On Sept. 21, 2018, writer and linguistic enthusiast Ellen Jovin set out to answer grammar questions on the streets of New York City. She propped up a folding table near a busy subway stop outside her Manhattan apartment with a sign that boldly read “Grammar Table.” Within 30 seconds, a curious pedestrian approached the table, and the dialogues flowed endlessly ever since.
Jovin brought her “Grammar Table” to Bloomington on Thursday as part of a national tour promoting her bestselling book and a new documentary chronicling her travels. The visit accompanied a book talk at Morgenstern’s Bookstore on Wednesday and a film screening at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Thursday evening.
The event was hosted by IU's Department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences with support from the Culbertson Fund, which aimed to offer a venue where the Bloomington community could come together and indulge in the pleasure and power of studying the language.
Jovin is a polyglot, having studied over 25 languages. She said before “Grammar Table,” she had a project called “The Words and Worlds of New York,” where she would study languages spoken by people in the city.
“I love studying languages, so I blogged, joined language groups online and collected grammar books,” she said. “But after a few years, I felt I was spending too much time online in these nerdy groups. I wanted to be outside talking to real human beings —because that’s what language is for.”
While Jovin ran the “Grammar Table” locally for a few months, her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, would film the exchanges with the community. It didn’t take long for the phenomenon to attract the attention of The New York Times, National Public Radio and CBS Evening News.
“It struck me very quickly how funny, how connected, how human these interactions were,” Johnson said. “People were finding common ground in a time that was really divided, and I felt as though I really needed to share it with the world.”
Jovin and Johnson run a communication skills training firm called Syntaxis that trains business professionals and individuals to speak and write English with authenticity, clarity and strength.
During the spring of 2019, Jovin pitched the idea of taking the “Grammar Table” on a cross-country adventure and turning the experience into a book with Johnson capturing it all in a documentary. As soon her literary agent accepted this pitch, the couple made multiple road trips with the goal of connecting with all 50 states — starting with Rhode Island later that year in July.
“When you share a common activity, it becomes meditative,” she said. “We spend so much time arguing online over small disagreements when we could be building community through shared interests.”
Many inquisitive passersby would frequent the “Grammar Table,” sparking debates and discussions ranging from commas and apostrophes to spousal disputes and dialect differences. These conversations unfolded in small towns and bustling cities, outside bookstores and cafés, along beaches and atop mountains. Jovin would often face the challenge of setting up her stand in public areas without a permit.
“You never know who the grammar nerds are,” Jovin said. “There’s a stereotype, but we had these two chain-smoking, tough-looking construction workers in Alabama — and they spent an hour with us talking about grammar. It’s a reminder to let people surprise you.”
By January 2020, they had reached 47 states before the COVID-19 pandemic brought their travels to an abrupt halt. Through the quiet months that followed, Jovin focused on her book while Johnson pieced the film together.
On July 19, 2022, Jovin published “Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian,” which quickly became a national bestseller. The book has also been translated into Russian.
The pair hit the ground running as soon as they could, completing the final states — Alaska, Connecticut and Hawaii. The documentary covered their linguistic odyssey through all 50 states and was released theatrically on Jan. 10, 2025.
At 11 a.m. Thursday, Jovin set up her “Grammar Table” for a couple of hours at Sample Gates, where many students and adults stopped by to engage in lively conversations. She said she embraced the challenge of a collegiate setting, where students are perpetually tethered to their headphones.
The film was screened at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater at 6:30 p.m. the same day, drawing laughter from the grammar enthusiasts of Bloomington. The evening concluded with a Q&A session featuring Jovin and Johnson, followed by a book signing.
Jovin said they plan to continue doing pop-ups, screenings and Q&As across the country for a while, with plans to eventually take the “Grammar Table” international.
“Whoever the Grammar Table visitors are,” Jovin wrote in her book. “I want them to feel good about the relationship they have with the language today.”
