Writing Tip: The Power of Actions

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The Problem

Lawyers oftentimes torture clients by hiding their actions outside of verbs. For example:

  • Regarding the dematerialized shares, the issuance of a resolution of the board of the target company is required to cancel the relevant shares and to have new shares issued by the centralized clearing house.

The Solution

Step 1: Ambiguous Actions?

Scan your predicate verbs for ambiguous actions.

  • Regarding the dematerialized shares, the issuance of a resolution of the board of the target company is required to cancel the relevant shares and to have new shares issued by the centralized clearing house.

Step 2: Find Real Actions

Look for a better action by scanning your nouns (nominalizations).

  • Regarding the dematerialized shares, the issuance of a resolution of the board of the target company is required to cancel the relevant shares and to have new shares issued by the centralized clearing house.

Step 3: Put Actions in Verbs

Restructure your sentence by placing the better action in the verb position.

  • Regarding the dematerialized shares, the board of the target company must issue a resolution to cancel the relevant shares and to have new shares issued by the centralized clearing house.

Learn More

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