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Thursday
Sep172009

Wrong words part 2

ambiguous / vague “Ambiguous” means susceptible of two different meanings, but “vague” means abstract and incapable of being pinned down. The two are different. Many lawyers use “ambiguous” when they mean “vague”:

  • You cannot define what a reasonable person would do. It’s ambiguous.No, it’s vague.

scan / skim
“Scan” means to take in every part of a document: think about what a scanner does. “Skim” means to go over something quickly, getting just the highlights. So better writers don't write this:

  • I was in a hurry, so I only had time to scan the brief.

That should be “skim.”

BLOG.LEGALWRITING.NET: Wrong words part 2

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Reader Comments (1)

flashlights, since the advent of white LED, it has been introduced to, but when the first white LED brightness because of low and high cost, can be said that these products have been in the "laboratory stage

September 1, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterjuns

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