needs!!, Mar 1 2003

By

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (Hardcover)

To comma or not to comma that is the question...whether it is nobler to use a semi-colon....well you get the idea.
Writers just starting out can really use this, people needed a little stylish brush up this will be your cup of tea. Prose are everything, but those little dots, dashes and slashes can enforce the prose or sink them. But what to do what to do?...well here is a very easy to understand and absorb and apply 'Robert's Rules of Order' for all those punctuation marks that often seem contradictory. Gordon gives you the rules the differences and then offers you quick to grasp examples.

So, for young writers needed extra insurance or people away from the school room too long and needed a refresher course....
you cannot do better!!

Go ahead...make your editor happy!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Loona is with us again!, Feb 3 2004

By

Jeffrey Leeper "kem2070" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (Hardcover)

From the author of "The Deluxe Transitive Vampire" and "Torn Wings and Faux Pas" comes another humorous reference for remembering and learning proper punctuation. This edition is a revised edition of "The Well-Tempered Sentence" and adds guidelines for dealing with those pesky apostrophes, slashes, and italics.

Although I love reading about the escapades of Loona and have recommended this book to others, this book is not for everyone. If large or uncommon words frighten you, then you will be frightened by this book. Even if I tell students that once you are used to the language, this book is great, many don't want to take the time to acclimatize themselves. This is a shame because this is a great book.

If only more grammar books were a treat to read! I would highly recommend adding this book to your reference collection or taking the time to refresh your punctuation skills.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I hate this book
The author attempts to be witty, but just ends up being unclear. This sentence is supposed to be an example of comma use:

The disconsolate child picked up the rubber remnants... Read more

Published on Sep 23 2003 by Javafanatic

5.0 out of 5 stars The best little punctuation handbook in the universe!
I first purchased this wonderfully entertaining handbook in the mid 1980s when I had my own word processing business. Read more