Writing & Language

What is comedy and what makes something funny?

As soon as you try and look directly at humour and analyse it too much... all of the funniness disappears...

But why do we find things funny? Why does this reaction force us to convulse and make that noise?

The contractions've started...

Though frowned upon in formal writing, contractions can be very useful in speech, words such as...

aren't (are not), don't (do not), isn't (is not), wasn't (was not), can't (cannot), weren't (were not), wouldn't (would not)...

The Birth of Legalese

A story about the troubles of a park keeper to keep people off the grass that illustrates why the legal profession are forced to use the archaic and all-encompassing complicated jargon that we call 'legalese.'

With Compliments...

The words complimentary and complementary are very easy to confuse. One means 'To praise' or 'Offered freely,' the other means 'To complete.' Here are some usage examples you won't find in the dictionary...