As a reader, I spend a lot of time with punctuation and I weirdly have very strong opinions on using it in novels, so it was fun to read a book solely dedicated on the punctuation that we use and where it came from and how to use it and how not to!

For me, I will really judge a book that doesn't use punctuation, like maybe even put it down and not read it - especially quotations. If I can't tell when a character is talking, I get lost and confused and some readers may say that it is art, for me it isn't art if I can't read it, understand it and enjoy it.

I loved the chapter on the exclamation point and while I may over use it, I think it adds joy and excitement to the sentence and I am always editing myself to pull at least one or two out.

This was a fun book and I will be buying it for a few folks that I know.

I've found myself referring back to this book for reference, or when I just feel like I need a refresher.

Useful, practical, easy-to-understand guide. For newbie writers as well as a refresher course for pros.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This book will have you laughing and enjoying Grammar in a realistic but fun way. Cripps keeps it simple and short, but also touches on the "English Snobs" quite a bit. I found that entertaining and will be purchasing a copy of this for myself and educator friends.

I am and have always been terrible at grammar. Writing papers has never been my strong suit, and I find myself always 2nd guessing my sentence structure. I was the kid that had to write my papers early so I could have someone proofread them ahead of time. Because I am fully aware of my weaknesses, I am constantly trying to learn and refresh my understanding of correct punctuation. Math is easy. Science is easy. Punctuation? Not so much. I'm a small fish in a sea of snobs, and hope to correct my deficiencies. I've read and referenced many books throughout my writing history, and can't believe it took until 2020 to find one I actually like, and plan to fiercely commit to memory.

I like how everything is organized and explained. The examples are helpful, and geared towards real world questions in order to improve and refine understanding. Grammar traps are highlighted with "Careful Now!" headers, and topics are easily but logically explained. How grammar became opinion and preference based is beyond me, and I hope to commit the mathematical like rules to memory through the use of this helpful book.

<i>***Special thanks to NetGalley, Callisto Media, and Lucy Cripps for sharing this ARC COPY with me in exchange for my honest review***</I>

Overall Rating → <b>5 STARS</b>
Price is Right? → Yes! Kindle version $8.99 RN on Amazon.
Would I recommend? → YES
Would I re-read? → Yes!
Would I read more from this author? → MOST DEFINITELY!

<img src="http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah301/ehafkenscheid/Mobile%20Uploads/63fcd1af-c2b8-4068-bc6d-63a555aa5b75_zpscohx5mzj.jpg">

Thank you so much for this Netgalley! I loved the quirky, humorous manner in which these entertaining rules of grammar and punctuation were displayed! As an English teacher, so many of the topics presented in this book are things I struggle with teaching and communicating on a daily basis. The way that the information is presented is easy to understand and read as well as highly entertaining. I found myself laughing out loud more than once and found true appreciation for this subject matter.

Definitely recommend for English teachers, students, and all who want to understand the why and how of our writing!

A comprehensive yet entertaining book about punctuation. Plenty of examples of "correct" usage, but also clear explanations for how you can justify breaking the rules. The historical information about the way punctuation usage was introduced and evolved adds to the understanding of why there are so many different approaches.

Sassy, informative lessons in punctuation. I chuckled while also learning interesting facts about the origins and history of various punctuation marks and, of course, their modern usages. This is a fairly short book that will appeal to sincere students, punctuation pedants, and those simply looking for ways to improve their writing style.

For finicky English writers (and we ought to all be finicky), this is a must-read book.

It's short and practical.

Each chapter is devoted to a topic. It covers the following punctuation marks:

; : ! . , - / ( )

Lucy Cripps often addresses the English writing "snobs."

She is not super dogmatic, which is practical and fair.

This is a helpful little book with colorful pages explaining how punctuation works with lots of examples. It would be great for kids or adults, and helps answer those little questions like where do you put the period regarding quotes and what's an Oxford comma.

I'm assuming that the errors that I saw in the book were fixed by the time they went to print but this was a fun book for being a) nonfiction and b) about punctuation. And I'm a huge dork who reads a lot of grammar and punctuation books.
Be warned that the author is VERY fond of the word "pedants" (which is odd because she does come across as one herself in places) but the sections on the history of each punctuation point are informative and brief. Another bonus? The book isn't very long but it doesn't have to be for the author to give good examples even while her tongue is in her cheek.

Four stars
This book came out June 2nd
ARC kindly provided by Callisto Media and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A non-fiction book about punctuation might not seem like the most riveting of reading choices, but as a freelance proofreader who still gets confused about comma-placement, it was one I very much wanted to explore.

"Actually, the Comma Goes Here" is a smart and simple review of every punctuation point you need to know (and some you don’t). Peppered with humor and history, without getting carried away, the book doesn’t add too much to the information you can already find in any old style book, but does make it actually interesting. Plus, it synthesizes all the differences in opinion (from "The Blue Book" to "CMS") into something short and sweet.

Useful, yet fun, "Actually, the Comma Goes Here" is at the forefront of the fight against 'punctuation pedants,”'who (unawares to me until now) are apparently a prevalent problem.

I rated "Actually, the Comma Goes Here" 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Rockridge Press for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Actually, the Comma Goes Here: A Practical Guide to Punctuation by Lucy Cripps is a compact, easy-to-use guide for punctuation. The author uses humor to help make some dense areas easier to read.

Being an editor, I find it essential to have reliable resources as reference material. It also helps to keep current and keep learning. Actually, the Comma Goes Here is a good resource to have on hand for simple punctuation questions or to help guide you when a pesky rule seems unclear in a style manual. The one area that is out of date is the APA portion on spacing after a period. The APA has now moved away from two spaces after a period and adopted the one-space rule.

The examples are easy to follow. I often chuckled when she described various punctuation rules and how "commas can traumatize," which is so true!

#ActuallytheCommaGoesHere #NetGalley

Punctuation is the one part of the grammatical world that I feel I have a firm grasp on, but I still love a good refresher.

Laid out into 15 chapters, each focusing on a different punctuation mark, Cripps details the times to use each mark, when definitely NOT to use the mark, and highlights some history of the mark and how different pub/style guides use the mark (spoiler: the AP pretty much breaks all the standards). It would be an excellent book to use in lower-level composition classes, as a stepping stone for higher level grammar classes, as well as classes focusing on citing and writing in “insert publication style here”.

I specifically loved the sections detailing the differences between the hyphen and the en- and em-dashes. Three VERY different things that I finally understand the differences between (hyphens are the shortest and used for compounds and prefixes; en dashes are for date ranges and multi-compounds; em dashes are for offsetting things like lists or sentence breaks).

It’s a brief enough intro to punctuation that provides enough info to be useful on its own, while still providing lots of breadcrumbs to research further. That being said, there was one major issue with the book.

There is a complete lack of references, bibliography, or further reading section. Historical and “first” usages of punctuations are cited in here, various style guides are referenced, as well as a few other grammar/punctuation guides. None are cited or are listed in the back, so I have to eliminate one star solely because of this. (Please note that I did read an ARC copy of this book, so these sections may not have been finalized yet at the time of ARC release. However, most ARCs I have read typically have a section header placeholder page for these sections and there was not one.)

I was also a little disappointed in presentation of info. While Cripps does highlight the differences in usage between style guides, she many times just throws up her hands and says “use this however you want, just say you’re using X style instead of Y, and it’s perfect!” Which does work in casual writing and conversation, but doesn’t work when writing academically/professionally to a style, and I feel like the differences should have been somehow more emphasized. She does give a chart at the end of the book that’s a “cheat sheet” on style differences, which was quite helpful and did bring the importance of style differences to focus, but the actual text seemed to be “meh” towards it.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Release date March 31, 2020.***

4 - 4.5 stars

WOW...who'd have thought my favorite book so far this year would be a book about punctuation?

Each chapter concentrated on a specific mark, including a few that I hadn't heard of. It was surprising to learn that some of the "rules" that we had to learn in school are now open to interpretation depending on the writing style that one is following. There was just enough snarkiness along with the actual information to stay entertaining.

Actually, the Comma Goes Here is a light, easy-to-understand resource for people who want to shut up the grammar-pendants and bone-up on their punctuation. It breaks down what each punctuation mark does and what it doesn’t do. How to use it and how not to use it.

The book makes much over how most grammar confusion comes from the many many different style guides out there and that there are really only a few hard and fast rules to follow. (Never more than two spaces between sentences -- for example.) The bigger take away when there is confusion is to pick one rule and be consistent. Using a serial comma aka the Oxford comma? Then you need to use that for all serials.

The book was light and easy to read. The rules were broken up into digestible chunks peppered with anecdotes, historical information, and how to deal with pendants. The author gave examples of both the right and the wrong way to do things and also explained why it was wrong. OMG! Super useful!

I read this book quickly... which considering this is book on punctuation was a bid deal.

Frankly, I learned stuff. I had fun while doing it. And it’s a useful resource for the future.

And for that, I give this:

Five Stars

First off, let me say how much I like this book. It is easy to read, has some wit and is incredibly helpful. I love to write, but while my daughters knew of Oxford commas and FANBOY, I did not. For those who do not know, these are all about the uses of commas. I know that now. That tricky piece of punctuation and others are explicated here. I highly recommend this title to anyone who wants to write better.

Many thanks to the publisher, Callisto, for this read in exchange for an honest review.