Communication & Language

In This Lesson

Subjects and verbs must agree in number. This is fundamental to clear legal writing.

Singular subjects take singular verbs: The defendant pleads not guilty.
Plural subjects take plural verbs: The defendants plead not guilty.
Compound subjects with "and" take plural verbs: The judge and jury are present.
Compound subjects with "or/nor" - verb agrees with nearest subject: Neither the lawyers nor the judge is available.

Intervening phrases: Ignore phrases between subject and verb.
The evidence, along with the testimonies, supports the claim. (evidence = singular)
Collective nouns: Singular when acting as a unit; plural when acting individually.
The jury has reached a verdict. (acting as unit)
The jury were divided in their opinions. (acting individually)
Indefinite pronouns:
Singular: each, everyone, everybody, anyone, nobody, nothing
Plural: few, many, several, both
Variable: some, all, none, most (depends on noun they refer to)

Pronouns must clearly refer to their antecedents and agree in number and gender.

Antecedent agreement: Pronoun must match its antecedent.
Correct: Each witness gave his or her testimony.
Incorrect: Each witness gave their testimony. (informal)
Clear reference: Avoid ambiguous pronouns.
Ambiguous: When the lawyer met the client, he was nervous.
Clear: When the lawyer met the client, the client was nervous.

Who: Subject of a clause. The lawyer who argued the case...
Whom: Object of a verb or preposition. The witness to whom we spoke...
That: Restrictive (essential) - no commas. The law that was passed...
Which: Non-restrictive (additional info) - with commas. The law, which was passed last year,...

Items in a series or comparison must have the same grammatical form.

Lists/Series:
Correct: The attorney is known for researching, writing, and arguing cases.
Incorrect: The attorney is known for researching, to write, and argument of cases.
Comparisons:
Correct: She is more interested in criminal law than in civil law.
Incorrect: She is more interested in criminal law than civil law.
Correlative Conjunctions: (both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also)
Correct: The case was both complex and controversial.

Modifiers must be placed next to the word they modify.

A dangling modifier doesn't clearly modify any word in the sentence.

Dangling: Walking into the courtroom, the evidence was presented.

(Who was walking? The evidence can't walk.)

Correct: Walking into the courtroom, the lawyer presented the evidence.

A misplaced modifier is too far from the word it modifies.

Misplaced: The lawyer almost worked on every case.

Correct: The lawyer worked on almost every case.

Critical reading is essential for law school success.

Common errors to identify and correct in sentence correction questions.