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Lawyers tend to be passionate about their work product. Words tumble out of our minds onto the keyboard and screen. Perhaps just perusing your opponent\u2019s latest motion raised your blood pressure, and now you\u2019re really letting them have it in your response. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s fine to follow your impulses<\/a> as you figure out what you are going to say in your first draft. But once that\u2019s out of your system, it\u2019s time to revise. A basic way to empower your writing is to improve the sentence structure.<\/p>\n The simplest sentence structure is subject-verb-direct object. Who or what is doing the task described in the sentence? \u201cThe guard did not secure the gate\u201d<\/strong> gets your point across more efficiently than \u201cThe gate was unsecured.\u201d <\/strong>The first sentence is in active voice; the second is in passive.<\/p>\n When you need to name the entity that performed the action, always choose active voice. Omitting identification of the actor in a sentence leaves room for confusion as to who or what actually performed the act. When you are trying to show fault, you are missing the best way to drive home your point.<\/p>\n Are there ever times to anonymize your sentence? Sure. That\u2019s the classic \u201cMistakes were made.\u201d When you want to avoid pointing the finger, passive voice will do it.<\/p>\n The most common way in English to show something happened in the past is to add -ed<\/em> to the verb. That doesn\u2019t change the sentence into passive voice. A sentence in passive voice reverses the actor \u2014 here, the guard \u2014 with the thing being acted upon.<\/p>\n Rather than construct a long, convoluted sentence, choose a verb that defines what happens. The attorney didn\u2019t conduct a deposition of the witness; she deposed the witness. The attorney didn\u2019t prepare a draft of the agreement; he drafted the agreement. Too many times, attorneys choose the wordiest way to construct a sentence. This dilutes the power of the argument. It also wastes your word limit.<\/p>\n Verbs come in two flavors: transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb needs a direct object to complete the thought. \u201cThe guard did close\u201d would leave a listener shaking their head. \u201cThe guard closed the gate,\u201d or even \u201cthe guard closed it,\u201d finishes the thought.<\/p>\n Like the lonely cheese in the farmer\u2019s dell, an intransitive verb stands alone. \u201cHe snored\u201d is a complete sentence. The verb \u201csnored\u201d is not acting upon anything.<\/p>\n \u201cThe witness told police the story.\u201d <\/strong>Indirect objects appear between verbs and the direct object. Indirect objects are the recipients of the direct object. Another way to make the point is to use a prepositional phrase: The witness told the story to the police.<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, that\u2019s not all there is. Get To The Point has counseled against overusing adjectives and adverbs<\/a> many times, which is not to say there is no place for powerful, properly placed<\/a> modifiers.<\/p>\n While subject-verb-direct object is the foundation of simple sentences, your complex prose is likely to use phrases and clauses for each of those categories. Native speakers don\u2019t think twice about creating word clumps that function as nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs.<\/p>\n Clauses are phrases that have a subject and a verb in them. Clauses can be subjects or objects:<\/p>\n The lawyer who gave the opening statement did not sway the jury.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The jury admired the lawyer who gave the opening statement.<\/em><\/p>\n In \u201cHerman loved walking to the courthouse,\u201d<\/strong> \u201cwalking\u201d is a special kind of verb known as a gerund.<\/p>\n Another type of verb is the infinitive, as in \u201cHerman loved to walk to the courthouse.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n A third type of verb is the participle, which turns a verb into an adjective: Like a walking robot, Herman ambled toward the courthouse.<\/p>\n And then there are conjunctions.<\/p>\n We could go on, but won\u2019t.<\/p>\n The point is that there are many complex ways lawyers string together words to create sentences, paragraphs and pages. The starting and ending point of the sentences should be the simplest sentence structure that does the job.<\/p>\nWho or What Did This? Choosing Active or Passive Voice<\/h2>\n
Some people confuse passive voice<\/a> with the past tense. <\/h3>\n
What Did They Do? Choosing Verbs<\/h2>\n
What Was Acted Upon? <\/h2>\n
Who\/What Got That Direct Object?<\/h2>\n
Is That All There Is?<\/a><\/h2>\n
Sometimes a subject or direct object looks like a verb. <\/h3>\n
We\u2019re Not Writing \u2018Dick-and-Jane\u2019 Stuff Here<\/h2>\n
\nGet to the Point!<\/h2>\n
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