English Proofreading
For Lawyers, By Lawyers
A misplaced comma can be expensive!
In an 1872 attempt to recover America’s post-Civil-War economy, Ulysses S. Grant’s administration passed a tariff act that imposed a 20 percent tax on most foreign imports.
There were some exceptions, the bill said, including “fruit, plants tropical and semi-tropical for the purpose of cultivation.”
The problem? The bill was only supposed to exempt “fruit-plants,” not fruit AND plants as that stray comma implied.
When importers took advantage and insisted that their fruit should pass into the country tax-free as the letter of the law decreed, the government was forced to refund roughly $2 million in duties—or about $40 million by today’s standards.
AND this, friends, why weproofread.it is an essential service!
What is “proofreading”?
23/05/2020
A misplaced comma can be expensive!
20/05/2020
Neglecting to review your writing: Risky behaviour
12/05/2020
The Importance of Punctuation
27/04/2020
COVID-19: Pro-Bono Proofreading of English texts
17/03/2020
Say NO to ‘functionally illegible’ legal writing!
14/12/2019
Court imposes fine for wrong grammar, punctuation
12/11/2019
Legal writing is no laughing matter
25/09/2019
Load more posts