When Ellen Jovin first walked outside her Manhattan apartment building ( September 21, 2018) and set up a folding table with a GRAMMAR TABLE sign, it took about thirty seconds to get her first visitor. Everyone had a question for her. The Grammar Table was such a hit—attracting the attention of The New York Times, NPR, and CBS Evening News—that Ellen soon took it on the road, traveling across the US to answer questions from writers, lawyers, businesspeople, students, bickering couples, and anyone else who uses words in this world. Rebel with a Clause tackles what is most on people’s minds, grammatically speaking, and will delight anyone wishing to polish their prose or revel in our age-old, universal fascination with language.

Ellen and her husband, Brandt Johnson, decided to take the table on the road. They visited 47 states before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and Brandt filmed the action. Alaska, Hawaii, and Connecticut (yes, that faraway land) await the arrival of the table.

Ellen talks about grammar with writers, editors, construction workers, salespeople, teachers, students, small children, doctors, dancers, seniors, and anyone else who uses words in this world. She creates community. Fan-favorite topics include the Oxford comma, spaces after periods, semicolons, “which” versus “that,” and whether you can end a sentence with a preposition (hint: you can!).

But this story transcends grammar. It's the story of an epic quest, in a time of deep social division, to connect with America and bring us all closer together. Over grammar? Yeah. Say goodbye to your preconceptions. Say hello to Grammar Table.

Ellen's book about the adventures of Grammar Table, titled Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian, was published by Mariner Books (HarperCollins) in July 2022.
https://www.grammartable.com/
https://www.ellenjovin.com/
https://twitter.com/grammartable
Ellen has achieved fluency in six languages and has studied more than 25 in nine different writing systems. She was the lead organizer of the 2015 Polyglot Conference in New York City and has a large international social media following. She is a co-founder (with her husband, Brandt Johnson) of Syntaxis, a communication skills training and consulting firm whose clients include many multinational corporations. Earlier in her career, Ellen taught English as an adjunct lecturer at New York University and other colleges, and then spent several years as a full-time freelance writer.