LawProse Lessons

What’s the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing? To paraphrase is to recast a passage mostly in your own words; to summarize is to capture the essence of a message almost entirely in your own words, and in a much shorter statement. A paraphrase is about the same length as the original, perhaps a little shorter; a summary is significantly […]

You occasionally hear someone say that none requires a singular verb: None is there, never None are there. Is that right? Unequivocally no. For more than 1,200 years, English speakers and writers have said none are—especially in sentences like None of them are, where the subject is None (not them). In fact, None of them are is more than twice as common in modern print as None

You face several challenges as a writer, some of which you might not even be fully conscious of. But the big ones are obvious: “I don’t have the time!” The reality is that you must have the time. You must make the time. Lawyers must write more efficiently today than ever before. The good news is that you

 For purposes of this lesson, the term professional football player (hyphenated when functioning as a phrasal adjective) means “lexicographer.” In law, the “professional-football-player rule” is the principle that a drafter may explicitly define terms in ways that are peculiar to the legal instrument in which they appear. The rule is especially common in the field of patents,

 Given that the law is a profession whose sole tool is language, it’s hardly surprising that the legal profession—especially those at the top of it—are fixated on it. The most penetrating scholarly commentators discuss legal language astutely. The same is true of judges. If you examine U.S. Supreme Court opinions, you’ll find close examination of grammar and

Ernest Hemingway was speaking a truth about all professional writers when he said, “You can write anytime people will leave you alone and not interrupt you.” That assumes you have something to declare. But the upshot is that in Hemingway’s view, it’s amateurish to wait on “inspiration.” These days, you must have the discipline not

Clarity entails several cardinal virtues, including unity of purpose, sensible division, logical arrangement of material, and the consistent illustration of generalities with specific examples. Here we’ll focus on the first of these: unity. The neglect of it—commonly seen in the introduction of irrelevant facts—is a prime source of obscurity. No formula will enable you to

Writing can never be anything other than a lonely business. In the initial shaping of what you write, you’re going solo. If that’s true, then of what help can outside influences be? How can instruction help? Three main answers. First, the problems common to all writers are predictable. It’s not as if every writer’s struggles

A threefold answer:

One sign that a language is alive is that it evolves. Latin, a dead language, stopped changing the moment people stopped using it in everyday life. But thriving languages change constantly, though slowly. Chaucer noticed this truth as far back as 1385: Ye knowe ek that in forme of speche is chaungeWithinne a thousand yer,

It’s a truism that a clear writing style comes from a clear mind. The necessary corollary is that unclarity proceeds from a hazy mind, which will inevitably produce an unintelligible jumble. But this isn’t a prescription for good writing. You can’t just say, “Think more clearly!” and be done with it. No. People need exercises

What does The New Kid on the Block or any other poetry book by Jack Prelutsky have to do with lawyers’ writing? (If you don’t know his books, they’re perfect for reading aloud to kids.) In some ways, a great deal. A few years ago, Prelutsky was asked what he does when his writing isn’t going well.

The best writing instruction is holistic and broad, not just covering dozens of nitpicky grammatical points. Instead, it deals with the essence of inventing arguments. Effective teaching deals with creativity that enhances your mental capacities: recognizing similarities and differences, knowing the significance of factual changes, being able to shift levels of thought, and understanding differing

Can you recommend a good book on writing? We’re often asked this broadly phrased question. But because “writing” is such a broad subject, what one person needs isn’t the same as what someone else would find most helpful. If the question relates to grammar and usage—the thousand nitty-gritty issues of English wording—it’s hard to beat Garner’s Modern

You sometimes hear that writing “can’t be taught.” The statement has some truth in it: because writing is a complex integration of thought and technique, no teacher can supervise you while you do it. As a field of practical application, it requires doing. Only when you actually write can you apply whatever theories you might

What happens when you write a good letter, memo, motion, or brief within a reasonable time according to your skill level—one that suits both your purposes and your reader’s? You rely on stored knowledge that you’ve made automatic. Without trying, you’ve blended the powers of your subconscious and conscious minds. The subconscious part is the

A traditional daily newspaper contains about 150,000 words—meaning that the journalists produce the equivalent of a 250-page book every 24 hours. They uniformly follow a style manual to ensure consistency in writing.          Most law offices of 50–75 lawyers produce that much work every workday as well. Like good journalists, they insist on accuracy

You’ve read thousands of pieces of writing. You may even have produced thousands—in which case you probably have strong likes and dislikes about myriad aspects of writing. At times, you may feel as if you’ve reached your limits as a writer, that you have little if anything left to learn about the subject. Well, it’s

People commonly write for any of six reasons: (1) to express themselves, (2) to inform others, (3) to explain things, (4) to criticize, (5) to argue a point, and (6) to entertain. Nos. 2–5 all have a necessary place in persuasion, and no. 6 (at a subdued level) is a definite plus.           To persuade, you

Let’s say an undergraduate professor once assigned you to write a critical report on a recently published book. You were expected to read it closely and to consult additional sources, such as related publications and book reviews. Your professor made several assumptions about your capabilities: that you could read and understand college-level materials;that you could