“I am silently correcting your grammar,” reads a snide-ish T-shirt or coffee mug. But aren’t we all, or at least most/some of us doing just that? Are you one who cringes when the apostrophe is not in the right spot, questions whether “none” takes a singular or plural verb (I have, and recently,) has forgotten the differences between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses? Love (yes), or are indifferent to (never) the Oxford comma? This film is for you (Trailer, above.)
Far from what could be seen as a fusty or elitist project, Ellen Jovin began simply by setting herself up behind a folding table on a Manhattan sidewalk with a sign offering her expert answers to grammar questions. “People from every imaginable background visited the table to share a laugh, settle disputes, and talk about their grammar insecurities.” She found the experience so joyous that she resolved to take her show on the road to each of America’s fifty states. Her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, recorded the action.
Rebel With a Clause is being screened at Lebanon Opera House on Thursday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. Best of all, Ms. Jovin will be schlepping her Grammar Table to this event to answer your grammar questions before the show, which will be followed by a Q and A and book signing.
In an email interview, Ellen described her interest in grammar as stemming from “a family . . . full of language-y people,” and her math background. “I am inclined to think about language analytically, but I also love the art and creativity of it. I think of grammar not as a list of restrictions but rather a universe of marvelous possibilities!” Asked what is the most common question at the grammar table, she said it was the use of the Oxford comma. “Nothing else is even close.” And who is winning the Oxford Comma War?
“I can’t tell who’s winning the Oxford Comma War. It’s just nonstop unresolved skirmishes out there. But those skirmishes serve an important societal function—they keep us talking, and then afterward, we can still go hang out and be friends.”
As of now, my favorite discovery per Ms. Jovin is this: you can end a sentence with a preposition!
“To do so is actually perfectly correct, Ms. Jovin explains. “It is a grammatical myth that made its way into English via Latin, but English is a Germanic language,” she tells one table visitor who responds with a delighted ‘Shut up!’ ”—New York Times
And so, given my love for grammar along with my own small dose of grammar insecurity, I am feeling just a little anxious about sending this post out into the world. If you find anything to correct, please do, if not silently, at least kindly.
Tickets are available here.
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On another note, from Revels North: “Local auditions for the last (after nearly 50 years) Revels North Midwinter Revels take place June 6, 2025. Advance registration is required, at: Adult & Teen Audition Sign Up.
The public is invited on Tuesday, June 10 from 3 to 8 pm and Wednesday, June 11 from 12 to 5 pm to an Open House at the Revels North Center for the Traditional Arts, 2 Mascoma Street in Lebanon. There will be opportunities to purchase costumes, props and other Revels memorabilia to have a keepsake while you support the final production.”
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.