
By Margie Smith Holt
West Side Rag told you last month about Grammar Guru Ellen Jovin’s run-in with the MTA. Now the dispute is getting political.
New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents the Upper West Side, is calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to allow Jovin — creator of the Grammar Table, Upper West Sider, and Hoylman-Sigal’s constituent — to continue dispensing grammar advice inside the subway station at West 72nd Street and Broadway.
“I like to think of myself as someone who appreciates good grammar, and what she’s performing is a public service — on her own time,” said Hoylman-Sigal, who says he learned about Jovin’s plight from the Rag.

Jovin’s been a regular in the neighborhood for the past five years, cheerfully answering grammar questions from behind her 20” x 48” folding table. She prefers to set up her grammar counseling operation in Verdi Park just outside the 72nd Street subway station, but when the weather turned colder and darker last month, she moved inside, paid her fare, and set up where those entering and exiting the subway could see her. But, according to Jovin, an MTA worker called the police, who showed up and told her she had to leave.
“The MTA was a little heavy-handed in the way they dismissed her from the premises,” said Hoylman-Sigal.
Plus, he says, they’re wrong. He believes the MTA’s own rules give Jovin the right to be there, as long as she’s not too close to a station booth or blocking the flow of traffic.
“This seems like something we can work out,” he added.
The MTA did not immediately respond to West Side Rag’s request for comment. The story will be updated when a response is received.
Update: Thursday, 2:50 p.m. WSR received the following statement from MTA Spokesperson Joana Flores: “We are exploring options that would allow this educator to continue to serve the public in a safe and appropriate manner within the rules.”

Jovin, meanwhile, has kept calm and carried on. Since her expulsion she’s returned to the scene of the crime at Verdi Square multiple times — setting up outside. When it got cold this week, she and her table hung out inside the subway station in Times Square, another of her regular stops for spreading the word about grammar. And her husband, filmmaker Brandt Johnson, has been busy submitting Rebel with a Clause, his new documentary about her, to film festivals.

If you see humor in this whole Grammar Police v. Real Police brouhaha, you’re not alone.
Jovin will be a special guest at the “Ruthless Comedy Hour” holiday show at Stand Up NY on West 78th Street next week (December 5) where, a source tells West Side Rag, topics mined for laughs will include grammar quizzes, stories about subway rules, and even the Rag’s famous comments (and commenters).
Joking aside, Jovin says she appreciates that Hoylman-Sigal’s appeal also highlights the subway’s role as an NYC gathering place.
“[W]hile the presence of Ms. Jovin is at a minimum permitted by MTA Rules,” he writes in his letter to MTA President Richard Davey, “it also provides the very ‘eyes on the street’ that make public spaces safer, livelier, and more welcoming.”
“It made me feel nice that he said that,” Jovin told the Rag.

Jovin says she’d love to be able to return to the 72nd Street station, but if she can’t, she’ll just go somewhere else. (Any venues want to host? Email her at ellen@grammartable.com.)
She has job security. That debate over the Oxford comma isn’t likely to end anytime soon.
For the record, Hoylman-Sigal, who was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in England, is not a fan.
“My staff is opposed to my opposition to the Oxford comma,” he said. “My staff is telling me I’ve been wrong for the last 40 years.
“And I went to Oxford. What the hell!”
(Despite his opposition, West Side Rag editors noted that the serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma, was used in the senator’s letter to the MTA.)
* * *
In the past, the Rag ran a column loosely called, Why the West Side?, in which famous people — local and international — explained why they choose to live in this neighborhood. Ellen Jovin was one of those interviewed in 2018, and you can read more about her personal history here. And watch for the return of Why the West Side? in the new year — by the original columnist! Click here for another sample.
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OK, I’ll say it: why isn’t Hoylman-Sigal spending his time instead on fighting crime (esp. right around that subway station), rats, empty storefronts… ? /s (/s stands for “sarcasm”)
I love this article! Sail on, silver grammar peeps.
Ellen is a free way to reduce crime. What are YOU doing except whining?
Hey Lead….try actually reading the comment. They were kidding.
Calm down.
It was said in jest. Read until the end.
Man, I love New York City!
Bravo Ellen!
There’s not a quicker way to lose friends than correcting their grammar. 😂
LOL true! But it is nice to have someone around to discuss things you’ve been pondering, such as the errant apostrophe in Carl’s Jr.
She answers people’s questions, she doesn’t scold them
I am sympathetic to the MTA’s position, though this is the last person I would throw out of the subway. The MTA should concentrate on the plague of buskers, who make a hellish cacophony at many stations, especially Times Square. Once you toss out those talentless louts, you can move on to inoffensive grammar advisors.
I LOVE the buskers. They make the place feel like a community.
I believe advisers is the preferred spelling.
There is no difference between adviser and advisor besides spelling.
There is, in finance.
In English English yes, in American not so much.
Great coverage! She’s a grammar hero!
The MTA allows raucous bellowing awful music within subway stations, where waiting passengers are helpless prisoners to the discord, but it will not allow a quiet educated person to give advice about grammar?
Eric, are you listening? What if she worked for Turkey?
A classist statement if there ever was one
Well, if Ellen played a boombox and dispensed grammar while breakdancing or just simply threatening people, she would be allowed to stay with no problem.
Oh, and the Oxford comma rules! I love it and will defend it to the end!
I don’t see a reason to belittle or disparage Subway performers in order to tout the grammar lady. All are much appreciated. Fine grammar is a lost art.
I wish you would camp at my doorstep!
It would be nice for businesses, community centers , etc., to allow Ellen to set up her table in their storefronts. They don’t know the opportunities they’re missing. She is an NYC treasure.
You’d think that with the glut of office space, she’d be able to find affordable space.
Why the subway? Why not just establish an online presence?
Attention much?
Why not a mere online presence? Conversation! Ellen wants to TALK with her “customers” — you should read her book (Rebel with a Clause). Every chapter is a testament to her ability to dialogue with all kinds of people, even (or especially) with the ones who would never seek out a grammar site online. She brings grammar to the people!
Ellen Jovin is a civilizing and orderly influence in our city’s sad and frightening descent into mayhem. I’d rather have New Yorkers get their aggression out over the Oxford Comma than just about anything else.
The Oxford comma is not necessary, except for clarity. Your staff is wrong. Using it is a choice.
I will let them know!
In cases where the Oxford comma is necessary for clarity, how is using it a choice? Why would someone choose to be unclear in their writing? I’m sure Nelson Mandela would agree with me: https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/oxford-commas-nelson-mandela-and-stephen-king/
a real rebel wouldn’t need special treatment.