![]() ![]() Some states follow an eighth-grade grammar test for construing the legislative intent behind a penal provision. Although the issue rarely arises in published opinions, it offers an argument for use of a more strict or more lenient construction and a harder or simpler use of words and sentence construction in a factually-appropriate case. Similarly, what is ordinary for a native-speaking French or Chinese person will differ greatly from what is ordinary for someone educated in the United States in an English-speaking family. If one party or one juror only graduated from the sixth grade, however, what is ordinary for that individual may be markedly different from what is ordinary for a college-educated person. If the judge, parties, attorneys, witnesses and jurors all have approximately the same level of education, then it is reasonable to speak of ordinary rules of grammar. Many cases speak of construing a statute or contract according to the ordinary rules of grammar, simple grammar, usual grammar rules, and the like.
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