Ellen Jovin

Rebel with a Clause

'The history of language has never seen anything like this. Ellen's mobile grammar travelogue, presented with an engaging humour and humility will appeal to anyone with an interest in the way English works - which means all of us. Reality television? This is reality grammar.' -David Crystal, author of How Language Works For fans of Gyles Brandreth, Susie Dent and Bill Bryson, 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 "The Grammar Table," it took about 30 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 hit the road, travelling 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, Jovin shares the heartwarming and humorous stories of the people she meets, and what is most on their minds, grammatically speaking - from the Oxford comma to the places prepositions can go, the likely lifespan of 'whom,' semicolonphobia, and so much more. Rebel with a Clause combines the qualities of a first-class work of reference with the laugh-out-loud pleasure of a good read. Punctuated with linguistic debates from tiny towns to crowded cities, this grammar romp will delight anyone wishing to polish their prose or revel in our age-old, universal fascination with language.