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Replay Thursday

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Thursday-ReplayIt’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog during the past week.

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/03/08/grammar-giggle-cosmestic/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/03/08/happy-national-proofreading-day-2/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/03/11/grammar-giggle-because-of-to-an-injury/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/03/12/confusing-words-of-the-week-50/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/03/13/meh-is-proofreading-really-important/

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Meh – Is Proofreading Really Important?

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I always love it when proofreading makes the news. It happened again this week when apparently a law clerk left a comment in an order filed in a California federal district court case. The order has since been amended in the court record to take that comment out, but Justia.com kept the original at https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/casdce/3:2018cv02434/599099/56.

meh

While this notation could have been much worse, it highlights the need to bring things you question to your attorney’s attention. My proofreading tip is as you are nearing the end of the editing process (i.e., you are on version 5 and it is due tomorrow), if there are blanks for references to other documents or things I want to bring to their attention, I highlight it. That way, as you scroll through the document, it stands out that it still needs attention.

Another hint is that when I am actually filing things with the court, I open the document before I attach it to the court filing system and scroll through it to make sure there is no highlighting or other marks that don’t belong, THEN I attach it to the court website. 

Notes to yourself or to your attorney are an important part of making your document the best it can be, but leaving notes to yourself in your final document is just sloppy and could possibly give your opponent information you don’t want them to have.

 

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • quash – to suppress (a legal motion)
    • We are filing the motion to quash the subpoena on Wednesday.
  • squash – (v.) to press down, to flatten; (n.) a vegetable
    • She sat on the suitcase to squash it so she could lock it.

Memory tips:

  • quash – you’re not trying to flatten something, you just want it to end, so you don’t need the extra “s”
  • squash – it takes more weight and energy to squash something, so it needs the extra “s”
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Grammar Giggle – Because Of To An Injury

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This is an example of what appears to be rewriting copy, but not proofreading it once you’re done to make sure it still makes sense. It looks to me like it originally said “due to an injury” and they MEANT to change it to “because of an injury.” Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.

Because of to an

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Happy National Proofreading Day!

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Now THIS is my favorite holiday of the year! It’s a chance for me to once again extol the virtues of the importance of proofreading. In fact, I wrote a blog post about how important proofreading is to law offices here. Let’s celebrate by proofreading that email you’re writing, the pleading you are filing today, or that memo to your boss. Happy National Proofreading Day!

National Proofreading Day

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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Words of the WeekIt’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • precede – to go before
    • The flower girl will precede the bride down the aisle.
  • proceed – to advance
    • We will proceed to order lunch at 10:00 whether or not we have your order.

Memory tips:

  • precede – the prefix pre- means before, so precede means to go before
  • proceed – think of pro- as being the same as go and you are going to advance or go forward, so you will proceed 
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