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August 05, 2009

Speaking and Writing Well: The Overstatement.

If you're wonderfully but spectacularly Irish, like WAC?, and you try cases, you should also take notes here. And then take a year off from work. Just to study your notes and practice your speaking and writing.

Well, maybe take off two or three years. Think of it as an extended rehab for those who chew more than they bite off.

See at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog "The Only Writing Tip That Really Matters", which quotes William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White's The Elements of Style:

When you overstate, readers will be instantly on guard, and everything that has preceded your overstatement as well as everything that follows it will be suspect in their minds because they have lost confidence in your judgment or your poise.

blarney_castle.jpg

Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland, housing the Stone of Eloquence.

Posted by Rob Bodine at 11:59 PM | Comments (3)