Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates by Ross Guberman.
Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick
Both are excellent.
Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates by Ross Guberman.
Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick
Both are excellent.
Do you perpetrate run-on sentences?
Probably not. And it’s not a crime. But perpetrating a run-on sentence sends a message about you: You’re less than fully literate or you don’t proofread well. In this post I’ll define terms, highlight types of run-ons, and offer suggestions for fixing them.
A run-on sentence isn’t just any long or awkward sentence. A run-on sentence results from improperly joining independent clauses. An independent clause is a group of words that could be a grammatical sentence by itself. For example, these are both independent clauses:
A true run-on sentence joins independent clauses without punctuation or a conjunction:
I almost never see this in legal writing.
But it’s also incorrect to join two independent clauses with only a comma. When you do that, you create a type of run-on sentence called a comma splice:
I do see comma splices in legal writing, but rarely. To properly join two independent clauses, you could use a semicolon, a comma with a coordinating conjunction (and, or, for, nor, but, yet, so), or a period (creating two sentences).
There’s another type of run-on sentence. It results when you join two independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb and a comma. For example, this is a run-on sentence:
The text contains two independent clauses:
But they have been improperly joined—or spliced—with a comma and a conjunctive adverb: however. I do see this in legal writing—the example is from a brief filed in federal court—but it is, in fact, a run-on sentence and is improper in standard English.
As tempting as it may be, don’t treat conjunctive adverbs like coordinating conjunctions. If it helps, think of coordinating conjunctions as mere connectors and conjunctive adverbs as creators of transitions. In fact, they are often called “transition words.” Here’s a partial list of conjunctive adverbs:
accordingly
certainly consequently finally furthermore hence however indeed likewise meanwhile |
moreover
namely nevertheless nonetheless similarly specifically still subsequently therefore thus |
To fix the “conjunctive adverb” run-on sentence, you have several options:
Use a semicolon:
Use a coordinating conjunction instead:
Make two sentences:
(Yes, you can begin a sentence with however, despite Strunk & White.)
By the way, there’s a second conjunctive adverb in the original sentence, and it’s set off with commas and yet is correct:
Using the conjunctive adverb in this way is correct because it doesn’t join two independent clauses. In short, “Itemizing and attaching bills” could not be a sentence by itself.
Learn to spot and fix run-on sentences, both the basic comma splice and the equally improper “conjunctive adverb” type.
“Don’t make your reader hang on for the surprise ending. You are not Agatha Christie. Instead, state your conclusion very early in your writing.
. . .
When you state the conclusion right up front, the reader knows where you are going and is more forgiving of your digressions later on.”
Timothy Perrin, Better Writing for Lawyers 98–99 (Law Soc. of Upper Canada 1990).
I received this fortune in a fortune cookie today:
“Your mind is filled with new ideas, explore them.”
Now, this is a tricky comma splice because the second half of the sentence lacks a subject. The phrase “explore them” is actually in imperative mood, or what we might call “command form.” The subject (you) is said to be understood, thus making the second half an independent clause, and thus making the use of a comma insufficient.
Other options:
Add a coordinating conjunction:
Use a semicolon:
Make two sentences: