WRITING MANUAL - Supreme Court - State of Ohio

COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS AND PHRASES (CONT.)
32. Its; it’s. Its is the possessive form of it. For example, “A court speaks
only through its journal.” It’s is the contraction of it is or it has.
33. Method; methodology. Method means a process for attaining
something. For example, “The Supreme Court has clarified the method
we must use to assign responsibility in multiple-employer situations.”
Methodology means the study of methods.
34. Must; shall; may. Must and shall mean is required to. For example,
“All parties must follow the Rules of Civil Procedure.” “The plaintiff
shall serve the defendant within 30 days.” May means is permitted to.
For example, “The plaintiff may serve the defendant personally.”
35. Pleaded; pled. Pleaded and pled are both acceptable, but be consistent.
36. Posit. Posit means to state as a premise; to postulate. For example,
“The prosecutor’s theory of the case posited a common motive for the
crimes.” Posit is not synonymous with present, argue, or state.
37. Practical; practicable. Practical means useful or nontheoretical. For
example, “The trial court imposed practical procedures for concluding
discovery.” Practicable means feasible. For example, “The company
challenged the agency’s assertion that the pollution-control guidelines
were practicable.”
38. Prescribe; proscribe. Prescribe means to dictate. For example,
“Through this statute, the General Assembly prescribed a strict method
for determining whether the actions were lawful.” Proscribe means to
forbid. For example, “Through this statute, the General Assembly
proscribed this conduct altogether.”
39. Rebut; refute. Rebut means to contradict. For example, “The
defendant rebutted the witness’s testimony by presenting his own
witness.” Refute means to prove wrong. For example, “The videotape
image of the defendant refuted his claim that he had never been there.”
40. Refer; reference. In legal contexts, refer typically means to direct
attention to. For example, “He referred to his relationship with the codefendant
only in passing.” Refer is not interchangeable with reference,
which, used as a verb, means to supply with references. Do not use
reference to mean cite, mention, or refer to.
The Supreme Court of Ohio 119 Writing Manual