Legal Rhetoric Exam: Writing Strategies

What makes a “good” document?

achieves its designated purpose for its specific audience

What questions should you ask before and during drafting and
revising to ensure you made a good document?

1. For whom is this document written (audience)?

2. What will that person do with it (purpose)?

3. What question(s) is the document supposed to answer?

4. What is the answer?

In the world of legal discourse, documents are “_____ _______” not academic exercises.

working documents

T/F A good document immediately gives its reader an overall picture of what the document is about, including the question it is answering and the answer. It also leaves the reader
with a clear answer.

true

sentences rarely exceed _______ words (2 ½ typed lines)

25

The clearest, shortest and most direct sentence structure is __________.

subject-active verb-direct object

_____ voice is the best way to draft objective writing

Active

__________ clauses may not be joined together by a comma

Independent

“however” ______ a conjunction and ________ be used to join independent clauses

is not; may not

T/F: Semi-colons have two uses—to join independent clauses instead of starting a new sentence (see above) and to join items in a series if the items have internal commas.

TRUE

Ex: The court considered whether the defendant, who was a minor at the time of the contract,
could be held responsible for his actions; whether the plaintiff, who knowingly sold to a minor,
could be seen as negligent; and whether the defendant’s parents, who knew nothing of the
transaction, could be held liable.

"Its” is a __________ pronoun; “it’s” is a contraction for “____ ___”

possessive; it is

“_____” should nearly always have a noun following it.

this

Comparing like to like: in comparing facts in cases, compare people to people, situations to
situations, not to _______ ________.

case names

C in CREAC

Conclusion/Prediction

R in CREAC

Rule (General Rules and Principles)

E in CREAC

Explanation of the Rule (Prove the Rule)

A in CREAC

Application of the Rule (Apply the Rule to Your Client)

Active voice: ____ does _____

subject; action

An entity such as a law firm or court requires a ____ pronoun

singular (use it, not they)

it's=

it is

its=

possessive

FANBOYS (coordinating conjunctions)

F-for
A-and
N-nor
B-but
O-or
Y-yet
S-so

Do we use the Oxford comma?

Yes (using comma before and in a list (peas, carrots, and broccoli)

nominalization

noun phrase that should be a verb (ex: Made a decision)

periods and commas go _____ closing quotation marks

inside

semicolons and colons go ______ closing quotation marks

outside

If the _______ of the sentence is performing the ______ (as opposed to being acted upon), then you have active voice.

subject; performing