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Singulars and plurals: Difference between revisions
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To what end the forensic remark “All references to the singular [[shall]] include the [[plural]], and vice versa”? What legal benefit[[(s)]] accrue[[(s)]] by interposing parentheses on either side of a plural-denoting “s”? | To what end the forensic remark “All references to the singular [[shall]] include the [[plural]], and vice versa”? What legal benefit[[(s)]] accrue[[(s)]] by interposing parentheses on either side of a plural-denoting “s”? | ||
To your correspondent, none. It is a whoreson zed; an unnecessary letter. This is throat-clearing text which, once in, benefits from the loving embrace of the [[anal paradox]], but serves no purpose | To your correspondent, none. It is a whoreson zed; an unnecessary letter. This is throat-clearing text which, once in, benefits from the loving embrace of the [[anal paradox]], but serves no purpose to [[Legal Eagle|those]] who have not embarked upon the noble pursuit of prolixity. | ||
No lawyer will ever object to it, but — and ''because'' — it plays no role in unravelling the practical meaning of the legal {{t|contract}}, bar the obvious ones, where a singular does ''not'' include the plural — where a fellow is acquiring a solitary sausage from a nasty café, for very good example — and it would be a nonsense. | |||
Can you imagine standing up in court and learnedly submitting that a [[plural]] did not include the [[singular]]? The [[JC]] addressed this thought experiment by thumbing the pages of the {{jclr}} until he found the following testy exchange between {{jerrold}} and {{cocklecarrot}}, knee-deep, as they usually were, in bitter [[litigation]]. | Can you imagine standing up in court and learnedly submitting that a [[plural]] did not include the [[singular]]? The [[JC]] addressed this thought experiment by thumbing the pages of the {{jclr}} until he found the following testy exchange between {{jerrold}} and {{cocklecarrot}}, knee-deep, as they usually were, in bitter [[litigation]]. | ||