Tuesday, June 04, 2019

Clear, concise, and effective English for law students, bar examinees, and legal writers in organizations, private companies, and government offices (11): Revising wordy sentences using the Paramedic Method

1. Prof. Richard Lanham of the UCLA Writing Center developed the Paramedic Method for revising wordy sentences. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Underline the prepositional phrases in the sentence.

Step 2: Circle the “to be” verbs (is, are, as, were)

Step 3: Place a box around nominalizations and identify the primary action.

Step 4: Write the nominalization/primary action into a single verb.

Step 5: Ask “Who what performs the action?” Then write the new base clause with the agent in the subject position.

Step 6: Keep the base clause near beginning of the sentence.

Step 7: Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases.

2. Videos

Write Well: Editing Sentences Using the Paramedic Method (Macalester College)



Help from Dr. Lanham



Richard Lanham - Revising Prose



Paramedic Method



Self-Editing (Paramedic Method)



The Paramedic Method



Free seminars:

1. “English Proficiency Course” (4 hours; for college students, K-to-12 teachers, other groups)

2. “Clear, concise English for effective legal writing” (3-5 hours; for Student Councils, academic organizations, fraternities, sororities, NGOs, LGUs, any interested group; test yourself with the interactive exercises)

Seminars are for Metro Manila only. For more information or to schedule a seminar, please contact Atty. Gerry T. Galacio at 0927-798-3138.

Be a better writer or editor through StyleWriter 4: this software checks 10,000 words in 12 seconds for hundreds of style and English usage issues like wordy and complex sentences, passive voice, nominalization, jargon, clichés, readability, spelling, etc.

StyleWriter 4 graphs your style and sentence variety, and identifies your writing habits to give an instant view of your writing. You can learn to adjust your writing style to suit your audience and task. You can learn, for example, the writing style of Newsweek, Time, The Economist, and Scientific American.

StyleWriter 4 is widely used in the US federal government (for example, the Environmental Protection Agency). It can be used by educators, students, and professionals in various fields - business, law, social or physical science, medicine, nursing, engineering, public relations, human resources, journalism, accounting, etc. Download your free 14-day trial copy now.