Grammar if-clause

William Mitchell Law Review Style Sheet for Writers

 

 

William Mitchell Law Review uses the Chicago Manual of Style ("CMS") as its official style manual. The CMS is a comprehensive guide for writers, editors, and publishers. As a style manual for writers, the CMS is the authority for issues of punctuation, grammar, spelling, and word usage. In matters specifically related to legal quotation and citation, The Bluebook is the authoritative reference. This style sheet highlights some key rules of style frequently referenced by writers of law review articles.

 

"Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. [T]here are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not." John Simon

 

Punctuation
(CMS Ch. 6)

Commas

 

• Always use the serial comma between the last two items in a list of three or more joined by a conjunction. (CMS §§ 6.19, 6.33).
  Example: Red, green, and blue.
  

 

• Adverbial, prepositional, or participial phrases are typically set off with an introductory comma. (CMS § 6.25).
  

Example: In the interim, the law stands.

 

• When independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (and, but, or), a comma usually precedes the conjunction. (CMS § 6.32).
  

 

Periods

 

• Periods are almost always placed within quotation marks, even within single quotation marks that set off special terms at the end of a sentence. (CMS § 6.8).
  

 

Semicolons

 

• Semicolons should set off elements of a list that are complex, long, or involve internal punctuation. (CMS §§ 6.20, 6.60).
  

 

Colons

 

• Colons should always be placed outside quotation marks.
  

 

Quotations

 

• The Bluebook, Rule 5 dictates how an author should use quotations in a law review article. Specifically:
  
  • Quotations of fifty words or more should be indented from both the left and right margins to set the quoted matter in a block. (Rule 5.1(a)).
    
  • If the block quote appears in a law review footnote, the citation should appear flush with the margin, not indented with the block text.
    
  • Brackets are used to denote alterations such as substituted or explanatory words, or
    

 

• Periods and commas precede closing quotation marks. (CMS § 6.8).
  

 

• Colons, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks follow closing quotation marks unless the question mark or exclamation mark is part of the quoted material. (CMS § 6.9).
  

 

 

Grammar

 

Generally

 

• Avoid using the passive voice. (CMS §5.112). The passive voice is formed by combining the conjugated form of the verb to be with the past participle.
  

Example: Active: The judge decided the case.

          Passive: The case was decided by the judge    

• Postponing the actor, transforming the object into the subject, and adding wordiness through a prepositional phrase weaken writing in the passive voice.
  Tip: Microsoft Word users can use a "formal" writing style in their grammar check to highlight uses of the passive voice.
  

 

Subject verb agreement

 

• Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. But the indefinite pronouns make things interesting.
  

See, e.g., http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm for examples.

 

Use of personal pronouns

 

• Pronouns are words "that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context." (Merriam-Webster online dictionary: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary? book=Dictionary &va=pronoun&x=19&y=15)
  
• A personal pronoun shows by its form whether it is referring to the speaker, the person or thing spoken to or the person or thing spoken of. (CMS § 5.45). Personal pronouns are useful because words do not need to be repeated.
  

 

 

 

 

Use of reflexive pronouns

 

• There is a tendency to use the reflexive pronoun myself when not appropriate or necessary (http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm).
  

Example: George and I are responsible for this state of affairs.

    Not: George and myself are responsible for this state of affairs.

 

Pronoun reference

 

• Pronouns usually refer to other words, termed antecedents, which have come before the pronoun. It is imperative to assure that the antecedent reference is clear. (CMS 5.59-5.60).
  

Example: Officer Schwartz, who arrested Helen Dean, said that Dean was drunk at the time.

Not: Officer Schwartz, who arrested Helen Dean, said that she was drunk at the time.

 

Gender neutral pronoun 5.204, 5.48-5.49, 5.51

 

• Gender-neutral wording is a preference, not a requirement. Legal pronouns were traditionally masculine when the gender was unspecified. In the last couple of decades, gender-neutral wording has been embraced in legal writing.
  
• Using he, his or him as common-sex pronouns is widely considered sexist. It is often possible to rewrite a sentence without the need for a personal pronoun. (CMS § 5.43).
  

    Example: Lawyers always bill their clients.

    Instead of: A lawyer always bills his clients.

 

Use of Subjunctive Mood

 

• Verb moods are the indicative, imperative and subjunctive. The indicative mood is used for factual statement. The imperative mood is used for commands. The subjunctive mood expresses a condition which is doubtful or not factual. The subjunctive mood "is most often found in a clause beginning with the word if. It is also found in clauses following a verb that expresses a doubt, a wish, regret, request, demand, or proposal." (http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm
  

Example:
Indicative The House and Senate agree on the budget.

     Subjunctive If the House and Senate were to agree on the budget…

 

Split infinitives

 

• Hardliners never believe it is allowable to split an infinitive. Others grammarians accept that verb phrases can be interrupted by a single word without disrupting the sentence. There is little consensus, but splitting an infinitive is allowable if it does not alter the intended meaning of the sentence. (CMS §§ 5.105-5.107, 5.160)
  

Example: To boldly go where no man has gone before.

 

Word Usage

 

That or which?

 

• "That is the defining, or restrictive pronoun, which the nondefining, or nonrestrictive." (Strunk, p. 59). The CMS elaborates, "that is used restrictively to narrow a category or identify a particular item being talked about; which is used non-restrictively—not to narrow a class or identify a particular item but to add something about an item already identified." (CMS § 5.202). When using which in these instances, it is preceded by a comma.
  

 

Who or which?

 

• "To refer to a person either who or which can be used but they are not interchangeable. Who is universal; which is usually selective or limited." (CMS §5.57).
  

 

Avoid jargon

 

• Adjective to verb transitions are not acceptable in formal prose. (CMS § 5.95). Noun to verb transitions occur more frequently but "recently transformed words should be used cautiously if at all." (CMS § 5.32).
  

 

Avoid bias

 

• Biased language that is either sexist or consciously or unconsciously prejudicial distracts and may offend readers (CMS § 5.203)
  

 

Spelling

 

Dictionary

 

• A good dictionary as a reference is essential. Merriam-Webster offers a dictionary and thesaurus online. (http://www.m-w.com/home.htm).
  

 

Directionals

 

• Directionals such as toward, upward, forward, and backward are written without an added s.
  

 

Names

 

• CMS follows Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary or the biographical section of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. (CMS § 8.1).
  

 

Possessives

 

• The possessive of most singular nouns is formed by adding an apostrophe and an s, while for plural nouns only an apostrophe is added. (CMS § 7.18).
  

  
  Example: Singular: Kansas's legislature; Yahoo!'s chief executive
  

       Plural: lawyers' dues    
  

Plurals

 

• A good dictionary is essential for checking the plural forms of nouns. (CMS §§ 5.14-5.21; 7.6-7.16).
  

 

Foreign Words

 

• Italics are used for short words or phrases in a foreign language if they are probably unfamiliar to readers.
  

  Example: Mozart's Così fan tutte is still popular.
  

 

Hyphenation

 

• The dictionary is the starting point for determining if compound terms should be hyphenated, spelled as two words or spelled as a single word. (CMS §7.82)
  
• General rules for hyphenation of compound words and specific examples are provided in the hyphenation guide of the CMS. (CMS § 7.90)
  

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GRAMMAR: CLAUSES AND FRAGMENTS

 

Below is adapted from: http://www.uvsc.edu/owl/handouts/fragments.html

 

Before we can begin learning about the most common grammatical errors we need to know what an independent clause and a fragment are.

A CLAUSE is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. If the clause expresses a complete idea, it is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE. Example: The dog ran across the lawn. This is an example of an independent clause because it makes sense and no additional information is needed.

 

If a group of words doesn't express a complete idea, it is a DEPENDENT CLAUSE or FRAGMENT. Thus, a fragment is a group of words that does not contain a main subject and a main verb or cannot stand on its own as a complete idea. In other words, it doesn't make sense on its own and often you are left asking something. Example: When he arrived late. This is an example of a fragment because you are left wondering what happened when he arrived late.

Example of Fragments:

• The girl at the desk. This phrase has a subject, but lacks a main verb.
  
• When the plane arrived. This clause is dependent, weakened by the subordinate conjunctive when.
  
• Have seen the movie before. This phrase has a verb, but lacks a main subject.
  
• Because we are having problems. This clause is dependent; it is not a complete idea
  

ACTIVITY 1: Identify the following clauses as Independent or Fragment by placing an I or F in the space.
a. _____ The aliens abducted my dog
b. _____ That I went to school completely naked
c. _____ While the teacher assigned homework
d. _____ Because the guys just stared
e. _____ I put ketchup on my fries
f. _____ I put a frog in his shorts
g. _____ While they kissed at the dance
h. _____ Then someone puked in the bathroom
i. _____ They walked home together
j. _____ Grammar is so fun

CORRECTING FRAGMENTS: This is quite easy. Once you have identified a fragment, simply join the fragment to an independent clause that comes before or after it. If the independent clause comes after, place a comma after the fragment when you join them together.

1.
Incorrect: We wanted to go home. Because the movie was so dull. (fragment)
Correct: We wanted to go home
because the movie was so dull.

2.
Incorrect: The landlord wants the rent today.
If I don't turn it in.(fragment) Then I have to pay a late fee.
Correct: The landlord wants the rent today. If I don't turn it in, then I have to pay a late fee.
3.
Incorrect: The teacher who said that grades don't matter.
(fragment--fix this by adding a main verb)

Correct: The teacher who said that grades don't matter
was only trying to make me feel better.

HELPFUL HINT: Some clauses contain certain words or phrases at the beginning to "alert" you that they might be fragments. We call them FRAGMENT CLUES. Below is a list of such words and phrases.

after	as	before	since	until
when	whenever	while	because	even though
unless	whereas if	so that	provided that	in order that
that	although	though

ACTIVITY 2: Correct each of the fragments below in the space provided by adding an independent clause either before or after.
a. Because Grampa knew the man.
_____________________________________________________________________________b. While the television is on the table.
_____________________________________________________________________________ c. Then I decided to move to Toronto.
_____________________________________________________________________________d. While we were away
_____________________________________________________________________________
e. Unless school is cancelled
_____________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 3: Complete additional handouts and edit your B essays for fragments.

 

v Conditional Sentences

 

I.    Factual Conditional Sentences

 

Tense	If Clause:	Result Clause:	Formula
Present Real	If I eat,	I get full.	Simple Present + Simple Present
Past Real	If I ate,	I got full.	Simple Past + Simple Past
Future	If I eat,	I will get full.	Simple Present + Future

 

Additional elements used in these sentences:

1. modals in one or both clauses
   
2. not in one or both clauses
   
3. progressive forms may be used in all the conditions
   

 

Examples:

1. If you have enough money, you can buy one.
   
2. If you don't have enough money, you can't buy one.
   
3. If I am enjoying myself, I don't mind where I go.
   

 

II.    Unreal Conditional Sentences

 

Tense	If Clause:	Result Clause:	Formula
Present Unreal	If I had a car,	I would take you places.	Simple Past + Would + Base Form of Verb
Past Unreal	If I had had a car,	I would have taken you places.	Past Perfect + Would + Have + Past Participle

 

Additional Information:

1. In present unreal, the verb "to be" becomes "were" for all subjects.
   
2. Could or might may be used in the result clause. However, the meaning changes. Would expresses a definite intention, whereas could expresses a possibility or an ability and might expresses a possibility
   
3. Progressive forms can be used in both clauses
   
4. Present unreal conditions can also be used to express a future condition; however, unlike the factual future conditions, these mean that it is improbable the condition will take place.
   
5. In contrary to fact conditions, positive means negative and negative means positive.
   

 

Examples:

 

1. If Jane were my boss, she would treat me better.
   

2a.If Jane were my boss, she could treat me better.

2b.If Jane were our boss, we might be able to do that.

3a.If I were going with you, I would be happier.

3b.If I were with you, we would all be having fun.

4. If you were going with us on the trip, we could have a great time.

 

 

 

 

References

 

Books

 

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds. 17th ed. 2000).

 

William C. Burton, Burton's Legal Thesaurus (3d ed. 1993).

 

The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 2003).

 

Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2d ed. 2001).

 

Bryan A. Garner, The Elements of Legal Style (2d ed. 2002).

 

The Little, Brown Handbook (H. Ramsey Fowler & Jane Aaron eds., 9th ed. 2003).

 

Merrian-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed. 2003).

 

Deborah A. Schmedemann & Christina Kunz, Synthesis: Legal Reading, Reasoning, and Writing, Appendix II, Paragraph Design, Sentence Structure, and Word Usage (2d ed. 2003).

 

William Strunk, Jr. & E. B. White, The Elements of Style (3d ed. 1979).

 

Internet Resources

 

http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/ - 11 Rules of Writing – Very basic site with straightforward content in a simple interface.

 

http://www.bartleby.com - Bartleby.com – Access to a dozens of references books online without charge.

 

http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ - Guide to Grammar and Writing – Breaks down the help into sentence, paragraph, and essay levels. Includes grammar quizzes and polls.

 

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/catalogue.html#gram - Online grammar and writing reference site for composition students.

 

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ - Online grammar site with nice list of reference materials for the general writer.

 

http://www.lawprose.org - Prolific legal writing author Bryan Garner's web site. Visitors can sign up to receive a daily word usage tip via email.