Using corpora in Legal English A corpus is a large collection of written and/or spoken material collected to show the state of a language. Corpora can be extremely useful tools in language teaching as they help both the teacher and the learner to understand exactly…
Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing – A popular and short, tip-based podcast which imparts simple and concise grammar lessons, usually in under five minutes. She also posts transcripts of many of her podcasts so that listeners can see examples of the…
1. Capitalize the first word of a sentence. For example: The client called three times. Do not put the matter off any longer. 2. Capitalize the first word of a sentence within sentence (even if it is not within quotation marks). For example: The arbitrator…
At AdamsDrafting, Ken Adams focuses on the actual language of contracts. And his approach to contract drafting is relevant to lawyers outside the U.S. As Adam’s makes clear on his site, contracts drafted in the common law countries not only have similar layouts, but they…
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. A book for people who love punctuation, this book takes a humorous approach to the English system of punctuation, particularly commas and semicolons.
Selected as one of “The best websites by lawyers for lawyers.” by the ABA Journal Blawg 100, Wayne Schiess’s Blog @ Legalwriting.net is an excellent resource for those wishing to fine-tune their legal writing. Schiess directs the legal-writing program at the University of Texas School…
1) When two words are made into one word, use the apostrophe where one or more letters have been removed. For example: isn’t couldn’t weren’t Note: Stylistically, the use of contractions is not recommended for formal writing. The apostrophe is also used to show the…
1) Use the colon to introduce a list. For example: We need a lawyer who is: aggressive educated well connected 2) Use the colon before a list in a sentence when introductory words such as for example or for instance, do not appear. For example:…
1) Use the semicolon in place of a period to separate two complete sentences where the conjunction – and, but, for, or, nor, so, or yet – has been left out. For example: Contact me next week; I will tell you what you need to…
1) Use commas to separate a series of three or more words, groups of words, or phrases. For example: The proceeds are to be divided equally among development, research, marketing, and entertainment. Note: Omitting the comma after marketing would indicate that the marketing and entertainment…
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