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Law Office Management

Sep. 2, 2014

The Urge to Exclaim

In legal writing, don't give in to the urge to exclaim.

We've all wanted to do it. We've all wanted to flag phrases or sentences in our writing. Most of us may know we should resist the wiles of the exclamation point, which we want to believe will let the reader hear us cry out or speak in strong or sudden emotion (Webster's first definition of exclaim), but it's hard.

Don't do it. Don't give in. The exclamation point is the nuclear option that writers must resist, at least if they want to come across as fair, bala...

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