Humor me, learn some grammar

Writing humor is impossible to teach. Funny is indefinable.

But, as I've said before, there are some strategies you can use to help guide your writing towards finding your own Funny.

Here's some great advice I picked up a long time ago: If you want to write better humor, learn grammar.

Think about it.

Behind all of the talk of participles and gerunds and infinitives that made your eyes gloss over in grade school, lies grammar's sole purpose: Clear communication.

In other words, grammar is there to make sure you don't mean one thing and say another.

But... meaning one thing and saying another is one of the purest, simplest, most common forms of humor. It's called misdirection. It's when you indicate a Zig to your readers and then you Zag.

Here's a grammar rule that, once you understand it, can be warped to write humor.

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