Cut Out the Expletives

Dear Legal Writer, When I review your writing, one of the first things I do is cut out the expletives.

What’s that you say? “I would never use expletives in legal writing.”

Yeah, I hear that. But you do.

Here’s what I mean:

🔹 Definition:

An “expletive” is not just a profane or obscene term.

It means any word or phrase in a sentence that supplies no independent, substantive meaning.

“There is,” “There are,” and “It is” are examples of expletives that appear regularly in writing.

They typically add nothing but fluff.

They drag down your prose and make it wordier.

⬇️

So try dropping the expletives from your sentences.

Recast them with the subjects of the verbs doing the acting.

🔷 Examples:

“There is a delivery truck approaching our house now.”
 -becomes-
“A delivery truck is approaching our house now.”
____

“There were three hotel employees who witnessed the event.”
 -becomes-
“Three hotel employees witnessed the event.”
____

“It is agreed by all parties that the case should settle.”
 -becomes-
“All parties agree that the case should settle.”

🔷 Exception:

As with all things involving subtlety, tone, cadence, nuance, etc., your sentences may sometimes call for expletives.

But most of the time, expletives should be cut.

Doing so is a great way to sharpen your prose and reduce your word count.

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

#DearLegalWriter

🗳️ Won’t you try to cut some expletives today?