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Tables of Contents for The Elements of Legal Style
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
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 with a comma
16
1
Put a comma between two adjectives that modify a noun similarly
17
1
Put a comma before the second clause in a compound sentence
18
1
Avoid using a comma to combine two sentences into one
18
2
Form singular possessives by adding's to the singular form of the noun
20
1
Form a plural possessive by adding an apostrophe to the plural form of the noun:-s'
20
1
Use a semicolon to separate sentence parts calling for a stronger break than a comma
21
2
Set off incidental comments with paired marks of punctuation
23
1
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 subject
44
1
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 And or But
49
1
End sentences with prepositions when you need to
50
1
Use conditional sentences instead of provisos
51
2
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 some honest feeling
178
1
Establish your tone and stick to it
179
2
Exposition and Argument
181
1
Assume an audience of well-informed generalists
181
2
Sharpen your reasoning by summarizing your analysis up front, with just the amount of particularity that a generalist would need
183
5
Take pains to be thorough, and then distill the essence. Get to the point
188
3
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 a single word
195
2
Understate rather than overstate
197
1
Expressive Tactics
198
1
Put the action into verbs, not nouns and adjectives
198
2
Stress nouns and verbs, not qualifiers
200
1
Mind the cadence of your prose
201
2
Use cliches with caution. And avoid purple prose
203
4
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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