Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian

by Ellen Jovin

For fans of Mary Norris and Benjamin Dreyer, an unconventional guide to the English language drawn from the cross-country adventures of an itinerant grammarian. 

When Ellen Jovin first walked outside her Manhattan apartment and set up a folding table with a sign reading “Grammar Table,” it took about 30 seconds to get her first visitor. EVERYONE had a question for her. Grammar Table was such a hit—attracting the attention of the New York Times, NPR, and CBS National News—that Ellen soon hit the road, traveling across the U.S. to answer questions from students, retired editors, bickering couples, and anyone else who uses words in this world.

In Rebel with a Clause she tackles what is most on people’s minds, grammatically speaking—from the Oxford comma to things you were never told about dictionaries, the ubiquity of like, common errors in online dating profiles, the likely lifespan of whom, semicolonphobia, and much, much more!
 
Punctuated with linguistic debates from tiny towns to sprawling state capitals, this is a treasure trove for anyone wishing to shore up their prose or delight in our age-old and universal fascination with language.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Writing, Linguistics, Audiobook, Memoir, Reference

Audible Audio

First published July 19, 2022

About the author

Ellen Jovin is a cofounder of Syntaxis, a communication skills training consultancy, and the founder of the Grammar Table, a traveling popup grammar-advice stand. She has a BA in German studies from Harvard College and an MA in comparative literature from UCLA, and she has studied twenty-five languages just for fun. Ellen lives with her husband on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

As language idiosyncrasies and grammar principles befuddle us all, the author set up a “grammar table” on streetcorners where she talked with people about their grammar questions, comments, or complaints. She discusses the rules you’re raised with and taught, as well as grammar etiquette as she seeks to educate and inform people on complexities such as the Oxford comma, further vs farther, lie vs lay, American vs British spelling differences and other conundrums.

The audiobook is a good choice for those who eyes glaze over while reading about the rights and wrongs of grammar and it also helps to better illustrate the differences in spoken and written language. Often what we find correct in the written word is not how we actually or naturally would speak the same statement, thought, or response.

An easy listen and a good way to brush up on your grammar, language, and punctuation skills without the formal setting of a classroom.

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Grammar but Were Afraid to Ask.

I first "met" Ellen Jovin, the author of this delightful grammar travelogue, about ten years ago. According to Ellen's bio here on Goodreads, she has studied twenty-five languages just for fun. And this is exactly where and why our ways crossed -- at the Facebook group for Polyglots. At the time, it was hard not to notice Ellen among the avalanche of polyglot posts and comments -- her contagious enthusiasm about language learning stood out, as well as her expertise in the intricacies of the English grammar.

When I first heard about Ellen's idea to set up a Grammar Table on a street corner to address grammar questions of random strangers, I wasn't impressed. I'm pretty sure I thought it was a rather weird pass-time.

Well, years-ago-me was WRONG. So wrong, that today's-me thinks that years-ago-me was stupid not to appreciate this interesting idea. I don't remember now if the years-ago-me heard how the NY Grammar Table idea developed into the idea of traveling with the Grammar Table to all the 50 states and filming a documentary along the way. I prefer to think years-ago-me wasn't aware of this development... Because for today's-me it's obvious that setting up the Grammar Table in all the 50 states is an absolutely brilliant idea, so brilliant that my years-ago-me now looks like an idiot in my own eyes.


Ellen Jovin, aka the Grammar Table Lady, in NY. (Image credit: rebelwithaclause.com).

Anyway, after an unfortunate Facebook exchange one early morning when I got out of bed on the wrong side, Ellen sort of fell off my radar. I stopped following her grammar pursuits and missed the bestselling triumph of Rebel With a Clause. And then recently I spotted an FB post about the Kickstarter for the Rebel With a Clause documentary shared by another polyglot friend. This prompted me to make a symbolic donation to support the documentary on the Kickstarter and to finally read the book.

Rebel With a Clause is a grammar book like no other.

On the one hand, it covers most of the grammar difficulties, dilemmas, complaints, controversies and hot issues a modern English speaker could come up with -- Oxford comma; apostrophes; restrictive and non-restrictive clauses; who and whom; I, me and myself; gender neutral pronouns; subjunctive mood; spelling nightmares; tricky pairs like affect and effect etc.; less and fewer; dash, m-dash and n-dash; ellipses -- those are just a few off the top of my forgetful head.

On the other hand, as Ellen Jovin unfolds her Grammar Table in each of the US states, prompting the passersby to ask, vent or both, we meet all kinds of people in all kinds of places. The result is a fascinating grammar travelogue, which shines with the author's contagious enthusiasm about grammar and expert knowledge.


It took a while, but Ellen and her Grammar Table eventually visited all the 50 states! (Image credit: rebelwithaclause.com)

Truth be told, I listened to the audio version. It's not at all an easy feat to narrate a book that discusses intricacies of punctuation or spelling, but Rebel With a Clause is excellently narrated by the author herself. Not only does she know perfectly how to present the content on audio to make it comprehensible for the listeners, but her warm and outgoing personality and passion for the subject come alive in the narration as a huge added bonus. Besides, the audiobook comes with the pdf file containing the end of the chapters' quizzes from the printed version, so you don't miss on anything. (I, of course, was too lazy to take a look at the pdf, but that's another story.)

This is the site devoted to the documentary based on the book:
Rebel With a Clause Movie.

And this is a cool sentence diagram, which Ellen drew as a present for my tiny donation to the documentary's Kickstarter. I forgot how labyrinthian and mind-boggling these sentence diagrams could be! (The dissected sentence is based on my recent ramblings on FB.)

Sentence diagram.

Read in 2024.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I have a [coffee] mug someone gave me that says 'I'M SILENTLY CORRECTING YOUR GRAMMAR.'" -- passerby Vincent in Detroit, Michigan

"Do you walk around with it a lot?" -- author Ellen Jovin

"I want to bring it into meetings and then start sipping on it when people say the wrong s*** . . . but I don't." -- Vincent, on pages 353-354

Author / language expert Ellen Jovin had a unique idea - from 2019 into 2020 (just prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic) she toured the United States - missing out on only Hawaii, Alaska, and Connecticut - with a small portable table and a handful of reference books. Setting herself up as a self-styled 'roving grammarian,' she answered English vernacular-related questions and discussed common grammar mysteries / misconceptions with hundreds of passing average Joe-and-Jane citizens on the sidewalks in front of public libraries, shopping malls, and other venues. The trip's final result is a charmingly informative and original book that was often both heartfelt and humorous. Have divisive thoughts on the Oxford comma? Have confusion about the usage of your / you're / yore ? Have no idea when to use further vs. farther? Have strong thoughts on when titles and other words should or should not be capitalized? Or are you simply bothered by anyone ending a sentence with a participle? Ms. Jovin and a colorful cast of characters discuss these various topics and much, much more (as she also encourages them to straightforwardly just rant as well) in a book that was sort of a love letter to the power, durability, and fluidity of the American idiom.

[LeeAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the most fun and conversational grammar manual I've ever read. It makes me wish I could recommend it to college students as a grammar professor. Jovin's friendly writing style and personable voice makes this an absolute pleasure to read. And the Quizlet questions at the end of the chapters are excellent!

[Adele C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the 10% of this book that was actually about grammar (although some of it was pretty basic). However, the retellings of conversations got pretty repetitive and felt like filler after a while. I also didn’t love the hokey humour.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot!

I'd lot to say that I finally figured out the difference between who and whom, and I got it for like, 30 minutes, but it has been well over 30 minutes since and I'm not sure anymore.

This is a fun and relatively accessible approach to grammar rules and the American-English language.

I'd hoped to have seen a little more dialectical differences than those between the US and the UK, but that's okay, too.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes a positive, helpful approach to helping answer people's grammatical questions by setting up her 'Grammar Table' in almost every state in the USA. There are some definite rules on some items, but others (like the Oxford comma) might have The Chicago Manual of Style differ from the The Associated Press Stylebook.

There always seemed to be someone that approached her table with a pet peeve about how people had a specific bad grammar habit. However, this person's advice was possibly outdated, or maybe even wrong. For example: the truth is that ending a sentence with a preposition is fine. But this is a popular myth. The grammar-shaming for "Where is the concert at?" is just a myth.

We all seem to know someone that knows a few of the rules and reminds us at EVERY possible instance. I grew up with my Mom criticizing us for the use of lie/lay (its in this book - lay needs an object). My Mom was a loving and caring person, but these corrections I remember as heart-pounding deer-in-headlights things for me. I think I'm pretty smart, but I never got enough instruction to fix my mix of lie/lay.

The author would make a good calm teacher when making any corrections to people, which helps that person to listen better.

There are tables and explanations here in this book. But you'll also hear all the possible screw-ups too. Which can actually start to predispose you. For example: I recently re-certified in First Aid/CPR. The current compression/breath ratio is 30:2. It used to be 15:2 and even 5:1 a bunch of years ago. Instructors should NOT mention this during training new people, as that pre-disposes them to mix/remember these outdated ratios too. So hearing some of these mistakes in grammar might even mess you up a little.

She really covered a LOT of topics. I only thought of a few grammar questions when I started this book, but every single one of these in here had me keep saying: "Oh yeah, that is worthy to discuss."

I listened to the audiobook, which actually had some difficulties. Some of these grammatical mistakes involve punctuation: oxford comma, quote marks inside/outside the punctuation. The toughest ones on an audiobook are the ones sounding the same: its vs it's. Or Their, There, They're. So I really wish I had a hard-copy in these many instances.

Hearing all these different people and their personalities approach the grammar table will help people reading this book realize that we all have some questions. We just need our friends that are known to correct our grammar, to also read this. They need to realize there is a nice way to help people that keep stumbling.

All her little stories with people at the table keep the mood light, but I kind-of wish each of these topics had a quick cheat sheet presented at the very beginning of each topic. Thus when someone approaches the table and starts giving their bad examples, I don't accidentally think they are possibly correct. And I'd like the chapter index easier to decipher (vs the funny wordings used).

There is still a lot of technical sentence structure terminology in here: non-restrictive apositive, dependent clause, coordinating conjunction. The author is friendly, but I can also write a 'friendly' book about astrophysics that can still make your head swim!

I picked up the hard-copy of this book from the shelf of my local library here on the day I'm writing this review. I see little 'quizlets' at the end of many chapters. Just a couple of questions to check knowledge. There are some charts/tables scattered throughout the book too.

The 49 chapters each have different grammar topics, that you can mostly tell what they are by the play-on-word-chapter title. e.g. cAPiTaLizAtiON CHAoS. But what is "Labyrinthine Lists" chapter about? And "Peculiar Pasts"?

The tone of this book is conversational, so if you can find the chapter in the index that would be appropriate to the question you might ask, you are still going to have to read through the conversations within the chapter to get to the root of your answer.

This is surely friendlier than reading the Chicago Manual of Style, but is it truly faster (since you have to read through most of the whole chapter here to gather your final answer). For this fact I subtract 0.75 stars, since I can't use this as a QUICK reference book on these topics. Finding my topic from the index coupled with the need to read most of the chapter to decipher/find the answer makes this hard to use daily.

While the audiobook was friendly, I highly recommend getting the actual book, per my comments about seeing all the commas, apostrophes, quotes, punctuation, caps, etc. Plus charts and quizzes. The audiobook is really only appropriate for people that have 95% of this stuff figured out and like the stories, and/or can easily visualize what the punctuation, etc. must be looking like as she describes it.

4.25*

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like language, and are intrigued by English language grammar, Ellen Jovin’s book will engage and entertain you. She covers a range of topic often are often uncertainties, if not matters of dispute, ranging from the correct use of ellipses, to capitalization, to pronouns, to how many spaces to put after a period. The information is set in the context of questions she answered while talking with people when sitting at a “Grammar Table” in cities across the US. In addition to getting pragmatic advice about how to use language, the book demonstrates that anyone can enjoy language and learn to use it better.

This isn’t a reference book by any means, but Jovin did clarify a few points I was curious about, and also explained many others in clear, and even entertaining ways.

One minor point: I did notice that her rationale as to why we use 1 space rather than 2 after a period now was because of change of usage conventions; as a typography geek, I learned that it had more to do with how promotional fonts (which we all use when using screens) often add extra space after an end of sentence period, so 2 spaces become too much space, but in the end that does roll down to conventions.

I really enjoyed this book and expect to quote from and recommend it widely.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a woman with VERY strong opinions about the Oxford comma. In other words, I am the exact intended audience for this book.

I would also suggest that I have a better grasp of grammar than a solid 90 percent of Americans, but only because the bar is so very low. And, of course, I worked as an editor and proofreader for years. That said, Ms. Jovin delves with great empathy and humor into some of the gnarliest grammar conundrums in the English language. There are many questions and topics that come up in the book that I'd be hard-pressed to decipher without a reference book in my hands. (I try to keep the Chicago Manual of Style within arm's reach at all times.) (Please note that the period was placed appropriately inside the parentheses.)

So, there have been several clever and popular grammar guides published in recent years, which is a trend I'm wholly on board with. What sets this book apart is... well, everything. (How do you like my use of the ellipses?) What Ms. Jovan and her husband did is set up a "grammar table" in public spaces in 47 states. The COVID pandemic happened before they could hit Alaska, Hawaii, and--oddly--Connecticut. (And that, friends and neighbors, is how you use an m-dash!)

She spent hours and hours at her table interacting with the public. She asked, "Do you have and grammar questions? Or have complaints?" And the book is made up of these often hilarious interactions. These questions and exchanges are the jumping off point for the lessons she gave, and the explanations she provided, from coast-to-coast. What a public service!

Apparently her husband was also filming these interactions for a future documentary. While there's no word on when we may see this cinematic triumph, count me in! I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this was the most fun I ever had while reading a grammar book--and I'm a person that pretty much always enjoys reading grammar books.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was due for a funny grammar book, and this was just the ticket. Ellen Jovin traveled to almost every state in the country and set up her grammar table, inviting passersby to stop and chat, ask questions, or vent. It was interesting to see how many people have grammar pet peeves, and which ones the author shared and which ones she tried to gently nudge them away from. (Ending a sentence with a preposition! Do we need to flip out and run screaming from the building? No, gentle reader. The answer is no.)
Some of her visitors made such an impression, they appeared in multiple chapters. Jason and Jack from Alabama were a fun duo, and I started smiling every time their names came up.
Jovin had several reference books on her table to prove her points when she needed to, but she always did so in a very friendly way. After reading this, I really want my own copy of Garner's Modern English Usage. I also thought it was interesting that the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press Stylebook don't always agree on grammar rules. The latter, for example, says not to use the Oxford comma unless it's needed for clarity. Gasp!
A lot of the people with strong grammatical opinions base them on what they learned in school, no matter how many years it's been since then. It's fascinating how those things stick. I'm sure that's where some of mine come from. Some people seemed weirdly proud of their grammatical pet peeves, and I let that be a lesson to me. I did!
Anyway, it was a very entertaining way to get a grammar review, and I learned some new things too. I even shared what I learned about restrictive and nonrestrictive appositives with a library patron the day after I read that chapter. She was thrilled.
Each chapter had a "quizlet" at the end, which I took great pleasure in doing. Her husband traveled with her and filmed it, and the documentary is listed as bring in post-production on https://www.grammartable.com. I can't wait to see it!

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grammar is not everyone's cup of tea, but for me it is a subject that I appreciate and maybe even enjoy.

My father was a college professor who used the first 2-3 weeks of his Business Communications class to teach his students English grammar. He lamented that the vast majority of his students never received proper instruction in the subject during their earlier school years. This, he felt, put the burden on him to make sure they understood the basics.

When I became a college student, I enrolled in his class. He was a great teacher even though I am pretty sure he made the class harder for me than for the other students – partly because he expected more from me and partly to justify to himself and to everyone else that he wasn't playing favorites with his own flesh and blood.

So Rebel With a Clause is just naturally a book that would appeal to me. It consists of about 50 short chapters, each one covering a very specific grammar topic. However, instead of just explaining the relevant grammar rules, the author describes her experiences handling questions about that topic from the general public during her many stops as she toured around the United States with her "Grammar Table."

Because of my background (being raised by a strict grammarian college professor), I only learned a few new things from this book. But it was still interesting all the way through. I was impressed with the author's ability to respond politely and respectfully to all questions and comments. I also really liked her attitude about the English language in general – that it is evolving, as it always has, and that we should, in most cases, just go with the flow and allow for change to happen, rather than let the changing language norms ruin our day.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellen Jovin, an accomplished grammarian, leads us through American English by relating conversations she’s had across the country at her traveling grammar table. This was such a fun and refreshing way to review grammar. I learned a few things that have been updated since I was in school, too!

I’m a tad embarrassed to realize that I’ve been dating myself by using the double space after the end of a sentence. I’m not quite ready to quit, but am now at least aware.

Overall, I found this a remarkably breezy read, especially considering its topic. I wish I had bumped into her during her journey! Highly recommended to anyone who loves grammar or wants to learn more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for access to this ARC. I can’t wait to recommend it upon its release.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had reading a grammar book. This book makes grammar so accessible and memorable—I loved the anecdotes and the handy charts! I wouldn’t have expected a grammar book to make me laugh out loud and tear up, but this one did. I highly recommend this!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! I would have liked a bit more information about the author herself, but this was an enjoyable and anecdotal way to explore some of grammar’s tricky bits.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful!!!! All the usual hot spots thoroughly discussed, and a pop-up Grammar Table history!

Can't wait to see the film. . . .

grammartable.com

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book - the traveling grammar table. The author shares the discussions she has with people who visit her grammar table as she and her husband travel around the country. This book brought back memories of sentence diagrams and all those pesky terms of words and tenses. I was pleased to discover that I had retained a good amount knowledge of my English language - it's just not something I think about every day, although I do love reading and learning about linguistics. This book would be very entertaining for those well-versed in English and those wanting to learn more about grammar

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Review of the Audiobook

Published by HarperAudio in 2022.
Read by the author, Ellen Jovin.
Duration: 7 hours, 38 minutes.
Unabridged.

Ellen Jovin had a fun idea. She sat up a table near a New York City subway entrance with a sign that said "Grammar Table" and within 30 seconds someone came to ask a question. She doesn't just take questions, though. She also takes complaints, comments, and observations as well.

This worked out so well that she and her husband decided to take it on the road and visit all 50 states and make a documentary (he is the cameraman, she is the talent.) However, they only made it to 47 states due to the intervention of Covid-19.

Jovin has a great way of speaking with people about grammar and she has the training to back it up. Most people are defensive and/or nervous about their grammar skills. Jovin sets them at ease and gives them explanations that are easy to understand. I literally have no problem with that aspect.

That being said, this audiobook was kind of a chore to finish. Jovin's reads her own book and does a good job, but the text was grammatically correct but not necessarily inviting for long-term listening.

Each of these chapters would be a great weekly 3-5 minute segment on an NPR radio show but were not necessarily fun to listen to back to back to back they got to be be quite repetitive.

A typical chapter would include the description of the people asking, the location of the table for this question (South Bend, Indiana or wherever) and a literal transcript of their conversation. This could take a while and rarely revealed anything particularly interesting and if properly edited could have knocked at least an hour off of the book. At first, this aspect to the book was charming - it felt sort of welcoming and homey. But, by the time we had worked our way up to the twentieth question, it was getting a bit old. If this were broken up into weekly segments on NPR I am sure I would have loved it.

A reader may be wondering at this point why I didn't do just that very thing and listen to this book in bits of pieces over a long period of time. The answer is simple: I checked this book out of the library as a digital download and only had it for a limited amount of time to listen to it before it went back to the library and on to the next person on the waiting list. So, I listened to it over the course of 10 days or so and it was a bit too...a bit too much.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2022...

[Krisette Spangler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book about grammar. I learned some new things and remembered some things I already knew. It was worth the read. It did have some bad language in a few places, which is why I gave it a lower rating. Do we really need to have swearing in a grammar book?

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book if you love learning about grammar!

Short and light-hearted chapters makes reading about each grammar topic feel like a breeze.

There are several examples and anecdotes provided for each grammar topics.

This book could be used as a reference rather than read as a whole.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Stopped reading at 13%.
It's a list of her interactions with random people where they talk about grammar and she assures them there's no one right way to do anything.

[Boothby · Rating 5 out of 5]

You feel like an eavesdropper when reading this book in the best way possible. Here, Jovin describes her and her partner's work as a travelling Grammer teacher and confidant with people all over the United States. And she's honestly the best. She shows how much fun exploring the evolution of language, ambiguous rules, and regional differences can be. I appreciated her wit and apparent joy around language, and I loved that she always stressed conveying meaning over rules. There are a lot of pedants out there who have seized on grammar as a convenient arena for putting others down, and Jovin's work here the perfect repudiation of that attitude.

Because this book is essentially a compilation of vignettes, I think it's better to read it in small pieces over a long period of time, rather than to read it straight through. Buy it if you can and pick it up from your coffee table now and then. Don't check it out from the library, forget about it, and try to power through the whole thing in the last two days before the due date like I did.

[Mary Northrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grammar nerds, unite! And read this book. It is hilarious -- and informative. Author Jovin and her husband traveled around the country with "The Grammar Table," a place which people on the street could approach and ask their grammar, spelling, and punctuation questions. I read a big portion of this book while I was at the tire center for several hours waiting for new tires to be installed; I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. (Of course, I was the only one staring at a book; everyone else was staring at their phone screens. So I was already the odd one out.) Coming soon: the documentary that Jovin's husband filmed about the project.

[Jdblair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I cringe every time I listen to "professional" newscasters and public speakers butcher the English language. I intend to order the book for my 2 daughters and 12-year-old granddaughter. The book answered a number of questions I've had about proper grammar. I didn't remember all of the terms but I must have learned something 60+ years ago! The book will be a great addition to every family's home library.

[Sue Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right off the bat, the author had me at her love for the Oxford comma - often a sticking point for me when it’s not used when it should be. Far from a persnickety, patronizing, or finger-pointing attitude (ahh, good use of an Oxford comma there! 😃), the author’s attitude is helpful, lighthearted, and approachable (there, too! 😉). If you’re looking for a fun, light read about grammar and punctuation, than this book is for you!

[DeNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an approachable and delightful book about grammar. What could be more fun than that?! I was reminded of a few things and learned a few things, so I'm all ready to teach the grammar and writing class for our homeschool group this year!

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I resist this title? I found myself laughing out loud and sharing some parts with my husband because they were so funny. And this is a book about grammar! The premise is as unique as the author – Ellen Jovin, professional writer, presenter, and trainer with facility in multiple languages and expertise in English grammar and business communication issues. In 2018 Ellen decided to set up a table (with sign) in a park near her New York home. Calling it “Grammar Table,” she was ready to answer and discuss any grammatical question that passersby wanted to ask. And the table became very popular. Turns out people have questions and opinions about all things grammar.

Ellen’s website explains what happened next: “Within six months 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 grammar action. In 2022, they brought the table to the last three states: Alaska, Hawaii, and that faraway land of Connecticut.

"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.”

[Shani Laskin · Rating 2 out of 5]

not a bad book just not what i expected

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how fun this was to read. She seems to be a master at keeping things light and diffusing anger of Grammar Table visitors.

[Dick Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellen Jovin aka "The Grammar Lady" offers a delightful and educational romp through our often complex language as she and her husband set up a curbside table and take grammar questions in cities and towns throughout the United States. It's a fun idea - random grammar and vocabulary questions from the public as a means of offering sound grammar instruction. Easy reading. Great information. Rebel with a Clause has now taken its place next to Dryer's English as my go-to books for grammar questions.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wise teacher once told me that the best way to make sure that your students remember what you are trying to teach them is if you use humor. Case in point: because this book is so much fun to read I expect that many people will retain a lot of the rules of American English grammar which it highlights and explains.
For me, as a former copy writer, copy editor, proof reader, and publicist, there was very little new information in this book. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because of the warmth and humor with which the author answers each of the people who bring her their grammar questions or complaints.
There are any number of things presented which I know how to use properly but could not have told you the principles involved. Some examples are: when to use “me” versus when to use “I”; when to use “their, there, or they’re”; the difference between “affect” and “effect” when used either as a noun or as a verb; how to use punctuation within parentheses; and how to use apostrophes and quotation marks appropriately.
I learned the names of a few things I feel passionately about but never knew had official names (such as the Oxford comma). And I was glad to learn that I can stop feeling guilty about ending a sentence with a preposition: despite what so many of us were taught about finding alternative sentence constructions, it is now perfectly acceptable to use a preposition to end a sentence with.
You might not believe you will enjoy a book about proper grammar, but there is a guffaw (or at least a giggle) on almost every page. Of course for English teachers, editors, and writers, who are already fascinated by proper usage, this book is pure joy!
Very highly recommended!