{"id":161915,"date":"2026-08-31T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/31\/how-to-stop-rough-drafting-and-learn-to-speak-with-precision\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:30:00","slug":"how-to-stop-rough-drafting-and-learn-to-speak-with-precision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/31\/how-to-stop-rough-drafting-and-learn-to-speak-with-precision\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stop \u2018Rough-Drafting\u2019 and Learn to Speak with Precision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do your presentations suffer from “hanging fragmentitis”? Here\u2019s how to stop yourself from constantly editing, restarting and revising out loud.
\nThe post How to Stop \u2018Rough-Drafting\u2019 and Learn to Speak with Precision appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Why is it that so many lawyers\u2019 presentations \u2014 in court, in video meetings, during podcasts or CLEs \u2014 suffer from \u201changing fragmentitis\u201d? Here\u2019s how to stop yourself from constantly editing, restarting and revising out loud.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Finish Your Sentences!<\/h2>\n

When we speak, why do we so often fail to finish our sentences? Linguists must know the answer to this question, but I am at a loss. All I\u2019m sure of is this: Lawyers find it difficult \u2014 often impossible \u2014 to finish sentences. They have some kind of built-in resistance to committing to a period. Commas, ellipses and random question marks \u2014 yes. Periods \u2014 no.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I mean. A lawyer stands up to make a presentation to colleagues, an opening statement or a motion to a judge. She states her topic or theme, often (but far from always) in a single sentence. And then she\u2019s off to \u201cThe Land of the Never-Ending Sentence.\u201d There isn\u2019t a period to be heard for minutes on end. <\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. X has been afraid for her life since the night her husband stabbed her with a kitchen knife.\u201d <\/em>(This is the complete sentence.)<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. X had threatened her on numerous occasions, and the police had been \u2026 uh \u2026 called to their residence more than once and in 2009 alone officers were called by \u2026 uh \u2026 by either a neighbor or the caretaker of the condos or even by Mr. X himself \u2026 uh \u2026 on one occasion, and so she has been scared and worried, especially for the \u2026 um \u2026 effect of the potential violence on her two young daughters, who she sent away to live with her \u2026 um \u2026 sister.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And so on and on \u2026 and on.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the story emerges from the thicket of verbal litter. Participles dangle, prepositional phrases attach themselves, as if by their own accord, to the beginnings of ideas or the end of a long-winded thought, serving only as a bridge to the next part of an excruciating, endless sentence.<\/p>\n

Tangled in the verbal weed patch, like chattering language cicadas, is the cognitive wheel-spinning of habitual rephrasing:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 who she sent away to live with her sister \u2026 who \u2026 uh \u2026 who she sent to a suburb of Boston \u2026 who she sent early \u2026 um \u2026 last year to live in a safer place \u2026 a less \u2026 a much less violent situation with her sister, because she was now \u2026 uh \u2026 even worried about a different type of \u2026 uh \u2026 abuse, verbal, physical \u2026 her older daughter reported \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Grab Hold of Those Dangling Thoughts<\/h2>\n

You would never leave a\u00a0written<\/em> sentence unfinished. Why don\u2019t we speak with the same care? Instead, we seem to be constantly editing, hitting the delete button, starting over, revising, and rough-drafting out loud. There is a fix for \u201changing fragmentitis.\u201d When you hear yourself starting sentences over, help yourself bring that sentence to an end by doing three things.<\/p>\n

3 Ways to Fix Hanging Fragmentitis (and Be a More Powerful Public Speaker) <\/h2>\n

1. Resist tacking \u201cand\u201d onto the ends of your thoughts during presentations.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Do this with all your intellectual muscle. Speak in phrases, working your way through sentences with precision. This keeps your brain in sync with your mouth. We often listen to lawyers who speak so fast that they cannot monitor their speech in real-time. Their brain is way out ahead of their lips. <\/p>\n

As my Uncle Bobby Wayne of Alabama once observed of a talking head on TV, \u201cI see he\u2019s mashing his lips together, but I can\u2019t make out a word he\u2019s sayin\u2019 \u2014 and I\u2019m sure he don\u2019t know, either.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd\u201d used to string meandering sentences together litters your speech with meaningless noise.<\/p>\n

2. End sentences with downward inflection, walking down the musical steps of each sentence.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

End sentences decisively<\/a>, so listeners hear that the end is approaching. They need those inflective, musical cues to help organize your thoughts in their heads. <\/p>\n

Walk down<\/em> the musical steps to end most sentences. If you are asking a rhetorical question, end with the upward inflection of curiosity. Walk your voice\u00a0up<\/em>\u00a0the musical steps. <\/p>\n

3. Pause briefly when your sentence ends.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You should hear silence. The silence that follows the downward inflection of an audible period gives listeners a moment to process what you have said. Silence gives you a moment to formulate the first word of the next sentence. Don\u2019t worry that the pause will be too long \u2014 99.9% of the time, these pauses are less than a second and still sufficient to let listeners know the sentence is over. Resist the urge to rush into the next sentence.<\/p>\n

Related: \u201cThe Articulated Pause: You Don\u2019t Have to Make Noise While You Think<\/a>\u201d by Teddy Snyder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Speak in Deliberate Phrases to Cure Hanging Fragmentitis<\/h2>\n

Speaking in deliberate phrases will keep your sentences on track and prevent excessive starts and stops. Trust that you can speak about your topic with articulate intelligence. You needn\u2019t second-guess yourself and force listeners to endure your public editing. Sentence fragments wouldn\u2019t do on paper. Don\u2019t sprinkle them throughout your spoken presentations.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be a litterbug. Period.<\/em><\/p>\n

More Great Tips for Polishing Your Presentation Skills<\/h2>\n