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June Casagrande
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The Best Punctuation Book, Period: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson Kindle Edition

by June Casagrande (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,545 ratings
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This all-in-one reference is a quick and easy way for book, magazine, online, academic, and business writers to look up sticky punctuation questions for all styles including AP (Associated Press), MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago Manual of Style.

Punctuate with Confidence—No Matter the Style

Confused about punctuation? There’s a reason. Everywhere you turn, publications seem to follow different rules on everything from possessive apostrophes to hyphens to serial commas. Then there are all the gray areas of punctuation—situations the rule books gloss over or never mention at all. At last, help has arrived.
 
This complete reference guide from grammar columnist June Casagrande covers the basic rules of punctuation plus the finer points not addressed anywhere else, offering clear answers to perplexing questions about semicolons, quotation marks, periods, apostrophes, and more. Better yet, this is the only guide that uses handy icons to show how punctuation rules differ for book, news, academic, and science styles—so you can boldly switch between essays, online newsletters, reports, fiction, and magazine and news articles.

This handbook also features rulings from an expert “Punctuation Panel” so you can see how working pros approach sticky situations. And the second half of the book features an alphabetical master list of commonly punctuated terms worth its weight in gold, combining rulings from the major style guides and showing exactly where they differ. With The Best Punctuation Book, Period, you’ll be able to handle any punctuation predicament in a flash—and with aplomb.
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  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Ten Speed Press
  5. Publication date
    April 15, 2014
  6. File size
    3905 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Ridiculously useful. The best book on punctuation I’ve ever seen.”
—Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

“Invaluable reference work for professional proofreaders, editors, and writers because it is the only book that presents Chicago, AP, APA, and MLA conventions side by side. (Acronym-free translation: for each use of each punctuation mark, this book clearly explains and illustrates the practices used by book publishers, the news media, social science publications, and nonscientific academic papers and journal articles.)”
—Amy Einsohn, author of The Copyeditor’s Handbook

About the Author

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of the weekly syndicated “A Word, Please” grammar column and a copy editor for the custom publishing department of the Los Angeles Times. She has worked as a reporter, features writer, city editor, proofreader, and copyediting instructor for UC San Diego Extension. She is the author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, Mortal Syntax, and It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences. She lives in Pasadena, California, with her husband. Visit www.junecasagrande.com.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00G1J1QFM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press (April 15, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3905 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,545 ratings

About the author

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June Casagrande

June Casagrande

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June Casagrande is author of the weekly syndicated "A Word, Please" grammar column that runs in newspapers in Southern California, Florida, and Texas. She runs the GrammarUnderground.com grammar tips website. She has worked for the Los Angeles Times' community news division as a reporter, features writer, copy editor, and city editor. She currently copy edits Special Sections of the Los Angeles Times and teaches copy editing online for UC San Diego Extension.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
1,545 global ratings
Great quick and easy resource!
4 Stars
Great quick and easy resource!
This is a great book if you want something for a quick answer. I am a writer and although I have the Chicago Manual of Style, it is a large book with a wealth of knowledge: that doesn't mean I want to use that hefty book every time I am unsure about something. So this is a convenient companion to that Bible for writers. Casagrande's rules and recommendations are based on: The Chicago Manual of Style, Associated Press Stylebook, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and Webster's New World College Dictionary.She defines punctuation marks, tells you how to use them, then gives examples for how they are used in book editing, news media and business writing, science, and academic styles.There is a useful Appendix with great definitions and examples covering parts of speech: clauses, phrases, sentences, and sentence fragments. A Punctuation A-Z chapter which is like an index or cheat sheet for further usage examples.Also, in case you need more evidence of how invaluable this book is, she used the help of a panel of experts. They are professional editors, copyeditors, and agents.This is a great book to add to your home library. If it had exercises at the end of each chapter, I would have given it 5stars.
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Top reviews from the United States

Chobotnica
5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024
Verified Purchase
My work requires precise grammar and punctuation. When I have questions this book makes it easy to quickly find answers. I love it!
2 people found this helpful
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One Degree Life
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for journalists/students/writers
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book as well as "Grammar 101" (hardcover) from Amazon. While I prefer the print quality and simplicity of the "101" book better for quick references, this is an indispensable tool, and if you write across various styles, it's the better of the two for sure.

This book breaks down grammatical and punctuation references and if there are variations in preference between styles, say AP and MLA or Chicago, it offers a handy quick-reference tool to illustrate those differences.

I've been a sports and humanitarian photojournalist for nearly two decades and frequently use AP and MLA styles. In addition, I've begun dabbling in novel writing and the book styles are becoming increasingly helpful.

If you just want a quick writing reference, I recommend "101" for it's simplicity and elegant layout. If you need to dig deeper into writing variations, grab this one. Better yet, get both!
17 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and easy to follow reference!
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024
Verified Purchase
Still working on reading through it completely, but so far it's been easy to read and comprehend as a whole, and is well-organized for those who want to just flip through to your needed section.
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imo_tameka
4.0 out of 5 stars Great quick and easy resource!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
This is a great book if you want something for a quick answer. I am a writer and although I have the Chicago Manual of Style, it is a large book with a wealth of knowledge: that doesn't mean I want to use that hefty book every time I am unsure about something. So this is a convenient companion to that Bible for writers. Casagrande's rules and recommendations are based on: The Chicago Manual of Style, Associated Press Stylebook, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and Webster's New World College Dictionary.
She defines punctuation marks, tells you how to use them, then gives examples for how they are used in book editing, news media and business writing, science, and academic styles.
There is a useful Appendix with great definitions and examples covering parts of speech: clauses, phrases, sentences, and sentence fragments. A Punctuation A-Z chapter which is like an index or cheat sheet for further usage examples.
Also, in case you need more evidence of how invaluable this book is, she used the help of a panel of experts. They are professional editors, copyeditors, and agents.
This is a great book to add to your home library. If it had exercises at the end of each chapter, I would have given it 5stars.
Customer image
imo_tameka
4.0 out of 5 stars Great quick and easy resource!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
This is a great book if you want something for a quick answer. I am a writer and although I have the Chicago Manual of Style, it is a large book with a wealth of knowledge: that doesn't mean I want to use that hefty book every time I am unsure about something. So this is a convenient companion to that Bible for writers. Casagrande's rules and recommendations are based on: The Chicago Manual of Style, Associated Press Stylebook, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and Webster's New World College Dictionary.
She defines punctuation marks, tells you how to use them, then gives examples for how they are used in book editing, news media and business writing, science, and academic styles.
There is a useful Appendix with great definitions and examples covering parts of speech: clauses, phrases, sentences, and sentence fragments. A Punctuation A-Z chapter which is like an index or cheat sheet for further usage examples.
Also, in case you need more evidence of how invaluable this book is, she used the help of a panel of experts. They are professional editors, copyeditors, and agents.
This is a great book to add to your home library. If it had exercises at the end of each chapter, I would have given it 5stars.
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30 people found this helpful
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Beverly C
5.0 out of 5 stars It is very good!!!
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
It puts punctuation in an American English language that most can understand without having to find a dictionary. They're also helpful in explaining some of the English words that sound alike but are spelled differently and mean an entirely different thing for people trying to learn English. In teaching myself General Proofreading skills as opposed to Legal proofing it has been a real God-send.
One person found this helpful
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Deb
5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes, you need a quick answer
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019
Verified Purchase
. . . or is it "sometimes you need a quick answer"? According to this book, it can be both. And that is fine with me. You need to know the rules of proper punctuation in order to keep (or break) them. In the preceding sentence, I could have used dashes to set off my parenthetical insertion instead of parentheses. Or, commas, but - according to this book - parentheses are perfectly acceptable. This book gives you choices.
Why buy this book? It's easy to navigate, especially with Kindle's search function. Need a quick refresher on hyphenating compound adjectives? This is an extra helpful book. Or, it can be thought of as extra-helpful or even extrahelpful (depending on the following noun). As I said, you have choices.
Since one of the longest years of my life was spent teaching English grammar (try spending an entire week on verbs), I buy very few grammar books. This one is easy to use and fun to read. It's an excellent choice.
3 people found this helpful
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Tom Welch
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and comprehensive
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023
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This is a very good summary of common punctuation. I wish there were a way to contact the author on questions.
One person found this helpful
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Jennifer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference book
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2019
Verified Purchase
I love that this book starts by asking you to add punctuation to an unpunctuated paragraph. This is a great example of how a comma here, an apostrophe there, isn’t necessarily right or wrong depending on the style guide you use.

Each punctuation mark has its own chapter. The rules that pertain to that punctuation mark are broken down by the four major style guides: book (CMOS), news (AP), scientific (APA), and academic (MLA). I like this format because it allows you to see the different styles in juxtaposition. You’ll find examples of correct and incorrect ways to punctuate a sentence, and a panel of editors were consulted for their punctuation preference on the more ambiguous rules.

The second section is an alphabetized list of commonly confused words and is incredibly helpful when it comes to understanding whether to hyphenate, open, or close a compound word.

The Best Punctuation Book is well organized, well thought out, and easy to use. Anyone who wants to improve their punctuation skills will want to add this book to their library.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Aarón
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Easy to use
Reviewed in Mexico on July 27, 2022
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I recommend this book. It is very easy to understand.
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Angelina Tobler
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny!
Reviewed in Canada on June 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a comprehensive overview of punctuation rules in four different styles. Easy to look up the information needed and incredibly useful.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good source for teachers and students alike.
Reviewed in India on August 2, 2021
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Excellent resource for academic writing.
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Victoria Lyra Coura Nunes de Faria
5.0 out of 5 stars Esclarecedor
Reviewed in Brazil on September 7, 2018
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Excelente aquisição para todos aqueles que desejam melhorar a pontuação na língua inglesa.
2 people found this helpful
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Consigliato
Reviewed in Italy on March 12, 2019
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Ottimo testo
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