Legal Writing

PARTS OF SPEECH
 There are 8 or 9 parts of speech
1. Noun – names for people, places, things/objects, ideas, animals, including substances, qualities, measures
of time or quantity

2. Pronoun – takes the place (a substitute) of a noun, avoids redundancy and monotony
a. Personal
I. Subjective – I, he, she, we, it, they
II. Objective – him, her, them, me
b. Possessive – mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs
c. Reflexive – myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
d. Reciprocal – each other, one another
e. Relative – that, which, who, whose, whom, where, when
f. Demonstrative – this, that, these, those
g. Interrogative – who, what, why, where, when, whatever
h. Indefinite – anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone, nothing, nobody, none,
no one
Carl and myself ate lunch. --> Incorrect
Mike cooked lunch for Carl and myself. --> Incorrect
3. Adjective – Modify and describes nouns and pronouns (may become nouns and vice versa)
a. Questions adjectives answer:
I. What Kind?
II. Which one?
III. How many?
IV. How much?
b. Used for comparison
I. Degrees of comparison
1. Positive – normal adjective that’s used to describe, not compare.
2. Comparative – used to compare two things (and is often followed by the word
than).
3. Superlative – used to compare three or more things, or to state that something is
the most.
c. Kinds of Adjectives
I. Descriptive – are used to describe nouns and pronouns.
II. Quantitative – describe the quantity of something.
III. demonstrative adjective describes “which” noun or pronoun you’re referring to. These
adjectives include the words:
1. This — Used to refer to a singular noun close to you.
2. That — Used to refer to a singular noun far from you.
3. These — Used to refer to a plural noun close to you.
4. Those — Used to refer to a plural noun far from you.
IV. Possessive – show possession. They describe to whom a thing belongs. Some of the most
common possessive adjectives include:
1. My — Belonging to me
2. His — Belonging to him
 3. Her — Belonging to her
4. Their — Belonging to them
5. Your — Belonging to you
6. Our — Belonging to us
V. Interrogative – interrogate, meaning that they ask a question. These adjectives are always
followed by a noun or a pronoun, and are used to form questions. The interrogative
adjectives are:
1. Which — Asks to make a choice between options.
2. What — Asks to make a choice (in general).
3. Whose — Asks who something belongs to.
VI. Distributive – describe specific members out of a group. These adjectives are used to single
out one or more individual items or people. Some of the most common distributive
adjectives include:
1. Each — Every single one of a group (used to speak about group members
individually).
2. Every — Every single one of a group (used to make generalizations).
3. Either — One between a choice of two.
4. Neither — Not one or the other between a choice of two.
5. Any — One or some things out of any number of choices. This is also used when the
choice is irrelevant, like: “it doesn’t matter, I’ll take any of them.”
VII. Articles*
d. Coordinate Adjectives – should be separated by a comma or the word ‘and’, adjectives are said to
be coordinate if they modify the same noun in a sentence.
e. Cumulative Adjectives – can neither be reversed nor separated by the word 'and'
I. The order of adjectives

4. Verb – an action, an occurrence, or a state of being

a. Tenses
I. Simple
1. Present – happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or unceasingly, which
is why it’s sometimes called present indefinite)
 I read nearly every day.
 2. Past – happened or existed before now
 Last night, I read an entire novel.
3. Future – haven’t happened yet
 I will read as much as I can this year.
II. Continuous
1. Present – an action or condition is happening now, frequently, and may continue
into the future. (present progressive) tense is a way to convey any action or
condition that is happening right now, frequently, and may be ongoing.
 I am reading Shakespeare at the moment.
2. Past – also known as the past progressive tense, refers to a continuing action or
state that was happening at some point in the past. It can also be used to describe
something that was happening continuously in the past when another action
interrupted it.
 I was reading Edgar Allan Poe last night.
3. Future – also referred to as the future progressive tense, is a verb tense that
indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected
length of time.
 I will be reading Nathaniel Hawthorne soon.
III. Perfect
1. Present – also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that
were completed before some point in the past
 I have read so many books I can’t keep count.
2. Past – action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we
have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he
has grown impatient over the last hour).
 I have read so many books I can’t keep count.
3. Future – actions that will be completed before some other point in the future.
 I will have read at least 500 books by the end of the year.
IV. Perfect Continuous
1. Present –
 I have been reading since I was four years old.
2. Past – (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that
started in the past continued up until another time in the past.
 I had been reading for at least a year before my sister learned to read.
3. Future – also sometimes called the future perfect progressive, is a verb tense that
describes actions that will continue up until a point in the future
 I will have been reading for at least two hours before dinner tonight.
b. Voice
I. Active – The subject acts upon the subject
1. No one responded to my sales ad.
 Subject + verb + object
II. Passive – The object is acted upon by the subject
1. My sales ad was not responded to by anyone.
 Object + verb + subject
c. Kinds of verbs
I. Action – words that express action (give, eat, walk, etc.) or possession (have, own, etc.).
Action verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.
1. Transitive verbs –
 always has a noun that receives the action of the verb, called the direct
object.
  Laurissa raises her hand.
The verb is raises. Her hand is the object receiving the verb’s
action. Therefore, raises is a transitive verb.
 Transitive verbs sometimes have indirect objects, which name the object to
whom or for whom the action was done.
 Abdus gave Becky the pencil.
The verb is gave. The direct object is the pencil. (What did he give?
The pencil.) The indirect object is Becky. (To whom did he give it?
To Becky.)
2. Intransitive verbs – action verbs that cannot attach directly to a noun; they need
the help of a preposition, as in walk to the store, comply with the regulations,
proceed with the inquiry.
II. Helping/Auxilliary – used before action or linking verbs to convey additional information
regarding aspects of possibility (can, could, etc.) or time (was, did, has, etc.).
1. The main verb with its accompanying helping verb is called a verb phrase.
 Teju is (helping verb) going (main verb) to Florida.
 The trip might (helping verb) be (main verb) dangerous.
2. The following words, called modals, always function as helping verbs
*note that there are jurisprudence interpretative of auxiliary verbs
 Can – implies capacity to do something
 May – implies permission to do something
 Must – implies requirement to do or to refrain from doing something
 Shall – implies instruction or command
 Will
 Ought to
 Would
 Could – implies capacity to do something
 Might – implies possibility
 Should – implies that some action was preferable but was not in fact taken
 Tanya could learn to fly helicopters. (Could helps the main verb,
learn.)
 Janine will drive to Idaho tomorrow. (Will helps the main verb,
drive.)
3. the following forms of the verbs to be, to do, and to have sometimes serve as
helping verbs. (Note: In other cases, they may serve as action or linking verbs.)
 am, be, being, do, had, have, was, are, been, did, does, has, is, were
 HELPING: Jana is moving to a new house.
LINKING: Jana is ready to go.
 HELPING: Dustin did eat his vegetables!
ACTION: Dustin did his homework last night. (transitive verb)
III. Linking – connects the subject of a sentence to a noun or adjective that renames or
describes the subject. This noun or adjective is called the subject complement.
1. The most common linking verb is the verb to be in all of its forms (am, are, is, was,
were, etc.)
 Lisa is in love with Jason.
The verb, is, links the subject, Lisa, to the subject complement, in love with
Jason (describing Lisa).
 Jason became a business major.
The verb, became, links the subject, Jason, to its complement, a business
major.
 2. Other verbs may be linking verbs in some cases and action verbs in others
‘To become’ and ‘to seem’ are always linking verbs.
 to appear, to feel, to look, to remain, to stay, to taste, to continue, to grow
5. Adverb – modifies (describes) a verb (he sings loudly), an adjective (very tall), another adverb (ended too
quickly), or even a whole sentence (Fortunately, I had brought an umbrella). Adverbs often end in -ly, but
some (such as fast) look exactly the same as their adjective counterparts.
a. Questions adverbs answer:
I. in what manner? (verb)
II. degree of intensity? (adjective)
III. general feeling? (sentences)
b. Types of adverbs
I. Adverbs of Time – provides more information about when a verb takes place
II. Adverbs of place – illustrate where the verb is happening
III. Adverbs of Manner – the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the
question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.
IV. Adverbs of Place – the place where something happens. They answer the question
"where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.
V. Adverbs of Degree – the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the
question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs,
adjectives and other adverbs.
VI. Adverbs of Frequency – how often something is done
c. Degrees of comparison
I. Absolute/Flat – describes something in its own right
II. Comparative – To make the comparative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word
more
III. Superlative – To make the superlative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word most
6. Preposition – such as: after, in, to, on, and with, shows how a noun or pronoun is related to another word in
the sentence such as after, in, to, on, and with
*note that when used with a verb, the combination of preposition and verb usually has a meaning different
from the verb alone.
7. Conjunction – join words, phrases or clauses, “join with” or “to join together”
a. Coordinating – allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal grammatical rank in a
sentence. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so
* Notice the use of the comma when a coordinating conjunction is joining two independent clauses.
b. Corelating/Correlative – pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some examples are either/or,
neither/nor, and not only/but also.
c. Subordinating – join independent and dependent clauses. A subordinating conjunction can signal a
cause-and-effect relationship, a contrast, or some other kind of relationship between the clauses.
Common subordinating conjunctions are because, since, as, although, though, while, and whereas.
Sometimes an adverb, such as until, after, or before can function as a conjunction.
8. Interjection – independently expresses feeling or strong emotion, “throw between”, No grammatical
relation to any word or groups of words in a sentence
9. Article* – a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun.
a. Types of Articles
I. Definite – the is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. The difference
between the sentences I sat on a chair and I sat on the chair is that the second sentence
refers to a particular, specific chair, not just any chair.
II. Indefinite – a (which becomes an when the next word begins with a vowel - a, e, i, o, u) is
called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The
 meaning of the article a is similar to the number one, but one is stronger and gives more
emphasis.

PARTS OF A SENTENCE
 There are 5 main parts of a sentence
1. Modifiers – there are many different types of ways to add additional information to a sentence. All of these
examples are known under the general category of modifiers:
a. Subject – refers to the part of the sentence that tells whom or what the sentence is addressing. The
subject is a noun, pronoun or noun phrase.
I. Simple subject: Kate is a thin girl.
II. Complete subject: Jeffrey's poem about his mother made the class cry.
III. Compound subject: Paul and Tommy joined the soccer team at the same time.
b. Predicate – he verb that tells us what the subject is doing
I. Simple predicate: Harry ate his apple.
II. Complete predicate: The mouse slowly ran towards the food.
III. Compound predicate: She both laughed and cried at the film
c. Phrases – a group of words that cannot stand alone as a sentence, but it can be used to add
something to a sentence.
I. A noun phrase acts as a noun: "the hungry cat" is a noun phrase.
II. An adjective phrase modifies a noun: The child playing hopscotch was happy.
III. An adverb phrase begins with a preposition and acts as an adverb: "On a hot day" from
earlier is an example.
IV. A prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition, its objects, and its modifiers: The house
on the corner was old.
d. Clauses – a group of words which has a subject and a predicate
I. Dependent/Main – "On hot days" is an example of a dependent clause because it could not
stand by itself as a sentence.
II. Independent/Subordinate clauses – "Paul washed the dishes, but he didn't want to." "He
didn't want to" could be a sentence by itself; however, here it is connected to the larger
sentence.

SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

 Basic Rule. A singular subject (she, Bill, car) takes a singular verb (is, goes, shines), whereas a plural subject takes a
plural verb.
Example: The list of items is/are on the desk.
1. Rule 1. A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects.
The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.
a. Hasty writers, speakers, readers, and listeners might miss the all-too-common mistake in the
following sentence:
Incorrect: A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.
Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)
2. Rule 2. Two singular subjects connected by or, either/or, or neither/nor require a singular verb.
Examples:
My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.
3. Rule 3. The verb in an or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence agrees with the noun or pronoun closest to it.
Examples:
Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes on that shelf.
Neither the serving bowl nor the plates go on that shelf.
 a. This rule can lead to bumps in the road. For example, if I is one of two (or more) subjects, it could
lead to this odd sentence:
Awkward: Neither she, my friends, nor I am going to the festival.
If possible, it's best to reword such grammatically correct but awkward sentences.
Better:
Neither she, I, nor my friends are going to the festival.
OR
She, my friends, and I are not going to the festival.
4. Rule 4. As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
Example: A car and a bike are my means of transportation.
But note these exceptions
Exceptions:
Breaking and entering is against the law.
The bed and breakfast was charming.
In those sentences, breaking and entering and bed and breakfast are compound nouns.
5. Rule 5.
a. Rule 5a. Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by such words as along with, as well as,
besides, not, etc. These words and phrases are not part of the subject. Ignore them and use a
singular verb when the subject is singular.
Examples:
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.
b. Rule 5b. Parentheses are not part of the subject.
Example: Joe (and his trusty mutt) was always welcome.
If this seems awkward, try rewriting the sentence.
6. Rule 6. In sentences beginning with here or there, the true subject follows the verb.
Examples:
There are four hurdles to jump.
There is a high hurdle to jump.
Here are the keys.
7. Rule 7. Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.
Examples:
Three miles is too far to walk.
Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.
Ten dollars is a high price to pay.
BUT
Ten dollars (i.e., dollar bills) were scattered on the floor.
8. Rule 8. With words that indicate portions—e.g., a lot, a majority, some, all—Rule 1 given earlier in this
section is reversed, and we are guided by the noun after of. If the noun after of is singular, use a singular
verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.
Examples:
A lot of the pie has disappeared.
A lot of the pies have disappeared.
A third of the city is unemployed.
A third of the people are unemployed.
All of the pie is gone.
All of the pies are gone.
Some of the pie is missing.
Some of the pies are missing.
 9. Rule 9. With collective nouns such as group, jury, family, audience, population, the verb might be singular or
plural, depending on the writer's intent.
Examples:
All of my family has arrived OR have arrived.
Most of the jury is here OR are here.
A third of the population was not in favor OR were not in favor of the bill.
10. Rule 10. The word were replaces was in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact:
Example: If Joe were here, you'd be sorry.
***Shouldn't Joe be followed by was, not were, given that Joe is singular? But Joe isn't actually here, so we
say were, not was. The sentence demonstrates the subjunctive mood, which is used to express things that
are hypothetical, wishful, imaginary, or factually contradictory. The subjunctive mood pairs singular subjects
with what we usually think of as plural verbs.
Examples:
I wish it were Friday.
She requested that he raise his hand.

COHERENCE

 Coherence in Writing – Coherence is product of many different factors, which combine to make every paragraph,
every sentence, and every phrase contribute to the meaning of the whole piece. Coherence in writing is much more
difficult to sustain than coherent speech simply because writers have no nonverbal clues to inform them if their
message is clear or not. Therefore, writers must make their patterns of coherence much more explicit and much
more carefully planned. Coherence itself is the product of two factors — paragraph unity and sentence cohesion.
1. Paragraph Unity – To achieve paragraph unity, a writer must ensure two things only.
a. First, the paragraph must have a single generalization that serves as the focus of attention, that is, a
topic sentence.
b. Secondly, a writer must control the content of every other sentence in the paragraph's body such
that
I. (a) it contains more specific information than the topic sentence and
II. (b) it maintains the same focus of attention as the topic sentence.

This generalization about paragraph structure holds true for the essay in particular. The two
major exceptions to this formula for paragraph unity are found in fiction (where paragraph
boundaries serve other functions, such as indicating when a new speaker is talking in a
story) and in journalism (where paragraphs are especially short to promote 'visual' ease by
creating white space).

2. Sentence Cohesion – To achieve cohesion, the link of one sentence to the next, consider the following
techniques:
a. Repetition. In sentence B (the second of any two sentences), repeat a word from sentence A.
b. Synonymy. If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish to repeat. This
strategy is call 'elegant variation.'
c. Antonymy. Using the 'opposite' word, an antonym, can also create sentence cohesion, since in
language antonyms actually share more elements of meaning than you might imagine.
d. Pro-forms. Use a pronoun, pro-verb, or another pro-form to make explicit reference back to a form
mentioned earlier.
e. Collocation. Use a commonly paired or expected or highly probable word to connect one sentence
to another.
f. Enumeration. Use overt markers of sequence to highlight the connection between ideas. This
system has many advantages: (a) it can link ideas that are otherwise completely unconnected, (b) it
looks formal and distinctive, and (c) it promotes a second method of sentence cohesion, discussed
in (7) below.
 g. Parallelism. Repeat a sentence structure. This technique is the oldest, most overlooked, but
probably the most elegant method of creating cohesion.
h. Transitions. Use a conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with particular logical
relationships.
I. Identity. Indicates sameness. (that is, that is to say, in other words,…)
II. Opposition. Indicates a contrast. (but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, though, although,
whereas, in contrast, rather, ...)
III. Addition. Indicates continuation. (and, too, also, furthermore, moreover, in addition,
besides, in the same way, again, another, similarly, a similar, the same, ...)
IV. Cause and effect. (therefore, so, consequently, as a consequence, thus, as a result, hence, it
follows that, because, since, for, ...)
V. Indefinites. Indicates a logical connection of an unspecified type. (in fact, indeed, now, ...)
VI. Concession. Indicates a willingness to consider the other side. (admittedly, I admit, true, I
grant, of course, naturally, some believe, some people believe, it has been claimed that,
once it was believed, there are those who would say, ...)
VII. Exemplification. Indicates a shift from a more general or abstract idea to a more specific or
concrete idea. (for example, for instance, after all, an illustration of, even, indeed, in fact, it
is true, of course, specifically, to be specific, that is, to illustrate, truly, ...)

THE WRITING PROCESS

 STEP 1: PREWRITING
1. THINK AND DECIDE
a. Make sure you understand your assignment.
b. Decide on a topic to write about.
c. Consider who will read your work.
d. Brainstorm ideas about the subject.
 STEP 2: RESEARCH (IF NEEDED)
1. SEARCH
a. List places where you can find information.
b. Do your research.
c. Make an Outline to help organize your research.
 STEP 3: DRAFTING
1. WRITE
a. Put the information you researched into your own words.
b. Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect.
c. Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean.
d. Write some more.
e. Read it again.
f. Write some more.
g. Read it again.
h. Write until you have said everything you want to say about the topic.
 STEP 4: REVISING
1. MAKE IT BETTER
a. Read what you have written again.
b. Rearrange words, sentences or paragraphs.
c. Take out or add parts.
d. Do more research if you think you should.
e. Replace overused or unclear words.
f. Read your writing aloud to be sure it flows smoothly.
 STEP 5: EDITING AND PROOFREADING
1. MAKE IT CORRECT
a. Be sure all sentences are complete.
b. Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
c. Change words that are not used correctly or are unclear.
d. Make sure you are using the appropriate Style formatting.