CHAPTER OVERVIEW
| 1. | Keep sentences short, averaging between seventeen and twenty words apiece. If you are struggling as a writer, keep every sentence to twenty-five or fewer words. | |
| 2. | Vary the structure of your sentences to avoid making your prose monotonous. | |
| 3. | Use topic sentences that clearly foretell what each paragraph will address. | |
| 4. | Use strong verbs — especially monosyllabic verbs. And limit your use of passive verbs and nominalizations (former verbs that have mutated into nouns). | |
| 5. | Avoid causing RAM problems for your readers. (RAM is a computing term.) A RAM problem occurs when you overload a reader’s ability to process information. | |
| 6. | Clear your writing of clutter and stylistic blunders. Thus, avoid cliches, wordy phrases, Latin and French phrases, abstract terms, throat-clearing phrases (e.g., “in my opinion”), and intensifiers (e.g., “very” and “highly”). | |
| 7. | Use “signposts” frequently to signal how a sentence relates to the sentence that preceded it (or to hint at what the next sentence will say). (Signposts are words that direct traffic in a sentence, such as “Therefore,” “First,” or “Although.”) |
There’s more, of course. Some authors write entire books on legal style. But this chapter’s tips will strengthen your writing quickly and reliably. And when you combine these pointers with your study of the examples in this book, you will soon be writing beautifully — and in a way that wins cases for your clients.4