Legal Writing

They Is?

An associate advises me to read an article titled “10 STEPS TO EFFECTIVE WRITING.”

OK. But, I wonder, who would use numeral ten in place of word ten – especially at the start a title? Definitely not Kosher.

I favor this line in the article’s intro:

At one extreme, there?s a ?give-it-to-the-intern? attitude that leads to costly and embarrassing mistakes, like confusing ?their? and ?they?re? in a mailing targeted to corporate attorneys.

I continue reading the article, written by “one of the smartest editorial professionals” there are is. But then I stop at this (since corrected):

In addition to using clear, unaffected language, lead your reader from topic to topic so that all they need to do is keep moving their eyes across the page.

I wonder, is it right for a smart editor to include a singular/plural disagreement (reader/they) in her advice to writers? I think not.

I ask the author about this, and she wonders what’s wrong. “I’m not following you,” she writes. “Is there an error?”

____________
It’s become so common to use they to refer to one in casual discourse. (Heck, presidents who advocate better public education even use it in their speeches.)

But there’s no need for an editor or an attorney to put it in writing. None at all.

“Just change reader to readers,” I advise her. “Then the problem is all gone.”

“Oh!”

____________
Not long after that, I’m reading this client alert titled “H1N1 FLU CONCERNS: WORKPLACE PRIVACY AND EMPLOYEE ILLNESSES,” and I stumble upon this:

How do you balance the privacy concerns of the sick employee and their family against the health interests of co-workers?”

I’m surprised that a great big law firm — one that claims to “demand and offer professional excellence” – would let a mistake like this out the door. “If they is so demanding, why don’t they hire a proofreader?”

Nine times out of every ten, it’s so easy to eliminate this sort of error with a quick revision, like so:

How do you balance the privacy concerns of sick employees and their families against the health interests of co-workers?”

If it’s so easy to do, why not bother to do it (especially if you want people to think you is so demanding)?

Full post as published by Set in Style on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).