Category Archives: paralegal

Grammar Giggle – Boy Waitress, Girl Waiter, Now I Know Why They Use “Server”

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I found this on Google and hesitate just a little bit to make it a Grammar Giggle. Obviously English is not their first language, but waitress and waiter are one of those sets of words that already defines gender, like actor and actress, so you shouldn’t add gender and “boy” waitress is just plain confusing. Are they looking for a waitress or a waiter? The other errors in the sign will go unmentioned.

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An Abbreviation–Is It An Initialism Or An Acronym?

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Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo

An abbreviation is a group of letters acting as a shortened form of a phrase such as CD, ATM, FBI, etc. Abbreviations that are pronounced letter by letter–such as ATM, AC–are called initialisms while abbreviations pronounced as words–such as ZIP, PIN–are called acronyms. The Gregg Reference Manual uses a great example with CT scan and CAT scan. CT is an initialism and CAT is an acronym. For ease here, we will call them all abbreviations. When using abbreviations, do not use a word that is part of the abbreviation with the abbreviation. For instance, do not use PIN number since PIN is the abbreviation for personal identification number, so you would be saying personal identification number number.

Once you have the abbreviation correct, how you treat the abbreviation in a sentence requires that you do not think of the phrase, but think of the abbreviation as its own new word. So if you’re trying to decide whether to use a or an with your abbreviation, think about how you would pronounce it. For example with PIN, it would be a PIN, and with ATM, it would be an ATM. See Listen to Choose an Appropriate Article to help you make that decision.
Other problems come when you are using an abbreviation for a phrase, i.e., TOS for Terms of Service or SAC for Second Amended Complaint. It can be confusing to determine whether to treat the abbreviation as singular or plural in deciding how to make it plural or possessive. Once you turn your phrase into an abbreviation, think of that abbreviation as a word and no longer the complete phrase. For example,
The Terms of Service’s provisions allow the prescribed activity.
The TOS’s provisions allow the prescribed activity.
or
In a Second Amended Complaint, you must redline the differences from the original Complaint.
In an SAC, you must redline the differences from the original Complaint.
Abbreviations are useful in legal writing (particularly with page limits), but try to keep it to something that makes sense and try not to turn every phrase into an abbreviation or your reader will have to have a road map in order to be able to make sense of your writing. While we are on that topic, when I’m working in a document with lots of defined terms (including abbreviations), I usually start a chart on my second screen or on a notepad so I can make sure the same phrase is abbreviated or capitalized consistently throughout the document as it is defined. It is the small things you can easily keep track of that will make all the difference in having a document that is correct and consistent.

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Grammar Giggles – Wensday

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My nephew sent this to me. He paused his television so he could take the picture. I understand that of all of the days of the week, Wednesday is the most difficult to spell, and I understand that this appears to be spelled phonetically, but when you’re a national broadcasting company, you probably should hire people who can at least spell all of the days of the week correctly. My biggest question is how did no one catch this before it aired? Perhaps I have a new career waiting? #seriouslyabc #abcwensday

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Grammar Giggle – There, Their. Everything Will Be Fine If You Learn The Difference Between “There” And “Their”

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A loyal blog reader sent this to me from a Craigslist ad. What is most worrisome about this error is that they used the word “their” correct two other times IN THE SAME SENTENCE! Again, this is something spell check would not catch, so you need to actually read it (and know the difference between there and their). There is a location or at that place (she was sitting there on the blue chair) and their is belonging to them (he loved riding in their Corvette). And just to be complete, they’re is a contraction for they are.

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Grammar Giggle – Happy Administrative Professionals Week

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I hope everyone had a great Administrative Professionals Week this week. I found this ecard on Google. Not only is the comma unnecessary, but where you can add the word “single” between every and day, it should be two words and not just one. Here’s a previous article on this very topic – We Appreciate Proofreading Tips Each and Everyday.

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Grammar Giggle – It’s PAST People, PAST!

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I found this one on Google. As most of you know, errors by, in, or around schools are one of my biggest pet peeves. I understand that people are working fast and perhaps don’t have the education some others do, but everyone involved in a school is a role model and everything involved in the schooling of our young people needs to be correct. Things like this are inexcusable.

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Grammar Giggle – Day of the Week is Right, Number is Right, What Could Be Wrong?

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This email was sent to me by a friend who is on a paralegal listserv for our local community college. She thought they were advertising for an event that had already happened. When I was researching it, I found that it hadn’t happened yet. I guess as long as the month starts with an “M,” any month will do. This is an example of the things most people don’t pay attention to that are really important.

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