Someone always knows more than the know-it-all

This column in the Guardian UK is about Lynne Truss, the author of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves," the bestselling grammar book. The author is a grammar teacher who had Truss as a student. Read the whole thing if you like, but I didn't find it all that interesting.

At the end, however, is this little quiz given to applicants where the author teaches.

1. Give me, quickly if you please, an example of an adverbial phrase.

2. When would you use a colon: when would you use a semi-colon?

3. What is the difference (in terms of sense) between the following: (a) "The butler stole the necklace" (b) "It was the butler who stole the necklace"?

Stumped? Of course not. But in the never-try-to-test-an-expert category, read this thread on the alt.usage.english newsgroup. As one person put it:

I hope young Truss's punctuation skills are better than the ones Sutherland exhibits in this sentence.