MARC Record from marc_nuls

LEADER: 03436cam 2200481 i 4500
001 9925411096401661
005 20190912163813.9
008 181126t20192019nyua b 001 0 eng c
010 $a 2018045968
019 $a1101638612$a1108756385
020 $a9780062853059$q(hardcover)
020 $a0062853058$q(hardcover)
020 $z9780062853066$q(ebook)
020 $z0062853066$q(ebook)
020 $z9780062917935$q(audio book)
020 $z0062917935$q(audio book)
020 $z9780062917942$q(ebook)
020 $z0062917943$q(ebook)
035 $a99981901253
035 $a(OCoLC)1060579931$z(OCoLC)1101638612$z(OCoLC)1108756385
035 $a(OCoLC)on1060579931
040 $aPUL$beng$erda$cPUL$dOCLCF$dUAP$dA7U$dILC$dDLC$dOCLCO$dXFF$dEAU$dVP@$dAQ3
042 $apcc
050 00 $aPE1450$b.W38 2019
082 00 $a428.2/3$223
100 1 $aWatson, Cecelia,$eauthor.
245 10 $aSemicolon :$bthe past, present, and future of a misunderstood mark /$cCecelia Watson.
250 $aFirst edition.
264 1 $aNew York :$bEcco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,$c[2019]
264 4 $cỨ́2019
300 $a213 pages :$billustrations ;$c19 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and index.
505 0 $aIntroduction: love, hate, and semicolons -- Deep history: the birth of the semicolon -- The science of semicolons: American grammar wars -- Sexy semicolons -- Loose women and liquor laws: the semicolon wreaks havoc in Boston -- The minutiae of mercy -- Carving semicolons in stone -- Semicolon savants -- Persuasion and pretension: are semicolons for snobs? -- Conclusion: against the rules?.
520 $aA page-turning, existential romp through the life and times of the world's most polarizing punctuation mark. The semicolon. Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell detest it. Herman Melville, Henry James, and Rebecca Solnit love it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Should we even care? In [this book, the author] charts the rise and fall of this infamous punctuation mark, which for years was the trendiest one in the world of letters. But in the nineteenth century, as grammar books became all the rage, the rules of how we use language became both stricter and more confusing, with the semicolon a prime victim. Taking us on a breezy journey through a range of examples--from Milton's manuscripts to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letters from Birmingham Jail' to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep--[the author] reveals how traditional grammar rules make us less successful at communicating with each other than we'd think. Even the most die-hard grammar fanatics would be better served by tossing the rule books and learning a better way to engage with language. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, [the author] writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don't need guides at all, and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication.
650 0 $aEnglish language$xPunctuation.
650 0 $aSemicolon.
700 1 $aRusso, Anthony,$eillustrator.
776 08 $iOnline version:$aWatson, Cecelia.$tSemicolon.$bFirst edition.$dNew York : Ecco, 2019$z9780062853073$w(DLC) 2018056939
947 $hCIRCSTACKS$r31786103137037
980 $a99981901253