English Language and Professional Communication
English Language and Professional Communication
This domain tests formal English for legislative and administrative work: modal verbs in legal text, concise correspondence, accurate summarising, and standard usage. It is not a literature test; precision and register matter.
Core rules
- 'Shall' in legal English imposes an obligation; 'may' grants discretion; 'must' states a requirement; 'should' is advisory.
- 'Provided that' introduces a condition or exception; 'subject to' makes a provision subordinate to another.
- Prefer active voice and parallel structure in professional writing; avoid 'and/or' where the statute can be drafted precisely.
- In correspondence, state the purpose, the requested action, and the deadline in the first paragraph; keep tone neutral and formal.
- Watch false friends and usage: 'comprise' takes the whole before the parts; 'compose' is the reverse; 'respectively' requires matching order.
Worked example
'The committee may, if it considers it necessary, request the Minister to submit relevant documents.' Here 'may' makes the request discretionary. If the intent is mandatory, write 'The committee shall request...' If the intent is to prohibit, write 'shall not.' A question asking which sentence creates a binding duty therefore turns on the modal, not on the politeness of the wording.
Traps
Do not treat 'shall' as a future tense in legal drafting. Do not use 'comprised of' in formal writing; use 'composed of.' Do not let a polite email bury the deadline. Avoid ambiguity in 'he informed his colleague that the bill had passed'-check pronoun reference.