Ellen Jovin
Mariner Books, 400 pages
Published July 19, 2022
Ellen Jovin’s Rebel with a Clause was put on a pedestal — literally, the librarian had it displayed at the entrance. I playfully teased him regarding an elevation of his personal affinity, but my grammarian friend was earnest: “This book has the power to unite people.”
Jovin, the author, is a self-described “roving Grammarian.” She and her partner set up a pop-up table in all 50 states for people to ask their questions about prepositions, punctuations and more.
The book is organized by subject, such as tricky plurals (for example, data), the difference between a hyphen, en-dash, and em-dash, and (of course) the Oxford comma. I learned a useful bit of grammar; I don’t, however, suffer from “semicolonphobia.” Jovin is not highbrow; she discusses the use of the ellipsis in text messages. She also writes delightful footnotes. (In these witty asides, Jovin reminds me of the delightful Ross Gay.)
Most of all, I appreciated Jovin’s observation: “Some people just need someone to smile at them politely while they’re complaining, and then they go home happier.” She is an expert — a “grammar guru” — whose attitude is measured with healthy humility. “Mine is not the Grammar Judgement Table.” That doesn’t mean anything goes; there are rules regarding the capitalization of proper nouns. But a deep spiritual truth is that a willingness to suspend judgment leads to empathy. I trust that is part of what Jesus meant (Matthew 7:1).
In my opinion, the genius of “Rebel with a Clause” is that Jovin records her conversations. People from a wide swath of life — not only different parts of the country but also ages, ethnicities, careers and languages — are given voice. Most of them are funny, and all of them are respected. This level of respect is rarely found in the comments of most online material. Jovin’s Grammar Table thrives on personal encounters. My librarian friend is right: magic can occur when people come together, even over the quotidian — like commas!
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