Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. In high school, while everyone else was,

I imagine, making out or doing various other cool activities with their cool friends,

I was in this after-school club taught by my Latin teacher, where we'd talk about grammar. You know,

we'd diagram sentences and read the elements of style,

that sort of thing, which means I am the target audience for Ellen Jovin's new book Rebel with a Clause.

It's a book about the big questions and debates about grammar she's run into in her travels.

And what I love about this interview with NPR Scott Simon is that Jovin works to undo the stereotype that's cast over us grammar nerds,

that we're these buzzkill losers constantly correcting people's language.

Instead, she makes a point that grammar is context dependent and is actually more fluid of a concept than people generally make it out to be.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Grammer's just a necessary chore for a lot of us, like going to the dentist or washing your socks.

You do it, but not with joy, unless you're Ellen Jovin.

Four years ago, she's had up a table to invite grammar questions outside of her Manhattan apartment.

She got her first question in 30 seconds and decided to take her show on the road.

What's the name for the Don Oxford Conma? Is this a comma? Just, yeah, like another, that's the, road. What's the name for the non-Oxford comma?

Just comma.

Just, yeah, like another.

That's, I think it's the reason.

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