RULES OF STYLE

 We write a lot, no surprise, and here are some stylistic issues on our mind. 

PAST TENSE OF PLEA

 We follow Gegorgia State Court of Appeals Judge @JudgeDillard on Twitter for no other reason than he seems like a really nice guy dedicated to his job. He loves his clerks; loves nurturing his interns, and this past year went on an amazing health journey that he honestly tweeted for the world to see. He is humble and smart and not pretentious- three qualities that would disqualify him for a seat on the bench in South Florida (obligatory Rumpolian cheap shot at the Miami Judiciary. No respite even on the lord’s day of rest. Sorry).

But then we had a serious disagreement with his honor Judge Dillard. He tweeted that the past tense of PLED WAS PLEADED and we respectfully objected in a tweet back, arguing that it was PLED.

You bleed, you bled- you didn’t bleeded.

You Plead, you Pled. Upon receiving a misbegotten alias capias command to appear in court, we might fire off an email like this: “Dear Judge, this case is closed. My client pled last week” as opposed to “my client pleaded last week” 

Pleaded is awkward. Consider this our continuing objection your honor. When appearing before you, we shall endeavor to follow your rules of language (however wrong they may be). 

Of course, this is somewhat unneeded for us, since our rule is never plead anything but not guilty.

 

QUOTATION CONUNDRUM

When using a quote, the rule is to add a period inside the quotation even if the portion doesn’t have one if the quotation ends the sentence. For example you might write in an email to your favourite judge “Rumpole said you were a simpleton.”

And note there is no additional period outside of the quotation mark.

BUT (or as they say in the hallowed halls of rhe REGJB) PERO...

We think the rule also is that if the sentence is followed by a citation, then no period is used. For example:

“Rumpole said you were a simpleton”.  Justice Building Blog, December 2, 2013.   

Thoughts on the stylistic issues of the day?