By Margie Smith Holt
Upper West Siders like to think of ourselves as not only accepting, but also among the most well-read of New Yorkers. So how is it that native daughter Ellen Jovin—aka the grammar whiz who totes a table around town, offering free tips on syntax and structure—got booted out of a subway station in her own backyard last Tuesday night, surrounded by no less (fewer?) than three bookstores, as many libraries, and who knows how many poets, playwrights, authors, editors, screenwriters, journalists, literary luminaries, and general lovers of language?
An MTA worker called the police, Jovin said. When the cops showed up, they told her (“with unimpeachable courtesy,” she stresses), that she had to leave. She did. But not before dispensing “advice on the possessive of Charles and the advisability of the Oxford comma in complex lists.”
Was it that divisive Oxford comma that caused the commotion? A complaint from a commuter traumatized by grade-school sentence diagramming?
The jury’s out. Jovin’s become a(n?) UWS institution since she started the Grammar Table in 2018. She says she’s been at the 72nd Street subway station multiple times without incident and is trying to find out if the MTA has changed its policies.
“I try to be respectful of public space,” she told West Side Rag.
Jovin says she doesn’t want to break any rules. This is a woman still scarred from being benched once at recess for stepping outside the playground lines. Who counts her elementary school handwriting award (bestowed some 40 years after attending said school) among her highest accolades. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out a grammar nerd is a rule follower.
Jovin’s not the first New York City grammarian to be vexed by city transit. “Comma Queen” Mary Norris may be best known for her years as a copy editor at the New Yorker, but she had a side hustle penning a blog called “The Alternate Side Parking Reader.” (I arrived in New York in September of 1977 in a ’65 Plymouth Fury II, and within 24 hours I had racked up something like $200 in parking tickets.)
And like any good New Yorker, Jovin’s not going to let a little subway brouhaha shut her down. She is, as her new book attests, a Rebel with a Clause, and it’s a big city. One of her regular spots is Verdi Square—outside the subway station. She said she only moved inside because it’s starting to get dark earlier. She’s already looking for ways to keep the grammar train running above ground: “I’m going to have to invest in disco lights.”
(Does anyone else hear Schoolhouse Rock’s “Conjunction Junction” in the background?)
For the record, the authorities suggested it was fine for her to set up her table in the subway stations at Times Square or Grand Central. Maybe they thought the UWS has had all the grammar lessons it needs? Feel free to prove us wrong in the comments.
To receive WSR’s free email newsletter, click here.
That is insane. Homelessness can sleep anywhere the want but she can’t have a stand that helps a lot of us?
Talking about the priorities of Adams administration.
She would take issue with the grammar and spelling of your post.
You see, the lovely thing about Ellen is that despite having a truly impressive grasp of grammatical rules, she is never anything but kind and polite to people who have never grasped those rules. She also encourages people to consider that ‘the rules’ might only be guidance. You’d do well to read her book as it might inspire you to be a little less rude.
She would probably correct it, not just “take issue”. Too bad there’s no table correcting pompous arrogance.
Exactly right. Ellen is one of the least judgmental people I know and would cringe at Will’s comment. I would respectfully suggest the following corrections since the issue came up: Homelessness -> The homeless; can -> may; the -> they; comma before but; can’t -> may not (or isn’t allowed); Adams to -> Adams’ (or Adams’s). As far as the comparison you are making, I don’t really see the connection, but that’s another matter.
Thank you. That’s what happens when you write and don’t re-read 🙂
All of the unhoused antagonism flows out of you quicker than you are able to proof read, it happens to the best of us.
If she’d have just vaulted the turnstile, they surely would have left her alone.
because the cops let certain people jump the turnstile in New York City and hassle others. I wonder why
hmmm… why don’t you explain who these “certain people” are and why you think they’re allowed to do so, instead of making vague insinuations that can be construed in all sorts of ugly ways?
Only in New York.
Room for Venezuelan churro vendors they must make.
This is absolutely insane. There are homeless people living at the 96th street stop every day when I make my way to work, yet she can’t have her table at 72nd?! Also, I’m pretty sure if I called the cops about any of the behavior going on in and around my block they wouldn’t even show up.
Let her be.
Positive becomes negative.
Wake up and smell the differnce.
Wish I had known her table existed before I wrote my thesis.
We desperately need you up by Columbia or at least 96th st. I loathe the Oxford comma so I need to learn more in case I need to revise my views.
I teach at the university level. I would be happy to be flexible about the use of the Oxford comma if only I could get my students to stop using apostrophes to make plurals.
For decades I didn’t use the Oxford/series comma, probably because most (US) newspapers don’t use it, but a few years ago I decided to embrace it. It occasionally helps improve clarity, and never hurts, at the cost of one more character.
I don’t remember what convinced me to switch. Maybe Dreyer’s English? He devotes three pages to only that. Great book!
Hmmm are you sure? I hate extra punctuation. Am not in the “never hurts” school of thought about punctuation. But ok can take a look at Dreyer. THANKS and do come uptown. We’d love to have you.
Something PERSUADED you to switch, as one cannot be CONVINCED to do anything.
– Another “grammar nerd”
I like the Oxford comma but hate the word “fun” when used as an adjective. Nevertheless, this was a fun article and I hope it helps Ellen Jovin get her preferred post back.
Or a noun
and exclamation points. They are overused these days.
When/how do you use ‘fun’ as a noun or adverb or other part of speech? I’m not saying you can’t, just wondering how you do …
We had fun at the orgy.
We went just for fun.
The kids have fun throwing water balloons at passersby.
I know that ‘fun’ has come to be considered an acceptable adjective, but I’m from the old school, when grammar was grammar. (And yes, I’m just funning you.) 🙂
I concur, and I’m not “funning” about it. “Fun” is a noun.
The ‘unimpeachable courtesy’ would have vanished fast had she stood her ground.
You left out a necessary comma!
I like her but I’d rather not have any tables or vendors in subway stations. It blocks the flow of traffic. The space looks empty in the photo but it can be very crowded sometimes.
That’s a good point. That particular station has always been cramped.
So …. Homeless people, panhandlers, migrants selling candy and subway-shovers are allowed on the platform, but she is not? We’re doing just great, Upper West Side!
She wasn’t on the platform. She was upstairs, inside the turnstiles.
Something doesn’t seem write about this
Strunk, White, Liz Truss, and now Ellen Jovin: someone must step forward to confront the horror that is comma-splice errors, missing serial commas, and mangled possessives. We are lucky to have her.
New York needs a lot things right now, especially an official Grammar and Spelling expert! Everyone please write to Mayor Adams and nominate Ellen Jovin. What she’s doing is so New York, so much fun, and so very positive. All Americans need a lot of that right now!
“She left.” “But not before dispensing “advice on the possessive of Charles.” We named our first born, Charles (in 1970). So I have long wrestled with the proper possessive word for Charles” I don’t what the advice of the grammar grandma is but this is what I have always done: In general, I use Charles’s as the proper possessive. But when the following word starts with an s, as in socks, a string of 3 words, each beginning with s is a bit much (for instance, Charles’s socks). So, I simply use Charles’ socks. But I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules.
“Charles’ socks” [or Charles’ books] is the correct singular possessive form for a word ending in “s.” The only exception is with surnames when the plural possessive is used, as in “the Charleses’ family dog” and any awkwardness can be dispelled by phrasing it as “the Charles family’s dog.”
Maybe people should write simple declarative sentences. Then again this is the Upper West Side. When kvetch is used as as a noun should it begin with a lower case or upper case letter?
I do not live in NYC. Full disclosure: I am related to Ellen. But you will know by the punctuation used here that I am no grammarian nor am I a writer. That said, the MTA should be excited to see a brave woman sitting in their station giving free grammar advice to passersby. It dispels the aura of social media’s focus on subway rats carrying slices of pizza and unsavory characters loitering in the subterranean world beneath the streets of Manhattan.
This “brave woman” is smiling and looking like she is more Kvelling than Kvetching.
I’ve met Ellen. She’s funny and smart and really knows her stuff!
I regularly ride the train with people who are floridly mentally ill and menacing.
It makes perfect sense to let them harass and frighten people throughout the system while removing a grammar maven.
Perfect sense.
She’ll be safer somewhere else. More safe.
Assuming that all “grammar nerds” are rule followers, in general, is patently ridiculous, even in a humorous article.
But it’s ok for people to bring bikes, electric bikes and carts on the subway?
You need a license and permit to sell on the street.
Talk about “low hanging fruit”! This is what they enforce? Considering how “stabby” NYC has become, I think there are higher priorities.
She’s a good person, but it’s understandable why the MTA can’t allow anyone and everyone to set up a table inside the subway stations.