Top Law Schools

I was recently accepted to my school's Law Review. I didn't grade on, but I definitely do not feel comfortable with grammar ability. Has anyone ran into any resources to quickly get a handle on the fundamentals?

Thanks a lot guys.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:I was recently accepted to my school's Law Review. I didn't grade on, but I definitely do not feel comfortable with grammar ability. Has anyone ran into any resources to quickly get a handle on the fundamentals?

Thanks a lot guys.

I'm interested in general about grammar.

But who cares about LR, they arne;t going to kick you off.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:I was recently accepted to my school's Law Review. I didn't grade on, but I definitely do not feel comfortable with grammar ability. Has anyone ran into any resources to quickly get a handle on the fundamentals?

Thanks a lot guys.

*Has anyone run into any resources....*

Sorry, that was a dick move, but I couldn't resist. I would just find a introductory grammar book on Amazon (here's one that has good reviews), though I'm not sure how useful it is to read a grammar book without specific questions in mind. Might make more sense to wait until specific questions arise ("What's the past participle of 'to run' again?") and then just google it. I suspect others will direct you toward Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which is indeed a classic -- but be aware that it's not infallible. And, as its name suggests, it's more about style than about grammar.

Desert Fox wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:I was recently accepted to my school's Law Review. I didn't grade on, but I definitely do not feel comfortable with grammar ability. Has anyone ran into any resources to quickly get a handle on the fundamentals?

Thanks a lot guys.

I'm interested in general about grammar.

But who cares about LR, they arne;t going to kick you off.

When I undertake responsibility I strive to be the best I can. Additionally, I could really use the help for general use.

GertrudePerkins wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:I was recently accepted to my school's Law Review. I didn't grade on, but I definitely do not feel comfortable with grammar ability. Has anyone ran into any resources to quickly get a handle on the fundamentals?

Thanks a lot guys.

*Has anyone run into any resources....*

Sorry, that was a dick move, but I couldn't resist. I would just find a introductory grammar book on Amazon (here's one that has good reviews), though I'm not sure how useful it is to read a grammar book without specific questions in mind. Might make more sense to wait until specific questions arise ("What's the past participle of 'to run' again?") and then just google it. I suspect others will direct you toward Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which is indeed a classic -- but be aware that it's not infallible. And, as its name suggests, it's more about style than about grammar.

Ha, not a dick move at all. That is exactly the reason I asked the question. I make simple mistakes like that and never catch them. Your suggestions are great. I usually do try and google the issues I run into, but sometimes I don't even realize that I should be looking something up.

The Texas Law Review Manual on Usage and Style

Also, this probably isn't practicable for you, but learning another language is usually the best way to really learn the grammar and structural rules of your native language.

jml8756 wrote:The Texas Law Review Manual on Usage and Style

Also, this probably isn't practicable for you, but learning another language is usually the best way to really learn the grammar and structural rules of your native language.

I think this is the style guide that our Law Review uses. Probably should order a copy now. Thanks for reminding me!

I was a history major in undergrad and one of my classes required The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. I used it a lot in undergrad and still use it today.

If I remember correctly, I think they have something that is very similar to that, but geared specifically toward legal writing. I think it's called Plain English for Lawyers or something like that.

The grammar chapter in the Chicago Manual of Style and then Garner's Modern American Usage.

Also, the title of this thread needs a question mark.

GertrudePerkins wrote:I suspect others will direct you toward Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which is indeed a classic -- but be aware that it's not infallible. And, as its name suggests, it's more about style than about grammar.

Thanks for the link. It was a good read.

blong4133 wrote:I was a history major in undergrad and one of my classes required The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. I used it a lot in undergrad and still use it today.

If I remember correctly, I think they have something that is very similar to that, but geared specifically toward legal writing. I think it's called Plain English for Lawyers or something like that.

You should read the article cited above on the Elements of Style. Pretty convincing critique.

blong4133 wrote:I was a history major in undergrad and one of my classes required The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. I used it a lot in undergrad and still use it today.

If I remember correctly, I think they have something that is very similar to that, but geared specifically toward legal writing. I think it's called Plain English for Lawyers or something like that.

There is the Red Book by Bryan Garner I believe (I'm too lazy to look it up) but it's more useful as reference than learning basic rules.

.

Style guides can be helpful, but reading articles, writing things of your own and editing what you write is the best way to improve. I'm an awful writer, but I always notice that I am better able to notice problem areas after I have already been reading, writing and editing other things.

OP ask Tigress

hibiki wrote:Style guides can be helpful, but reading articles, writing things of your own and editing what you write is the best way to improve. I'm an awful writer, but I always notice that I am better able to notice problem areas after I have already been reading, writing and editing other things.

For some reason I have problems recognizing errors editing my own work, but when I read someone else's work the errors just jump off the page.

No idea how much this applies to legal writing, but from knowing several people who write/edit professionally they say the best way to improve is to just read and write a lot. Specifically in the field you're trying to focus in (so law). It's a boring answer that lacks a quick fix/magic book, but practice makes perfect.

Br3v wrote:OP ask Tigress

Strunk & White is credited.

Strunk & White is great for grammar alone, but lacks the bridge of incorporating it into writing. Check out Stephen King's "On Writing." Although primarily aimed at those writing a book or otherwise, it has some great tips.

Is there any kind of interactive program. I'm just not going to read a book and remember it all. I gotta drill baby drill.

Desert Fox wrote:Is there any kind of interactive program. I'm just not going to read a book and remember it all. I gotta drill baby drill.

And Yes I realized I'm asking for a HS freshman grammar course.

Desert Fox wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:Is there any kind of interactive program. I'm just not going to read a book and remember it all. I gotta drill baby drill.

And Yes I realized I'm asking for a HS freshman grammar course.

Hahaha. So many of my colleagues at school have exchanged similar sentiments. Why didn't we take high school grammar courses more seriously.

For grammar, the best thing you can do is teach yourself the mechanics of:

(1) the 12 English tenses (13 if you count "will" and "going to" for the future tense). http://esl.about.com/od/tense-review/a/Tense-Tables.htm
(2) the 4 conditional sentence structures (zero, first, second, and third conditionals). There are more, but those are good to start with. http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb ... tional.htm

As a native speaker, you already know them because you use them all the time. You just doubt yourself or mess up format sometimes because you can't actually recite the rules and you don't know where (or how) to check yourself. Might sound like a lot, but it's actually pretty straight forward and I'm sure it will help. For example, when you wrote, "has anyone ran" you were not structuring the present perfect tense. The present perfect is formed by using "Have/have+pronoun+past participle". The past participle for the verb "run" is also "run" not "ran".

I'll warn you that, once you learn the structures, you won't be able to unsee them.

Edit: Oh, and DF, if you're looking for practice, just check out these tables and drill. You can also just find tons of English language exercises on the internet. Just look at what tense you want to practice and search (ex: English Present Perfect exercises).

Desert Fox wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:Is there any kind of interactive program. I'm just not going to read a book and remember it all. I gotta drill baby drill.

And Yes I realized I'm asking for a HS freshman grammar course.

I would check out Grammar Girl. It's not an interactive program, but it's in blog-post format, so it's pretty easily digestible.

To get you started, I feel like a lot of people do not know when to put a comma before a conjunction like "and" or "but." As I understand it, the basic rule is that you should use a comma when the conjunction joins two clauses that are full sentences but not otherwise.

For example, the following are both grammatical:

I went to the bar but not the gym.

I went to the bar, but I did not go to the gym.

.