“As” is a Risky Way to Start a Sentence
Dear Legal Writer, Lindsey Lawton and I partner today to bring you this tip on a common sentence-starter that’s tripped folks up lately:
“As __, . . .”
For example,
“As a lawyer, . . .”
“As plaintiff in a tort case, . . .”
“As the judge of record, . . . “
👉 If you start a sentence that way, you must take great care when choosing your next word.
Most writers get it wrong.
🔷 RULE: The only word that should follow an opening “As” clause is a synonym for the noun or noun phrase that (1) follows the word “As” and (2) comes before the comma.
EXAMPLE 1
❌ So if I wrote, “As a former litigator and current legal writing coach, law students ask me a lot of questions . . .,” that would be incorrect.
“Law students” are not a synonym for “a former litigator and current legal writing coach.”
The incorrect construction is problematic because it leaves the initial “As” thought incomplete. It can also create a miscue for the reader, who may expect the sentence to follow the norm of renaming the noun from the “As” clause immediately after the clause.
✅ A correct construction would be, “As a former litigator and current legal writing coach, I receive a lot of questions from law students.”
In this correct construction, I’ve appropriately renamed “former litigator and current legal writing coach” with the synonym “I,” because in my case, “I” is the same person as “former litigator and current legal writing coach.”
EXAMPLE 2
Here’s another example:
❌ As a law student, it is hard to have a writing competition right after exams.
I don’t know what “it” is, but it isn’t a law student.
Possible correct constructions include:
✅ “As a law student, I find it hard to have a writing competition . . . ,” (if you are writing)
-or-
✅ “As a law student, you must find it hard to have a writing competition . . .” (if I am writing to you).
****
We were not sure if there was an “official name” for the above grammar mistake, but according to ChatGPT (á la Lindsey, who is ahead of me in learning), it’s called:
-“[an] unresolved or dangling construction,” or
-“[an] unattached dependent clause.”
Will knowing those names help you? Who knows. But we include them for reference.
****
QUIZ
Armed with the above, see if you can spot the error in these 3 grammatically incorrect sentences—all of which have appeared at the beginning of posts recently:
1: As a published author, people ask me a lot of Qs about book publishing.
2: As a trial lawyer, law students ask me a lot of questions about civil procedure.
3: As a junior lawyer, one of the best ways to leave a good impression on supervisors is by properly managing files.
🗳️ Any questions? We’re here!
RECAP: Check your “As . . . ,” clauses, and make sure the nouns following the commas fit.
Fondly,
💌 Amanda (& Lindsey!)
#legalwriting
#lawyers
#lawstudents
#Dear1L