77. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really DO Make a Difference! by Lynne Truss
September 12, 2009 at 12:04 am 2 comments
Retell: Truss makes punctuation entertaining in this adaptation of her best-seller Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Each page contains illustrations of seemingly identical sentences. Take for example the following sentences:
- Eat here, and get gas.
- Eat here and get gas.
One implies that you get gasoline, the other implies that the food makes you (and others) uncomfortable.
Topics: punctuation, grammar, usage, commas
Units of Study: This book can be used during any Writing unit
Habits of Mind: thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, striving for accuracy
Reading Skills: monitoring for sense
Writing Skills: using commas
Thoughts: The illustrations in this book truly convey the importance of commas. In the back of the book there are explanations for why the meaning of each sentence changes with an omission or insertion of a comma. There are other books in the series that I haven’t checked out yet but I hear are equally delightful. Essential mentor texts for any editing unit.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: commas, editing, grammar, punctuation, striving for accuracy, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, usage.
Teachable Texts 
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Beth Hickey | September 20, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I would love to borrow this book! I thoroughly enjoyed the adult version.
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105. Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts! by Lynne Truss « 365 Read Alouds | October 11, 2009 at 9:12 pm
[…] Thoughts: This is the companion to her book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. This book, however doesn’t just focus on commas. When students started to edit their […]