LawProse Lessons

LawProse Lesson #192: Client confidences.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Ethical communications for lawyers: Client confidences.      Trustworthy. That’s how every client should describe you. Keep all client confidences—and make it a habit to keep all confidences in everyday life. The law doesn’t make an exception for spouses or friends, so don’t talk to them about your client’s confidential matters. No matter what. Your …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: lay; lie (3).

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
lay; lie (3). Part C: “laid” for Past-Tense “lay.” The “lay”-for-“lie” error also occurs with the past-tense forms — e.g.: “He laid [read ‘lay’] down flat on the ground and looked around for an object or landmark he might have missed from a higher angle.” “Pumpkin Place,” Amarillo Daily News, 4 Mar. 1996, at C1. …

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Happy 25th Anniversary to LawProse!

1 Comment / Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
At LawProse, we’re celebrating our 25th Anniversary! Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of LawProse—the 1990 brainchild of Bryan A. Garner. To commemorate this important milestone, look for special events every month. We’ll start off in January with our Adopt-a-Bobble-Bryan program. On January 13th, 20 Bobble Bryans will be looking for good homes. (Yes, …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Miscellaneous Entries. irrelevance; irrelevancy. The former is generally preferred. The only plural form, however, is “irrelevancies.” irreligious; unreligious. Both words essentially mean “not religious.” But “irreligious” often suggests conscious indifference or even hostility toward religion. “Unreligious” is the more neutral term. irreparable is pronounced /i-REP-uh-ruh-buhl/. irresistible. So spelled — not “irresistable.” irrespective of = regardless …

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LawProse Lesson #190: Ethical communications. Never tell a lie.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Ethical communications for lawyers: Never tell a lie. “He’s not in the office right now.” (Actually, he is.) “I’m not authorized to offer one penny more.” (Actually, she has authority to settle for quite a bit more than she’s saying.) Advice about lying is tricky. But it’s possible to carry on your professional life without …

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LawProse Lesson #189: Test your editing skills!

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Test your editing skills! In our last three lessons, we’ve discussed various tips for legal editing. Now it’s time for you to put those techniques into practice. Try your hand at editing the rough draft of a motion (see below). Keep these points in mind: use precise, strong verbs; avoid legalese and wordy constructions; replace zombie …

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LawProse Lesson #188: A few additional editing tips.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
A few additional editing tips. In our last two lessons, we explained the LawProse editing method in general (Lesson #186), and we recommended changing be-verbs to action verbs (Lesson #187). Before we give you a full passage to edit on your own (next week!), you should find these last three tips helpful. 1. Remove zombie …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: Miscellaneous Entries.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Miscellaneous Entries. introductory should never be used in the phrase “be introductory of” (something); one should instead write “introduce” — e.g.: “This first section is introductory of [read “introduces”] some of the tenets that constitute part of that framework.” As a noun, “introductory” sometimes serves as a chapter title, but it is inferior to “introduction.” …

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LawProse Lesson #187: More on legal editing.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
More on legal editing: changing be-verbs to action verbs. In last week’s lesson—an overview of the LawProse editing method—we recommended converting be-verbs into stronger verbs. Be-verbs lack the punch of action verbs. Overusing weakens your prose, diluting its impact. Although the English language has eight be-verbs (is, am, are, was, were, being, be, been), it’s …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: just.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
just. Like “only,” “just” must be carefully placed — e.g.: “Texas’ Danny Peoples . . . had a two-run double and just hit foul a ball that could have been a two-run, game-tying homer.” Kirk Bohls, “Dallas Baptist Assaults Texas Pitching 10-5,” Austin Am.-Statesman, 26 Apr. 1994, at E1, E6. “Just” probably modifies “foul” — …

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LawProse Lesson #185: What is an en-dash?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
What is an en-dash? The en-dash is distinct from the hyphen and the em-dash. Conscientious writers know how to use the en-dash correctly; conscientious readers will appreciate the writer’s effort to effectively distinguish between the marks. Here are the basics. The en-dash (–) is shorter than an em-dash (—) and longer than a hyphen (-). …

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LawProse Lesson #184: Parentheses or em-dashes? How do you decide?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Parentheses or em-dashes? How do you decide? Good writers use parentheses and em-dashes skillfully to tighten and strengthen their prose. Although a writer’s individual style—together with the information or message to be conveyed—determines how these marks are used, some guidelines can suggest which mark to choose in a specific instance. Here are the basics. Use …

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LawProse Lesson #183: What’s wrong with initial-caps point headings?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
LawProse Lesson #183  What’s wrong with initial-caps point headings in briefs?      Two things. First, most lawyers don’t know how to type text in initial caps properly. But second—and far more important—proper point headings must capsulize points. They’re complete sentences, not mere phrases. So they’re not like titles such as Gone with the Wind …

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LawProse Lesson #182: “Home in” and *”hone in.”

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Home in and *hone in. Home in is the correct phrase, meaning “to proceed toward (a target)” or “direct attention to (a thing, idea, or objective)” {after flying a few miles, the pigeon homed in on the cage} {in the response, the lawyer homed in on the affirmative defense in the criminal code}. The phrase …

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LawProse Lesson #181: Grammar and usage resources.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Grammar and usage resources. Which grammar books are most useful? People frequently ask this question. Perhaps the most compendious treatment can be found in my own chapter five of The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed. 2010). That chapter, which first appeared (in a shorter form) in the 15th edition, is essentially a restatement of …

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LawProse Lesson #180: Conjunctions as sentence-starters

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
There are certain bits of knowledge that distinguish connoisseurs from poseurs, professionals from dilettantes, cognoscenti from wannabes. In the realm of grammar and writing, it tends to be the sureness that sentence-starting conjunctions are perfectly acceptable and often desirable (connoisseurs), or else the certitude that they are outright mistakes (misinformed poseurs). From at least the …

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LawProse Lesson #178: Do you know Standard American Punctuation?

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
Do you know Standard American Punctuation? Let’s take a well-written paragraph—one that shows some linguistic savvy—and remove all the punctuation. Can you punctuate it meaningfully? Capitalize as necessary to begin sentences. “In the end given so much evidence to the contrary the popularity of the austerity myth has come about largely through the power of …

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Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: your.

Bryan A. Garner, LawProse Lessons / By
your. “Your,” the possessive form of the second person, is sometimes misused for “you’re,” the contraction of “you are.” Often, as in the second example below, the error is that of the journalist who reports speech: o “Just saying your [read ‘you’re’] going to get fit this year doesn’t mean you will unless you define …

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