The book has no story line, each chapter is a new lesson on punctuation or grammar. Eats, Shoots and Leaves has a instructional yet lighthearted tone, which allows it to maintain some humor. Still, Truss speaks with such cockiness that sometimes it is hard to stomach.
There isn't much in the way of themes and symbolism in this novel. One obvious message Truss wants the readers to take is that grammar and punctuation is important and we need to start to care about it more. She explains scenarios of bad grammar and punctuation usage which can lead to confusion to show us why grammar is necessary.