Table of Contents

Apostrophe. Brackets (round/parentheses, curly/braces, square). Colon. Comma. Dash. Ellipsis. Exclamation mark. Forward slash. Full stop. Guillemets. Hyphen. Interpunct. Pilcrow. Prime (single, double). Question mark. Quotation marks. Semicolon.

Promotional Information

This book has been excellently designed, illustrated, written and printed on lovely light cream paper and bound using squareback binding (so the book lies flat on a table).

About the Author

User Design, Illustration and Typesetting (name updated from User Design in 2015) offer a graphic communication design, illustration, text editing and production service. We do book design, typesetting, publication design, illustration, logo design, information design, website design, accessibility, usability, and much more. Visit our website for more information.

Reviews

Apostrophes, commas, brackets, etc., form the bulk, but there are some nice cultural additions, such as guillemets and the interpunct. Unlike most books on grammar and punctation, this one is friendly rather than curt and preachy (review by Andy Polaine from The Designer’s Review of Books). Punctuation..? which combines illustration and instruction in a manual that should probably be put into the hands of schoolchildren everywhere (and probably a few grown-ups too) (review by Charlotte Simmonds from It’s Nice That). The nearest I can get to comparison in my mind is the simple, primitive line art drawings that would accompany the great Spike Milligan, or something almost like the pencil scribbles of John Lennon (review by Richard Bruton from Forbidden Planet International). As well as all the everyday marks such as commas, apostrophes, and semicolons (well explained here), the author-artist also celebrates the pilcrow (or paragraph mark), the prime (not an apostrophe), guillemets (used in place of our quotation marks in some European languages) and the beautifully named interpunct, the small dot used to separate words in ancient Latin texts and inscriptions on monuments. As punctuation marks go, that one is nang (review by Steven Poole from The Guardian). This very spare book which has only a paragraph on each page really does reduce punctuation to its basics – ideal for a busy teacher who feels insecure in this area or for an older student (GCSE or A Level) who wants revision support. I think it could be a useful one for the desktop library to consult when you need a quick answer to a punctuation problem (review by Susan Elkin from School Librarian Journal). It is especially good on the difference between the colon and the semicolon (review by Mary Norris from The New Yorker).