sentences
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The perils of legislative drafting
Look, there is nothing I like more than a complex piece of legislation. A well-drafted provision can be very satisfying; sometimes even the most elaborate piece of statute law just works. But then, occasionally I see a provision like this one, from the Victorian Evidence Act 2008, and my heart sinks: “‘Disclosure order’ means an Continue reading
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Am I a comma nerd? We are about to find out.
Much of the time, commas are little more than convenient signalling devices, showing the reader how the various components of a sentence are supposed to work together. Often enough, the reader is going to be able to figure out what the sentence is telling them even if there is not a comma in sight. Occasionally, Continue reading
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In defence of the semicolon
Recent media reports – no, I’m not going to link to any; it only encourages them – would have you believe that the semicolon is about to go the way of the dodo. But, to borrow the supposed words of Mark Twain, reports of its demise might be greatly exaggerated. Admittedly, examples of bad semicolon Continue reading
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I seem to have a problem with definitions
At the end of January we had a couple of days in Sydney. The purpose of the trip was so that I could speak to the new intake of judges’ associates at the Federal Court about proofing judgments. But we packed in a decent amount of fun before that. A train journey! Art! Food! Ferries! Continue reading
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The common form criminal appeal provision, aka my brain hurts
The High Court is regularly asked to hear cases that engage, to some degree, with what is known as the common form criminal appeal provision, and/or the “proviso” to that provision. This probably comes as no great surprise to those who are active in the field. The provision itself has a lot of moving parts, Continue reading
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Temporary ambiguities are still ambiguities: the invisible “that”
I guess I just like things to be clear. Is that too much to ask? An ambiguity is “temporary” if the intended meaning can be worked out with a little effort. These are not as painful to me as genuinely insoluble ambiguities. But they still hurt. One example of a temporary ambiguity, to borrow the Continue reading
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The semicolon. What’s with that?
At one time I had a section of the book devoted to the semicolon. One of the many regrets in my life is that I took it out of the finished product, on the basis that I felt that the book was starting to look like a general grammar text – territory I am wholly Continue reading
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The dangling participle: how egregious is egregious?
At one point in the book, I state the view – not so startling when read in context, I hope – that you can probably let your judge dangle all but the most egregious of dangling participles. But what kind of dangling participle would be egregious enough to warrant an associate’s attention? I think I Continue reading
What is the 'it'? 