Florence Hazrat

So. Good. So. Sharp. So. Clear. You. Need. This. Book. Period - Lucy Mangan, author of Bookish Why does this sentence start with a capital letter? Why is this one broken up - and why does it end in a question mark? Does anyone really know what semicolons are for; why are italics italicised, and why do words have spaces...

Few punctuation marks elicit quite as much love or hate as the exclamation mark. It's bubbly and exuberant, an emotional amplifier whose flamboyantly dramatic gesture lets the reader know: here be feelings! Scott Fitzgerald famously stated exclamation marks are like laughing at your own joke; Terry Pratchett had a character say that multiple !!! are a 'sure sign of a...