Antecedent ambiguity is a distinct kind of ambiguity. As MSCD says, “Confusion can arise if it’s not clear what the antecedent is of a given element.” MSCD offers as an example of antecedent ambiguity John read Bill’s email, and he is furious. The antecedent of he could be either John or Bill. Today I found another instances of antecedent ambiguity. … Read More
In this recent blog post, I emphasize the importance of offsetting commas in right node raising. (“Right node raising” is a linguistics term used to describe a sentence in which two or more coordinated clauses each end with a shared constituent, as in Himari likes, and Jorge dislikes, blueberry pie.) But offsetting commas in right node raising can lead to … Read More
I expect that regular readers of this blog are familiar with syntactic ambiguity. An example: cats and dogs with brown fur. Does that refer to all cats, or just those with brown fur? It can’t hurt to repeat my new, improved definition of syntactic ambiguity, which I first trotted out in a post last month and have just now tweaked … Read More
Friends, today is a special day, as I’m able to introduce to you a new kind of syntactic ambiguity. (A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting says, “Syntactic ambiguity arises principally out of the order in which words and phrases appear and how they relate to each other grammatically.” But here’s my updated version: “Syntactic ambiguity arises when you have … Read More
As I mentioned in this blog post, I’ve been leafing through some textbooks intended for teaching contract drafting. One of them is Tina L. Stark & Monica L. Llorente, Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do (3d ed 2024). I happened to notice two technical mistakes in that textbook relating to principles of English usage. I thought … Read More
The post before this one—the one about a reference in an insurance policy to “insects, birds, rodents, or other animals” (here)—made me realize I have to restructure in one respect how A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting presents ambiguity. I put the discussion of ejusdem generis in the section of chapter 13 (Selected Usages) dealing with including. And I … Read More
I noticed this story from Iowa local news channel KCRG: An eastern Iowa veterinary hospital is suing its insurer in a dispute over the definition of an “animal.” … The lawsuit alleges that about 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 7, 2024, an adult deer crashed through one of the hospital’s windows and entered the building. “The deer rampaged through the property’s … Read More
When I try to make sense of a big new topic, usually I ask myself, What’s the taxonomy? What’s a sensible way to divide the pie? That’s what I did with the sources of uncertain meaning in contract language. A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting contains my most up-to-date take on that taxonomy, but this 2016 article covers the … Read More
Somehow, I now find myself articulating for the first time concepts I’ve relied on since forever. Today’s concept is “semantics hygiene”. That’s my term for getting in the habit of expressing yourself clearly in contracts, even if in a given context little or nothing is at stake. The term “semantics hygiene” is brand new. I first used it a couple … Read More
In its recent opinion in Salama v. Simon, No. 2024-1124-JTL, 2024 WL 4906737 (Del. Ch. Nov. 27, 2024), the Delaware Court of Chancery cites A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting for what it has to say about “the expectation of relevance.” That’s a concept underlying a subtle ambiguity associated with the word may. Rather than discuss the expectation of … Read More
