The Scrivener English Test for Lawyers
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Pages | 64 |
English Test For Lawyers: Fall Semester 2020
By Scott Moise
Professor Scrivener noticed that our South Carolina lawyers have not had a test for two years. That will never do. To make sure that your skills are still sharp, we will have a Fall Semester COVID-19 remote edition of the English Test for Lawyers. You may begin.
1. The court ruled that the expert's testimony was based on reliable methodology, not ipse dixit. What is ipse dixit?
(A) an unproved or dogmatic statement
(B) false underlying premises
(C) junk science
ANSWER:
(A) Something said but not proved; a dogmatic statement
As readers with good memories may remember, we covered the meaning of the Latin phrase " ipse dixit " in a previous column, but that was before the South Carolina Court of Appeals used the phrase and was astute enough to define it, knowing that some of us would not know the meaning:
The phrase "ipse dixit," which translates as "he himself said it," was coined by Cicero, who used it to belittle the reasoning and argumentative powers of the followers of Pythagoras. When asked to justify their positions, the followers would just say "ipse dixit," opting out of the merits of the debate altogether. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, I.V. (H. Rackham trans., Loeb Classical Library 1933).
State v. Warner, 430 S.C. 76, 87 n.1, 842 S.E.2d 361, 366 n.1 (Ct. App. 2020) (holding that the expert's testimony on cell site location information was based on reliable methods and substance, not ipse dixit).
EXTRA CREDIT: Translate "De Natura Deorum."
2. Who let the dogs out? Not___!
(A) I
(B) Me
ANSWER:
(A) I
The pronoun "I" is in the nominative case, so "I" is used for subjects in a sentence. In this situation, "I" is the subject because I am doing the acting: "I did not let the dogs out."
The pronoun "me" is in the objective case, so it is used for objects in a sentence. For example, "Who did the dog bite?" Not me! In that situation, I am being acted upon by the dog.
Even though grammatically correct, saying "not I" may sound a little pretentious, like I think I am Queen Elizabeth or something. On the other hand, I do not want to use poor grammar. Therefore, I will just evade the problem by answering like this: I did not let the dogs out. That solves the problem. Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.
3. "As her just ___ for trying to poison Snow White, the wicked queen is made to dance in red hot slippers "˜till she fell dead on the floor, a sad example of envy and jealousy.' " Brown v. Entm't Merchants Ass'n, 564 U.S. 786, 796 (2011).
(A) deserts
(B) desserts
(C) dessert's
ANSWER:
(A) deserts
"Deserts" means "the punishment that one deserves." See "Just Deserts" or "Just Desserts ?, Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/just%20deserts. "Desserts" means "a sweet course or dish served at the end of a meal." Id. at https://www.mern-am-webster.com/dictionary/des-sert. The two words have the same pronunciation, so the confusion is understandable.
Justice Scalia knew the answer to this question. See Brown, 564 U.S. at 796 (quoting The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales 198 (2006 ed.). In fact, 439 opinions have gotten it right. Unfortunately, 179 court opinions have not, with the U.S. District Court of Nevada being the latest outlaw. See Atkins v. Gittere, No. 202CV01348JCMBNW, 2020 WL 3893628, at *43 (D. Nev. July 10, 2020) ("Only [after the sentencing phase of a capital trial] can the sentencer truly weigh the evidence before it and determine a defendant's just desserts.").
As for "dessert's," I would have to subtract points if you chose that answer. "Desserts" is not only the wrong word, it is not being used as a possessive noun that would require an apostrophe (as in "I ate the dessert's frosting"), and YOU CANNOT USE AN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE THE WORD PLURAL. I cannot...
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