Category Archives: legal secretary

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 and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/04/05/grammar-giggle-pre-exisiting/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/04/08/grammar-giggle-what-kind-of-wall/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/04/09/confusing-words-of-the-week-52/

https://proofthatblog.com/2019/04/10/one-word-makes-retrial-of-convicted-murderer-necessary/

 

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One Word Makes Retrial of Convicted Murderer Necessary

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One WordOne word. The judge left one word out of his instruction to the jury in a murder trial and so a new trial must be held. It obviously was a very important word. The judge in the original trial had given instructions to the jurors that their verdict “must be guilty” if guilt beyond a reasonable doubt was not proven, instead of saying “must be not guilty,” which would be correct in that situation.

This is something I’ve actually seen a lot in proofreading. The lawyers (and, obviously, judges) know what they want to say, but in the process of instructing the jury or writing an important brief, important words are sometimes left out. If you are proofreading something and think that something important has been left out OR that a double negative changes the entire meaning, bring that to the author’s attention and let them decide if it should be changed.

There were other issues in this trial including the defense attorney who “really did not prepare for the penalty phase” and has since been convicted of tax crimes and disbarred. The court threw out the death sentence, ordered a new sentencing hearing but rejected a new trial, and the case is on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. All because of one word.

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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:

  • marital – pertaining to marriage
    • The marital assets were the home, the car, and the savings account.
  • martial – military
    • Martial law may be used in temporary emergencies like a national disaster.

Memory tips:

  • marital – You will need to look at the placement of the “i.” In marital it is before the second “a,” just like it is in marriage and before the “t” to show that the spouses are connected, just like in a marriage.
  • martial – In martial, think of the old westerns and how the marshal was in charge, so martial (pronounced just like marshal) is someone else in charge (like the marshal).
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Grammar Giggle – What Kind Of Wall?

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I am posting this to teach proofreading skills NOT as a political statement and I will not tolerate any comments on this blog regarding politics. They will be deleted. If you want to post about politics, there are plenty of places to do that, this just isn’t one of them. Thanks!

This headline recently showed up as “Breaking News” in my email:

 

Board Wall2

Well, I had a feeling it wasn’t a “Board” Wall they were really discussing, so I clicked on the “Read More” and this is what the article headline actually looked like:

Border_Wall

Again, I think this is a product of news outlets moving far too fast to be the first one out with the news and depending too much on spell check. Slow it down, people!

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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:

  • waiver – the giving up of a claim
  • waver – to hesitate

Memory tips:

  • waiver – I am giving up my interest in something
  • waver – the flag waves when it is blowing (or wavering) in the wind
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Grammar Giggle – Shoppng

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This was in a local business publication. Spelling errors in headlines are the worst. Please make sure you have turned off the “Ignore words in UPPERCASE” option in the Proofing Word Options under File, Options so this kind of error doesn’t occur in your headings!

Shoppng

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