Not-Right Writing Quiz

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From Bryan Garner's Feb-March 2024 ABA Journal column. The answers are keyed to an explanation in Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed. 2022).

1. "Of course, lawyers, for the most part, do not [(a) ascribe, (b) subscribe] to the causal minimalist position." (Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts)

1 point

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2. "The crisis was [(a) averted, (b) adverted]." (Jurimetrics)

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3. "Suppose P injects V with poison and D has an [(a) anecdote, (b) antidote] but fails to use it." (Law & Psychology Review)

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4. "Darth Maul is bisected at the waist by Obi-Wan Kenobi during the movie's [(a) climactic, (b) climatic] battles, and paratextual materials released at the time treated him as having been killed." (Creighton Law Review)

1 point

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5. "Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the [(a) commander-in-chief, (b) commander and chief] of the armed forces, was one of those officials." (Boston College Law Review)

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6. "These statistics do not include the [(a) disparaging, (b) discouraging] statistics on youth, revealing that seventy percent of juveniles sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons are American Indian." (Elon Law Review)

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7. "Prior to the Prohibition, this form of [(a) eavesdropping, (b) ease-dropping] was predominately [read predominantly] used by private detectives and corporation [sic]." (Missouri Law Review)

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8. "There is little [(a) imperial, (b) empirical] evidence on the racial makeup of federal litigants." (Capital University Law Review)

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9. "Expressions of this nature often are more about [(a) exercising, (b) exorcising] personal demons than making analytical points." (Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution)

1 point

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10. "The theory of unconscionability is frequently endorsed in contract settings where the bargaining power between individuals is ... [(a) flagrantly, (b) fragrantly] uneven." (Seton Hall Legislative Journal)

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11. "The RSD's designation as an 'intermediate educational unit' is, for all [(a) intensive, (b) intents and] purposes, meaningless." (Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law)

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12. "We [(a) furled, (b) furrowed] our brow a bit as we worked through the court's discussion." (ERISA Litigation Reporter)

1 point

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13. "Conditions to closing may run the [(a) gamut, (b) gambit] from the delivery of certain documents and legal opinions to the receipt of appropriate approvals from governmental authorities." (Corporate Counsel's Quarterly)

1 point

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14. "If firms have such [(a) gut, (b) guttural] reactions to a truth they can no longer hide, their only recourse is to improve their own behavior." (Virginia Environmental Law Journal)

1 point

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15. "Professor Hew McLeod recounted [the story] shortly before his death in his [(a) heart-rendering, (b) heart-rending] biography." (Rutgers Journal of Law & Religion)

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16. "Taxing added sugar in ultra-processed foods should encourage manufacturers to [(a) replace, (b) substitute] harmful ingredients [with/for] more nutritious ingredients." (Food & Drug Law Journal)

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17. "Logically, the next step is to interpret the Rome Statute as a mechanism to hold corporate officials accountable for their complicity in [(a) perpetrating, (b) perpetuating] war crimes." (Washington International Law Journal)

1 point

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18. "The Civil Rights Act prohibits businesses from arbitrarily excluding [(a) prospective, (b) perspective] customers." (Richmond Public Interest Law Review)

1 point

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19. "It did not fall within the [(a) provenance, (b) province] of the court to examine this question." (Connecticut Law Review)

1 point

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20. "Aiding or abetting perjury constitutes [(a) subordination, (b) subornation] of perjury." (American Criminal Law Review)

1 point

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21. "The Sixth Circuit has taken a different [(a) tack, (b) tact] on the question." (University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law)

1 point

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22. "A sustainable sports movement is [(a) afoot, (b) underfoot] with many organizers now moving ... toward more environmentally friendly planning and sustainability goals." (Missouri Law Review)

1 point

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23. "[The court reasoned that] long, [(a) unkempt, (b) unkept] hair is not a characteristic of race." (St. Louis University Law Journal)

1 point

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24. "Third, in the [(a) vain, (b) vein] of 'garbage in, garbage out,' the records are riddled, in some cases, with inaccuracies and inconsistencies." (Pepperdine Law Review)

1 point

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25. "Even conservative neo-classic economic theory recognizes that contract will not occur unless the parties believe that their reciprocal obligations is [sic] not a zero-sum [(a) game, (b) gain]." (Cardozo Law Review)

1 point

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