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Assignment Two

The document discusses an assignment for a legal writing course to practice omitting surplus words. It instructs students to read a chapter from a book on plain English for lawyers and complete exercises on eliminating unnecessary words. It also provides additional optional readings on writing concisely.

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15 views2 pages

Assignment Two

The document discusses an assignment for a legal writing course to practice omitting surplus words. It instructs students to read a chapter from a book on plain English for lawyers and complete exercises on eliminating unnecessary words. It also provides additional optional readings on writing concisely.

Uploaded by

Pădure Ionuț
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Legal 

Writing in English
Christopher Kelley
Associate Professor of Law
University of Arkansas School of Law
[email protected]

Assignment No. 2

Omit Surplus Words

This assignment continues our look at why we should eliminate unnecessary words
when we write and how we can do this.  

Please read Chapter 2, Omit Surplus Words, in Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for
Lawyers.  

When you complete this reading, try doing the exercises entitled “Assignment 2
Exercises: Eliminating Unnecessary Words.”  Suggested answers are provided.  

Some of these exercises are difficult.  When you encounter the difficult exercises, do not
be discouraged.  Instead, look at the suggested answers and try to learn from the suggested
answers what the exercises are intended to teach. 

Professor Wydick’s book is excellent.  To reinforce its guidance, I have included
additional optional readings that also will help you develop your skills in writing concisely.  I
encourage you to read these articles:

1. Gerald Lebovits, The Legal Writer ‐ The Department of Redundancy Department:
Concision and Succinctness, Part 1, 78 N.Y. State Bar Ass’n J. 64 (July‐Aug. 2006);

2. Gerald Lebovits, The Legal Writer ‐ The Department of Redundancy Department:
Concision and Succinctness, Part 2, 78 N.Y. State Bar Ass’n J. 64 (Sept. 2006);

3. Gerald Lebovits, The Legal Writer ‐ “Of” With Their Heads, 73 N.Y. State Bar Ass’n
J. 64 (Nov. ‐ Dec. 2001); 

4. Kathy Henning, Brevity Isn’t Enough, Harvard Management Communication
Letter, Feb. 2003; and

5. Purdue OWL: Conciseness.
Also accompanying this assignment are exercises on conciseness from Anne Enquist &
Laurel Currie Oates, Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for the Legal Writer (3rd ed.
2009).  The suggested answers are included.  I encourage you to do these exercises and to
compare your answers to the suggested answers.  

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