Linguistic Pecularities Of Contracts in English
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I’d like to remind you that the meeting will begin at 4p.m.
(informal)
The meeting concluded with signing the contract. (formal)
The meeting ended with signing the contract. (informal)
Phrasal and prepositional verbs are characteristic of informal
style, that is why they are not used in business correspondence. Their
formal equivalents are used in official texts instead.
Formal style Informal style discover find out explode blow up encounter come across invent make up investigate look into e.g. In case of discovering discrepancy of quality and quantity of the product inform us immediately.
Spoken English is full of various vocabulary, both standard and
slangy. We also have here different connectors, such as well, you see, a kind of which cannot be used in written business English, both
logically and stylistically. They are logically excluded because of a
little amount of information they convey. Business documents, on the
contrary, convey a lot of information in almost any word. Thus, a
person should be aware of these factors and not mix up colloquial and
business English, drawing up a document.
Informal terms have emotive qualities which are not present in
formal language. Formal language often insists on a greater deal of
preciseness. But the problem is that there are not always proper
equivalents in formal and informal English. The informal word job, for
instance, has no formal equivalent. Instead of it, we have to look for
a more restricted in usage and a more precise term, according to the
context, among possible variants: employment, post (esp. Br.E.), position, appointment, vocation, etc. [16, P.12 – 13]
Business English is formal. We use it in business correspondence, official reports and regulations. Actually, it is always written.
Exceptionally it is used in speech, for example, in formal public
speeches. There are various degrees of formality, like in the
examples: e.g. After his father’s death, he had to change his job.
(informal)
On the disease of his father, he was obliged to seek for alternative employment. (formal)
These sentences mean roughly the same idea, but would occur in
different situations. The first sentence is fairly neutral (common
core) style, while the second one is very formal, in fact stilted, and
would only occur in a written business report.
In general, grammar rules of spoken sentences are rather simple and
less constructed than grammar of written sentences, especially in
agreements. It is more difficult to divide a spoken conversation into
separate sentences, and connections between one clause and the other
are less clear because the speaker relies more on the hearer’s
understanding of the context and situation, as well as on his ability
to interrupt if he fails to understand. The speaker is able to rely on
features of intonation which tells us a great deal that cannot be
reflected in written punctuation.
The grammar use in business correspondence is also different about
the pronouns who and whom, and the place of prepositions: e.g. She wanted a partner for her business in whom she could confide. (formal)
She longed for a partner (who) she could confide in.
(informal)
In what country was he born? (formal)
What country was he born in? (informal)
Formal written language often goes impersonal style. That means
that one doesn’t refer directly to himself / herself or to his / her
readers, but avoids pronouns. Some of the common features of
impersonal language are passive sentences beginning with the
introductory word it and abstract nouns. The effect of the change into
a passive construction is to reverse the focus from the subject to the
object of speech.
Abstract nouns, especially amount words (majority, minority, amount), specify more precisely the meaning of an utterance. e.g. Announcement from the librarian
It has been noted with concern that the stock of books in the library has been declining alarmingly. Students are asked to remind themselves of the rules for the borrowing and return of books, and to bear in mind the needs of other students. Penalties for overdue books will in the future be strictly enforced. [16,
P.13]
It is a very formal and impersonal message which could have been
written in a more informal and less impersonal way, achieved by usage
of phrasal verbs, contractions, colloquial phrases and other
linguistic means:
Librarian’s message
The number of books in the library has been going down. Please make sure you know the rules for borrowing, and don’t forget that the library is for everyone’s convenience. So from now on, we’re going to enforce the rules strictly. You have been warned! [16,
P.13]
To be tactful is to avoid causing offence or distress in
correspondence. Sometimes it means disguising or covering up the
truth. In such a case, the use of imperatives should be polite: e.g. Would you like to stipulate details of the contract?
Let us compare some more examples: e.g. I suggest that we postponed signing of the contract till tomorrow. (tactful)
Could I suggest that we postponed signing of the contract till tomorrow. (tentative and more tactful)
In other cases tentativeness is not connected with tact, but is
simply an indication of the speaker’s reluctance to commit himself /
herself on a given question. To use of might is characteristic of
business correspondence, because it is a more tentative way of
expressing possibility than may. Let us compare two sentences: e.g. It may have been an error in a business deal.
It might have been an error in a business deal.
In the second sentence might presupposes a greater degree of
uncertainty and sounds more tactful than may.
Texts of business documents are specific and aimed at a definite
purpose. In order to make one’s business work and work effectively, a
person should possess knowledge of language standards in business
letters. Skilful application of this knowledge is somehow determined
by standards of documents’ writing. If a document is written in an
accepted way, it will be assessed by specialists. A unified business
text takes up less time and work to compile in comparison with private
letters.
Since a writer of a business letter has a unified form in front of
him / her, this person follows a set pattern while doing it. All the
writer’s attention is focused on major information and data which
represent the subject of the document. In this way, an addressee can
decode the subject-matter faster, because a document is written in the
standardised form.
Moreover, if business documents are drawn up in a unified and, to
some extent, simplified way, it takes less money spending and saves
time of the dealing sides, and shortens the time of business procedure
as well. A special branch of English linguistics, - business English,
- is devoted to the purpose of simplifying of business making.
Written business English has got certain traits and problems of its
usage, not only for foreigners, but for English-speaking business
people.
2. Theoretical problems of the language of documents
Knowledge of drawing up business correspondence is equal to
communicating with people in a businesslike manner [7, P.4]. A person
should know rules of documents’ writing to make one’s business
effective and profitable. All of them are united under the notion of
style.
A style of the language is a system of interrelated language means
which serve a definite aim in communication [3, P.33]. As has already
been written, the style can be formal (business written English) and
informal (spoken English). The difference of formal and informal
English is a matter of style and attitude of people to each other.
However, it is not an easy matter to draw an exact line between formal
and informal English [8, P.28], and that is the first, and the most
important thing to be clarified in this paper.
English of business correspondence possesses some important
qualities, common for formal style of English as well.
The language of business correspondence is very bookish and is
remarkable for the usage of larger and more exact vocabulary, in
comparison with informal style of communication. Sentences in
documents are longer and their clauses are grammatically fitted
together more carefully, which means a lot of practise for a person
who draws up a contract. It is generally considered and expected that
real business people, experts in their field of activity, should enjoy
the preciseness and careful grammatical construction. It does not
mean, of course, that business people must communicate orally in
formal business style.
Formal business correspondence should be more impersonal. It should
not emphasise the individuality of the writer, and takes little
account of the personal qualities of people who are going to make use
of it. Thus, the speaker should not refer directly to himself or his
readers, but avoid the pronouns I, we, you, and it may also be of a
difficulty for a person.
One more problem is that formal English lacks force and vividness.
The fact that it is formal implies its great dependence on arbitrary
conventions, rather than on natural speech habits [8, P.29]. That is
why it is so hard for non-business people to keep concentrating their
attention on contents of documents all the time, as their attention is
diverted by intricate language use. Some of them will find their long
and complicated sentences rather confusing. Words of formal English
may sound nice, but their meaning is often hard to get through. Very
often a person must read something all over again to make sure what it
means. e.g. This stipulation being of the essence of the contract, default by the buyers shall entitle the Sellers to load and ship the goods as convenient to themselves to any of the ports named in this contract and Buyers shall take delivery accordingly.
(Extract from a standard form of contract for the sale of timber through broker in the U.K.) [6, P.229]
Another chief problem to remember about business correspondence is
that it will be read by busy people who usually have no interest in
either one’s personality or his / her problems [8, P.280]. Bearing in
mind that one should not waste anybody’s time and try to gain anything
by impressing your employers, a person uses formal English to avoid
unnecessary details about matters handled, replacing them by strict
routine. To be as clear and brief as possible without sacrificing
clarity is a common trait of any business document. e.g. The time of delivery of the Turbine Plant against the above contract expires on the 1st July.
Please inform us by return of post of the progress of manufacture of the Turbine [6, P.260].
Anyway, in some important business correspondence we may find
deviations from what is called official English of the business world.
For example, if a person wants to get a job or to sign a contract, to
make a sale or to ask somebody for special advice, he / she is likely
to want to make a definite impression on the interlocutor, like in the
example: e.g. So I spent my green years first in East Germany that influenced on me greatly (they say I look like a German, joke), then we moved to live in Siberia where I played an ice hockey, entered the Secondary School and fell in love with British rock music. [4, P.35]
This person was applying for a journalist and tried to show his
writing skills.
It does not mean, however, that a person in charge will be much
concerned about one’s personality without knowing a way of using it.
If a person is starting business correspondence on an important
matter, the first thing to do is to consider it all carefully from the
other person’s probable viewpoint, and to go on making business in the
same way.
These are some of the most frequent problems in the theory of
business correspondence which can concern a person who is likely to
get involved in a business undertaking.
3. The structure of contracts and their essential clauses
Contract is a business document presenting an agreement for the
delivery of goods, services, etc., approved and signed by both the
Buyer (exporter) and the Seller (importer) [5, P.131]. By law
contracts are made in writing. When striking a deal, standard
contracts are widely used. Standard contracts are not a must. Some
articles can be altered and supplemented [10, P.12].
The following items are of the greatest importance in any contract:
- contract No.;
- place and date of signing;
- names of the Sides which signed the contract;
- subject of the contract;
- quality of goods;
- price (per unit and total price);
- destination;
- delivery time;
- requirements for packing and marking;
- payment terms;
- conditions of submission and acceptance of goods;
- transport conditions; warranty conditions and sanctions;
- arbitration conditions;
- force majeure;
- judicial addresses of the Sides;
- signatures of the seller and the buyer.
All appendices form an integral part of contract. Contract is drawn
up in accordance with the established form, often on special printed
forms filled in with basic information by one-time writing. Sometimes, when a transaction is small in volume, a contract may be concluded by
telex [5, P.131].
Now the most significant clauses of contract should be regarded.
The subject-section names the product for sale or purchase. It also
indicates the unit of measure employed in foreign trade for specific
commodities.
The quality of machines and equipment is to be conformed with the
technical specification of the contract. The quality of raw materials
and foodstuffs is determined by standards, samples, and description.
The price stated in a contract may be firm, fixed or sliding. Firm
prices are not subject to change in the course of the fulfilment of
the contract. Fixed price governs in the market on the day of delivery
or for a given period. Sliding prices are quoted for machinery and
equipment which require a long period of delivery.
There are some kinds of payment. A cheque is a written order to a
Bank given and signed by someone who has money deposited there to pay
a certain amount mentioned in the cheque to a person named on it. In
the place of the cheque system Banks provide an international system
of bank transfers. A draft is another order to pay. It is made out by
an exporter and presented to the importer. It is also called a bill of
exchange. A sight draft is a bill which is paid immediately on
presentation. A bill is to be paid at a later date is called a term
draft. There are 30-day, 69-, 90- and 120-day drafts. The payment is
guaranteed with a letter of credit or a revolving letter of credit.
Transport and delivery terms. The so-called door-to-door
(multimodal) transport is wide-spread in shipping now. It involves a
transfer of the goods from one kind of transport to another. The main
carrier often prefers to assume through responsibility for the cargo
he caries. In a through movement of the gods a combined transport
document is issued instead of a traditional Bill of Lading.
Packing goods for export is a highly specialised job. If the goods
are improperly packed and marked, the carrier will refuse to accept
them, or will make qualifications about the unsatisfactory condition
of packing in the bill of lading. Packing can be external (crate, bag)
or internal (box, packet, flask, etc.), in which the goods are sold.
In case of consumer goods packing had a double function. On one hand, it is for protection. On the other hand – it serves to advertise a
product and attract a customer.
Marking should be in indelible paint with recognised kind of marks.
The cases in which the equipment is packed are to be marked on three
sides: on the top of the case and two non-opposite sides. The marking
shall be clearly made with indelible paint in the languages of the
dealing sides.
Insurance of goods. The export trade is subject to many risks.
Ships may sink or collide; consignment may be lost or damaged. All
sensible business people now insure goods for the full value. The idea
of insurance is to obtain indemnity in case of damage or loss.
Insurance is against risk. While goods are in a warehouse, the
insurance covers the risk of fire, burglary, etc. as soon as the goods
are in transit they are insured against pilferage, damage by water, breakage or leakage. The insured is better protected if his goods are
insured against all risks. The goods may be also covered against
general and particular loss or damage.
Force majeure is a force against which you cannot act or fight.
Every contract has a force majeure clause. It usually includes natural
disasters such as an earthquake, flood, fire, etc. It can also include
such contingencies as war, embargo, sanctions. Along with this there
are some other circumstances beyond the Sellers’ control. The Seller
may find himself in a situation when he can’t fulfil his obligation
under the contract. When negotiating a contract a list of
contingencies must be agreed on and put into the contract.
When a manager makes up a contract he must not think only of his
one-side interest. He must think in terms of common interest with his
counterpart. Only then will he prove loyal to his partner. In case of
a contingency the Seller must notify the Buyers of a force majeure
right away. If it is done in due time the Buyer may take immediate
action to protect his interest.
A force majeure must be a proven fact. The Seller is to submit to
the Buyer a written confirmation issued by the Chamber of Commerce to
this effect. The duration of a force majeure is, as a rule, 4 or 6
months. After that the Buyer has a right to cancel the contract. The
Seller in this case has no right to claim any compensation for his
losses.
Claims and sanctions. A contract defines rights and obligations of
the parties involved. Most often the Buyer makes quality and quantity
claims on the Seller. The cause for complaint may be poor quality, breakage, damage, short weight, leakage, etc. The Buyer must write a
statement of claim and mail it to the Seller together with the
supporting documents: Bill of Lading, Airway and Railway Bill, Survey
Report, Quality Certificate are documentary evidence. Drawings, photos, samples are enclosed as proofs of claims. The date of a
complaint is the date on which it is mailed.
Claims can be lodged during a certain period of time, which is
usually fixed in a contract. During the claim period the Seller is to
enquire into the case and communicate his reply. He either meets the
claim or declines it. If a claim has a legitimate ground behind it the
parties try to settle it amicably. The Seller in turn is entitled to
make a claim on his counterpart if the Buyer fails to meet his
contractual obligations. The Seller may inflict penalties on the Buyer
if there is a default in payment. Financially, legitimate claims are
in large part settled by debit or credit notes [10, P. 12 – 28].
4. Types of contracts. Abbreviations
In order to speed up the preparation of contract documents and to
minimise possibility of errors in them, a unified standardised form of
contract documents, the Master Pattern for Contract Documents, has
been developed. It establishes principles and regulations for the
construction of standardised forms of documents used in foreign trade, like Supplement to contract, Order and Order confirmation.
Supplement to contract is a business document which is an integral
part of the contract, containing amendments or additions to the
previously agreed contract conditions. The supplement should also be
agreed on and signed by both the exporter and the importer.
Order is a business document presenting the importer’s offer for
dealing which contains specific conditions of a future transaction.
Order Confirmation is a business document presenting the exporter’s
message containing unclaused acceptance of the order conditions. The
Master pattern has also been accepted as a basis for standardised
forms of enquiries and offers, used at pre-contract stages of dealing
[5, P.131 – 132].
Different firms and organisations trading regularly, work out
standardised forms of contracts for typical deals. Such standardised
contracts are printed and include typical rights and duties of the
contracting sides in selling and buying some goods and services. There
are special columns for the names of the Buyer and Seller, names of
goods, their quantity, prices and delivery terms. In case of declining
or adding some terms, people use supplementary columns in a contract
form.
Standardised forms of export and import deals differ greatly and it
makes them two general types of contracts [13, P.146]. Thus, there are
export and import contracts. They reflect different positions of
buyers and sellers in trading. Contracts in import trade are called
orders, and their submission warrancy, and delivery terms, as well as
sanctions are much harder towards the sellers than those ones in
export trade. Standardised forms of import contracts are sent to
potential buyers before getting commercial proposals and, actually, before striking a deal. The languages of contracts are agreed upon on
the both sides. It goes without saying that information and style are
kept the same not depending on the language of contract.
As textual varieties, contracts are divided into administrative-
managerial, financial-economical, advertising, scientific-technical, and artistic-publicational contracts(. Functional spheres of their
circulation can be easily guessed from names of contract types in this
classification, and are the subject of economic, rather than
linguistic, study.
Contracts may be differentiated by the subject of a deal. There are
export contracts for the sale of oil products, machinery tools, grain, timber, the supply of goods, etc. Orders in import trade deal with
ordering and purchasing goods. They are often supported with requests, remindings, verifications of different terms, guarantee and waving
inspection letters, and many others.
Goods in international trade are transported with the help of
multimodal (door-to-door) shipment. In contracts delivery and
acceptance terms are marked with the International Commercial Terms
(Incoterms) [10, P.16]. So, contracts can be classified in accordance
with the way of delivery. Most of Incoterms are represented as
abbreviations.
The usage of abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions
is typical of all kinds of documents. Abbreviations are abundant, and
there are special dictionaries to decode them. They serve as signs of
the code supposed to be known only to the “initiated” [3, P.316].
On the whole, there are 14 official Incoterms of deliverance. They
denote:
1. The point of deliverance. EX Works means that the seller’s only responsibility is to make the goods available at his premises.
EX Ship means that the seller shall make the goods available to the buyer on board the ship at the destination named in the sales contract. EX Quay means that the seller makes the goods available to the buyer on the quay at the destination named in the sales contract.
2. The way of deliverance. FOB means Free on Board. The goods are placed on board a ship by the seller at a port of shipment named in the sales contract. FAS means Free Alongside Ship. That means that goods should be placed alongside the ship to fulfil the seller’s obligations. FOR / FOT mean Free on Rail / Free on
Truck. Truck here relates to the railway wagons, and that makes these abbreviations synonymous. FOB Airport is based on the same main principle as the ordinary FOB term. The seller fulfils his obligations by delivering the goods to the air carrier at the airport of departure.
3. Payment terms. C & F means Cost and Fright. The seller must pay the costs and fright necessary to bring the goods to the named destination, but the risk of loss or damage to the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer when the goods pass the ship’s rail in the port of shipment. CIF means Cost, Insurance and Fright. This term is basically the same as C & F but with the addition that the seller has to procure marine insurance against the risk of loss or damage to the goods during the carriage.
Thus, in Chapter 1 we have made an attempt to clarify some items of
the topic. They are the following:
The nature of the English of documents writing is determined by its
stylistic realisation in written English. The style of official
documents possesses its own features which are reflected in
standardised forms of different documents. They are peculiarities of
the vocabulary, grammar and syntactic constructions, which are the
subject of consideration in the practical part of this paper.
The main problem of writing contracts is embodied in the notion of
stylistic use. Formal style of business English is rather hard to
obtain and to follow. It remains mostly in written form, and its
peculiarities should be strictly observed. Some theoretical problems
of its functioning have already been considered. Nevertheless, informal English influences it greatly, and even in routine papers we
may find deviations from the accepted form.
It can be explained by the fact that business is made by people, and not robots. A person’s individuality, as well as emotions and
feelings, more and more often peer into a cool and logical world of
business, creating new problems and possibilities of business English
functioning in texts of contracts and other documents.
We have also defined contract as a typical realisation of formal
business English which possesses the same stylistic features and
follows the same goals as other kinds of business correspondence.
Contents of contract also have specific clauses, and they ensure
division of contracts into certain types in accordance with a side
initiating a deal, a sphere of making a deal, types of goods and their
delivery terms. Very often a way of deliverance is encoded with the
help of special abbreviations. Contracts also possess remarkable
linguistic features revealed in their texts, and they are the subject
of Chapter 2.
Chapter 2. Linguistic peculiarities of contracts
2.1. Contract as a type of text and its stylistic characteristics
From the linguistic point of view, a contract is a type of a
document, because any agreement is a completed document fixing some
information. As a type of text, contract has its own specific
characteristics. Stylistic peculiarities of all document texts are:
1. concreteness, conciseness, clearness of the stated idea;
2. high capacity of information;
3. strict logic;
4. clear rhythm of sentences;
5. accenting on the main idea with the help of word repetitions;
6. absence of connotational information;
7. a special system of clichйs and stamps;
8. usage of abbreviations, conventional symbols and marks;
9. usage of terms in their direct semantic meaning; preferential usage of monosemantic words;
10. division of a text into chapters, paragraphs, points, often numbered (clear compositional structure of a document);
11. usage of definite syntactic models;
12. graphic decoration of a document: quality of paper, quantity and quality of illustrations, size and kind of print.
The main features of the style of contract are:
1. steady system of linguistic means in the text of contract;
2. lack of emotional colouring;
3. decoding character of language;
4. usage of a special symbolic system;
5. definite syntactic structure (the 12 above-enumerated items).
The style of contract defines some peculiarities and techniques of
its writing. Making contracts is different in some points from writing
business letters, such as an offer, an inquiry, a complaint, etc. Some
considerations important for business letters are not important for
contracts, and v.v. The main difference is that any contract is made
up by two contracting parties and contains information about many
subjects. So all points are to be approved by both parties. There are
certain clearly definable requirements for how to write contracts.
Generally, contracts should be formal, complete, clear, concrete, correct and concise.( In contracts all possible informational details
are not suitable. So, while writing contracts we must observe all
peculiarities of standard English grammar, vocabulary use and
stylistic appropriation. A formal contract or agreement requires
considerations of neatness and attractive arrangement. Completeness of
any contract suggests the scope of all significant facts that have
reference to the issue of the agreement. Actually, you are expected to
explain what, how, and when you are going to deal with your partner.
The next element, - clearness, - is one of the most important, because much depends on it. Clearness could be reached by the use of
simple short words, phrases and paragraphs where the both parties of a
contract explain their intentions and issues. Clearness of any
arguments actually defines your striking a deal or not.
The component which is closely connected with the previous one is
concreteness. Concreteness of a contract or an agreement is a part and
a parcel of any legal document. Besides that, the longer the document
is, the more attractive and vivid its contents should be.
The next two components are also significant. They are correctness
and conciseness. Correctness involves proper grammar use (tense-aspect
forms of the verb, verbals, articles, etc.), vocabulary use, punctuation and formal style. Grammar should be checked with a special
care, otherwise it may produce a poor impression of the document and
non-seriousness of your interests. Conciseness is usually achieved by
the use of minimum words to express maximum of information.
As it has been noted above, any contract should be simple and clear, concise and brief. Commercial correspondence often suffers from an old-
fashioned, pompous style of English which complicates the message and
gives the reader the feeling that he is reading a language he does not
understand. Though the language of contract is perhaps the most formal
among all kinds of business correspondence, and the vocabulary of such
correspondence is very specific, which is connected with its character
and a great number of legal terms, it should not be archaic. It should
be clear enough in its meaning.
The style, however, should not be too simple as it may become
discourteous and sound rude. Linguists (G. Leech, J. Svartvik, Ch.
Fries, O. Jespersen, M. Joos, I.V. Arnold, B.A. Ilyish, E.M. Gordon, etc.) recommend the following stylistic devices that might make
agreements and contracts more polite: complex sentences joined with
conjunctions are preferable, rather than short sentences; passive
constructions rather than active; full forms rather than abbreviated
forms, where necessary.
The right tone should be neutral, devoid of a pompous language on
one hand, and an informal or colloquial language on the other hand.
Therefore, inappropriate vocabulary, idioms, phrasal verbs are not
allowed at all.
The both contracting parties should not experience any difficulties
in obtaining information, they should be able to understand what is
written. Misunderstandings are caused by a lack of thought and care.
It may happen if we use a lot of abbreviations, figures and
prepositions.
Abbreviations are very useful, because they are very quick to write
and easy to read. But the both parties are expected to know what the
abbreviations stand for. If one of the partners is not absolutely
certain that the abbreviations are easily recognised he / she should
not use it.
The symbol &, which means in English and, is used in some terms like
C&F (Cost and Fright), C&I (Cost and Insurance). But is marked as # in
contract texts. The symbol № is used instead of the word number. In
American English the symbol # means number as well, but it is used in
different tables and graphics, and not in the text. It is never used, however, to denote numbers of houses.
Very often in contracts Latin abbreviations are used, for example
e.g. (for example), et al. (and others), etc. (and so on), v.v. (quite
the opposite), i.e. (that means). Also they use English abbreviations
ltd. (limited), Bros. (brothers), encl. (enclosed), dols. (dollars), etc. [4, P.45 – 46].
The use of figures instead of words for sums can create many
problems for people. To avoid any possibility of confusion, it is
necessary to write sums in both figures and words, e.g. $ 9.897.44
(nine thousand, eight hundred and ninety-seven dollars, forty-four
cents). It is also a norm to put only dollars (pounds, etc.) in words
and cents (pence, etc.) in figures only, e.g. $ 100.50 (one hundred
dollars and 50 cents). From the above-written it is clear that the
symbols Ј (pounds) and $ (dollars), in documents in particular, are
put before the sum and their usage is not of any mistake.
Spelling rules, punctuation and grammar use should all be checked
over thoroughly. Still, there are some other ways in which inaccuracy
may spoil the contract paper. A special attention should be paid to
titles, names, addresses, references, prices, specifications, enclosures, etc., which are also of a great importance in texts of
contracts.
2.2. Grammatical peculiarities of contracts
On the whole, grammar of any contract may be characterised as rather
simple and formal. Simple here means lack of diversity of variants
which occurs in every document which is not legal. As for the grammar
tenses which are used in agreements, the most widespread are the
Indefinite and the Perfect tenses, both in the Active and Passive
Voices. In many points their usage is already part and parcel. e.g. Sellers have sold and Buyers have bought… (Present Perfect)
The Agents shall bear all transport expenses from… (Future
Indefinite)
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