Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Confusing Pairs, Two With a French Twist
Neil Guthrie

We have borrowed a lot from French and also given a lot to it. Sometimes, however, we each get things a bit wrong (see Guthrie’s Guide for more on this). By way of further example: moral/morale and rational/rationale. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Just supposing…
Neil Guthrie

In a recent e-mail, someone wrote What am I suppose to do? That should be supposed, obviously – but was it a typo or a more serious error? It could just be a typo, or else one of those spellings based on oral information only. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Miscellaneous Misuses, Part 2
Neil Guthrie

An assortment of things to avoid. At its most basic: Something can’t be more or less basic; once you’re at the base, that’s far as you can go. Chomping at the bit: Purists often say that really should be champing (and they’re not wrong). But champ and chomp mean the same thing: to chew vigorously, to munch, to bite at . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Software Tools for Editing
Neil Guthrie

In the olden days, a pair of articled clerks would sit together with two versions of a document. One would read aloud the new version and the other would mark the changes on the old, striking through deletions and writing in additions then underlining them. A red pen was typically used, hence redlining. With the advent of the monochrome photocopier, . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Trans and Cis
Neil Guthrie

As a result of popular culture (as much as anything else), most people are now aware of the meaning of trans (or transgender). It refers to someone who was assigned a gender at birth but who later takes steps to affirm another gender that more closely aligns with their true identity. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Confusion
Neil Guthrie

Oh, words. So useful, but so easily confused. Back story/background. Recently overheard in the hallway: That’s the back story to the file. Well, not quite. A back story is the fabricated biography that a spy is given as a cover, especially for the purposes of a future interrogation by someone hostile. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Comma Fails From People Who Should Know Better
Neil Guthrie

Exhibit A, posted on LinkedIn by a copywriter and editor: My husband, John Blank and I are relocating to Canada in April. Without a comma after John Blank (the name has been changed to protect the guilty by association), this means the writer is moving with an unnamed husband and this other dude, John Blank. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Note Up Older Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

Noting up legislation is straightforward. On CanLII you enter the name or citation of the act in the note up field; in Lexis Advance you enter the citation of the section you are interested in preceded by cit: (e.g. cit: SBC 2011 c 25 s 160) and in Westlaw Canada you enter the citation of the section you are interested . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

‘I Hope This E-Mail Finds You Well’
Neil Guthrie

This phrase, beloved of vendors of products and services you probably don’t want and with whom you are unacquainted, is puzzling. What do they mean? … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

TL;DR
Neil Guthrie

Translation: ‘too long; didn’t read’. This is the verdict, Aaron Orendorff argues, on most work-related writing. Orendorff, a writer and editor, suggested a while back in the New York Times that your work colleagues really don’t want to read anything you write in a professional setting. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Problem Verbs (And Gerunds)
Neil Guthrie

Problematic because they are newfangled and ugly. Error: Seen in a recent lawyer blog post: The court errored when … Nope. It erred or made an error. To paraphrase the poet, to err is human; to error is unforgivable. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Finding Alberta Government Publications
Susannah Tredwell

If you’re trying to find an Alberta government publication one very helpful resource is Alberta’s open government portal. … . . . [more]