In this 2018 blog post, I made available what I called the “quick reference” chart outlining my “categories of contract language” framework. Yesterday someone asked me whether that was still the most current version available for download, so I thought it appropriate to make available the version from the fifth edition of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. So hey presto, here it is!
Unlike the previous version, this extract starts with the first page of chapter 3 (Categories of Contract Language), so it includes one page explaining the concept of categories of contract language.
What I say in the 2018 post still applies:
Categories-of-contract-language analysis provides a disciplined, comprehensive, and rigorous framework for how to use verbs. It gives you a foundation for controlled drafting, and it’s the antidote to the verb-structure chaos of traditional contract language and the just-get-rid-of-shall tunnel vision of modernizers. It goes without saying that no one has come remotely close to offering anything comparable.
I’m making the quick reference available here to give those who are unfamiliar with the categories of contract language a taste of what they’re missing.
Love this. Thank you.
I’m looking forward to a poster size version I can put up in my office. 🙂