What’s wrong with this sentence?
In this legal procedure we are going to use the statement of the former advisor and we will request him to testify.
Actually, there are a few issues in this sentence. The one that leaps out at the reader is the use of “legal procedure” instead of “legal proceedings” or just “proceedings”.
Other alternatives: litigation, lawsuit, suit or action.
Proceeding or proceedings?
The word is usually used in its plural form. Even though “proceedings” is plural, it can refer to a single lawsuit or even a single step in a lawsuit.
However, “proceeding” is correct, and can be used in the same sense. Some are under the mistaken impression that “proceeding” used in this sense is always wrong. Not so! There are plenty of examples of this use of “proceeding” in the statutory drafting of English-speaking countries. If the context is right, one could use “bankruptcy proceedings” or “bankruptcy proceeding”.
Greg Korbee (Originally published in December 2013. Republished in December 2018.)
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