The Elements of Legal Style (2nd Edition)

Legal Profession

The Elements of Legal Style, 2nd Edition

By Bryan A. Garner
Oxford University Press USA March 2002

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780195141627
Publisher
Oxford University Press USA
Publication
March 2002
Format
Hardback , 288 pages
Jurisdiction
U.S. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

A new edition of the classic in legal writing covers the basics of the field with new examples that illuminate mechanics, word choice, structure, and rhetoric.

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments xiii
  • Foreword xv
  • The Letters of the Law 1 (14)
  • Fundamental Rules of Usage 15 (38)
  • Punctuation 15 (1)
  • Always use the serial comma 15 (1)
  • Set off a dependent introductory phrase 16 (1)
  • with a comma
  • Put a comma between two adjectives that 17 (1)
  • modify a noun similarly
  • Put a comma before the second clause in a 18 (1)
  • compound sentence
  • Avoid using a comma to combine two 18 (2)
  • sentences into one
  • Form singular possessives by adding's to 20 (1)
  • the singular form of the noun
  • Form a plural possessive by adding an 20 (1)
  • apostrophe to the plural form of the
  • noun:-s'
  • Use a semicolon to separate sentence parts 21 (2)
  • calling for a stronger break than a comma
  • Set off incidental comments with paired 23 (1)
  • marks of punctuation
  • Hyphenate phrasal adjectives 24 (2)
  • Otherwise, be stingy with hyphens 26 (2)
  • Slash out virgules (/) 28 (2)
  • Word Choice 29 (1)
  • Strike out and replace fancy words 30 (1)
  • Challenge vague words 31 (1)
  • Shun vogue words 32 (1)
  • Eschew euphemisms 33 (2)
  • Toss out timid phrases 35 (1)
  • Discard empty dogmatisms 35 (1)
  • Be cautious about using neologisms 36 (1)
  • Tune the levels of usage with a fine ear 37 (3)
  • Grammar and Syntax 40 (1)
  • Use the active voice 40 (1)
  • Put pronouns in their proper case and number 41 (3)
  • Make the verb agree in number with its 44 (1)
  • subject
  • Anchor modifiers to what they modify 45 (3)
  • Split infinitives warily, if at all 48 (1)
  • Don't be afraid to begin a sentence with 49 (1)
  • And or But
  • End sentences with prepositions when you 50 (1)
  • need to
  • Use conditional sentences instead of 51 (2)
  • provisos
  • Fundamental Principles of Legal Writing 53 (22)
  • Brevity and Clarity 53 (4)
  • Simplicity of Structure 57 (1)
  • Organizing Arguments 58 (4)
  • Constructing Paragraphs 62 (4)
  • Constructing Sentences 66 (9)
  • Some Matters of Form 75 (24)
  • Titles 75 (2)
  • Headings 77 (1)
  • Italics 78 (1)
  • Numbers 79 (1)
  • Defined Terms 80 (1)
  • Contractions 81 (1)
  • First Person 82 (1)
  • Enumerations 83 (1)
  • Quotations 84 (2)
  • Alterations and Ellipses 86 (3)
  • Citations 89 (3)
  • Footnotes 92 (2)
  • Forms of Address and Reference 94 (3)
  • Signing Off 97 (2)
  • Words and Expressions Confused and Misused 99 (50)
  • Rhetorical Figures in Law 149 (28)
  • Comparison 150 (1)
  • Metaphor 150 (1)
  • Personification 151 (2)
  • Simile 153 (1)
  • Wordplay 154 (1)
  • Hyperbole 154 (1)
  • Irony 155 (2)
  • Meiosis 157 (1)
  • Paronomasia 157 (3)
  • Syntactic Arrangement 160 (1)
  • Anastrophe 160 (1)
  • Antithesis 160 (2)
  • Asyndeton 162 (1)
  • Climax 162 (1)
  • Parallelism 163 (1)
  • Periodic Sentence 164 (2)
  • Rhetorical Question 166 (2)
  • Repetition 168 (1)
  • Alliteration 168 (1)
  • Anadiplosis 168 (1)
  • Anaphora 169 (1)
  • Antanaclasis 170 (1)
  • Chiasmus 171 (1)
  • Epanalepsis 172 (1)
  • Epistrophe 173 (1)
  • Epizeuxis 173 (1)
  • Pleonasm 174 (1)
  • Polysyndeton 174 (3)
  • Conclusion 176 (1)
  • An Approach to Legal Style 177 (44)
  • Being Yourself 177 (1)
  • Develop your own plain voice 177 (1)
  • When appropriate, invest your writing with 178 (1)
  • some honest feeling
  • Establish your tone and stick to it 179 (2)
  • Exposition and Argument 181 (1)
  • Assume an audience of well-informed 181 (2)
  • generalists
  • Sharpen your reasoning by summarizing your 183 (5)
  • analysis up front, with just the amount of
  • particularity that a generalist would need
  • Take pains to be thorough, and then distill 188 (3)
  • the essence. Get to the point
  • Speaking Legally 191 (1)
  • Avoid jargon and beware terms of art 191 (2)
  • Write in English 193 (2)
  • Instead of using doublets or triplets, use 195 (2)
  • a single word
  • Understate rather than overstate 197 (1)
  • Expressive Tactics 198 (1)
  • Put the action into verbs, not nouns and 198 (2)
  • adjectives
  • Stress nouns and verbs, not qualifiers 200 (1)
  • Mind the cadence of your prose 201 (2)
  • Use cliches with caution. And avoid purple 203 (4)
  • prose
  • Root out sexist language 207 (6)
  • Forgo commenting on your words 213 (1)
  • Ban omnibus words 214 (1)
  • Use one word for one notion 215 (2)
  • Ferret out ambiguities 217 (1)
  • Revise, revise, revise 218 (3)
  • A Parting Word 221 (2)
  • Appendix Eighty Classic Statements About Style 223 (18)
  • Index 241
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