Tag: the grammar table

We begin our lives inside a small group of humans with various linguistic idiosyncrasies, and those idiosyncrasies often dwell inside us across decades. 

I was taught that you shouldn't use contractions in work email. My co-worker says they’re fine. Who's right?

Remember sentence diagramming?

What we agree on unites us. What we don’t agree on also often unites us—because it gets us talking and thinking.

The word “that” lies at the heart of many a grammar argument. The UWS's Roving Grammarian weighs in.

In a new biweekly column, Ellen Jovin, the UWS's own grammar guru, muses on our language lives. Up first: the Oxford comma.

Was it that divisive Oxford comma that caused the commotion?

Ellen Jovin is the founder of a communication skills training consultancy, creator of a language-learning website, and most importantly the creator of an Upper West Side institution