Plain English in ten little words: Difference between revisions

Plain English in ten little words (view source)

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 ===[[May]]===
-Avoid [[redundancy]]. The parties may, but are not obliged to. “Nothing in the foregoing will prevent parties from —”. Don’t confer entitlements that the parties had in any case. Don’t say a thing more than is necessary. Don’t over-communicate. ''Less is more''.
+Avoid [[redundancy]]. The law of contract governs what parties are obliged to do, and what they are not allowed to do. Unless qualifying these absolutes, it has no interest in what they “may, but are not obliged” to do. Don’t confer entitlements that the parties had in any case. So, strike constructions like this:
+{{quote|“Nothing in the foregoing will prevent parties from —”. }}
+Don’t say more than you need to. Don’t over-communicate. ''Less is more''.
 ===[[By]]===
-A dead giveaway to the passive voice. {{strike|The passive should be avoided by all good writers wherever it is found to be possible|Good writers avoid the [[passive]] voice when they can}}. It lacks energy. It evades responsibility. Write in the active, with energy, clearly assigning responsibility for action.
+The preposition “[[by]]” often signals the [[passive]] voice. {{strike|The passive should be avoided by all good writers wherever it is found to be possible|Good writers avoid the [[passive]] voice when they can}}. It lacks energy. It evades responsibility. Write in the active, with energy, clearly assigning responsibility for action.
-===[[Of]]=== A harmless [[preposition]] placing one thing in relation to another, “[[of]]” is often also a red flag for [[passive]] constructions:
+===[[Of]]===
+The preposition “[[of]]” also often flags [[passive]] constructions:
 {{quote|“[[In the event that|in the event]] ''[[of]]'' harm to the interests ''[[of]]'' the client ''[[by]]'' the broker...”}}
-:(did you see that ''[[by]]'' in there?) rather than:
+:rather than:
 {{quote|“if the broker harms the client’s interests...”}}
 :Likewise, it signposts [[Nominalisation|nominalisations]]: