Punctuation Guide

60 Minutes to Better Writing

De: Deaver Brown

Narrado por: Deaver Brown

What you need to know about punctuation as taught widely in high school and grade schools. As the author says, "It is far easier to improve your writing by using proper punctuation than by studying grammar, a far more complex subject."

The author scopes out the project to assure the listener that this is not as challenging as they may fear. He states that there are only 13 punctuation marks in English, and only three are truly troublesome: the sentence bridges which include the comma, colon, and semi-colon. As the author suggests, you should focus on the tracks that really matter, the sentence bridges, and give less attention to the other 10. What is so helpful to the listener is the clear differentiation between the important punctuation marks, how to work effectively with them, and how to avoid issues with your meaning.

The introduction is especially helpful, "Fix your writing through better punctuation." Following that, the author covers the three sentence endings: the period, question mark, and exclamation point; the three sentence bridges: the comma, colon, and semi-colon; and the others: the apostrophe, bracket, dash, ellipsis, hyphen, parentheses, and quotation marks. In just 60 minutes your writing will be more crisp and effective - no small thing!

The 14 tracks are: 1. Fix Your Writing through Better Punctuation. 2. Sentence Endings: Period. 3. Sentence Endings: Question Mark. 4. Sentence Endings: Exclamation Point. 5. Sentence Bridges: Comma. 6. Sentence Bridges: Colon. 7. Sentence Bridges: Semicolon. 8. The Others: Apostrophe. 9. The Others: Bracket. 10. The Others: Dash. 11. The Others: Ellipsis. 12. The Others: Hyphen. 13. The Others: Parentheses. 14. The Others: Quotation Marks.

©2008 Deaver Brown (P)2008 Simply Magazine Inc.

Very helpful.

I'm an aspiring writer. As such I struggle with proper use of punctuation. This was just the instruction I needed; quick,easy,and concise. To give me confidence to proceed.

Very Fast

Very fast quick and dirty guide. Good to listen to a few times to retain information.

A decent though rather superficial overview.

I have finished this recording in one sitting, so it is rather easy to follow even in audio format. However, I do not feel like it has added much if anything to my understanding of English punctuation (and English is not even my first language!).

Needed this in grammar school, high school, & college.

This book gets straight to the point & lays out the elements of each punctuation’s usage in less than 45 minutes. The examples are clear, and I wanted to hear a few more. I did find the ending amusing, as he gave the last example and the book simply ended with no closing whatsoever.

Misleading Title

What did you like best about Punctuation Guide? What did you like least?

I liked the material that was presented, but I felt a bit cheated. The total recording was only 45 minutes, not the 60 minutes that the title promised. The 45 minutes included pauses and the introduction for each related punctuation mark was repeated as the chapter for that particular mark was read. If the pauses and the repetition were eliminated the book would have only taken 30 minutes to complete. The author could have given more examples. Also, he wasn't consistent with his naming conventions. In one chapter when listing items he used, "A, B, C," then in the next he used, "first, second, third."

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There was no closing. He finished giving the example and it simply ended.

What three words best describe the narrator’s performance?

Great voice, concise, precise

Could you see Punctuation Guide being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No.

Any additional comments?

The book is certainly worth listening to and has helpful material. Well worth the $1.95 selling price.

Liked it more when it was called elements of style

Exactly the same book. Couldn't identify any improvements. They made this one a few minute shorter so that they could use "60 minutes" in the title, clever. Won't use this to review to suggest another title, but id keep looking.

A Good Review

This book was a great refresher after quite a few years out of school. Absolutely worth the purchase.

- Tim

Great overview and vet user friendly

Like this program because it easy to use . It's good for reviews and it's done on 60 in 60 minutes.

Not a good book at all

Very rushed and doesn't elaborate on punctation. For me, this book was a struggle to get thru.