Legal Writing

Word of the Day: Sift

By Daniel Scocco

Sift means to separate the fine part of a substance with a sieve. It can also be used figuratively, where it means to examine something closely.

As he talked, his wife, Setsuko, squatted in the ruin of the house. A small woman, she had a smudge of soot on her face as she carefully poked and sifted through a powdery ash, digging up wine glasses that had melted into misshapen lumps, uncovering shards of china, then moving on, foot by foot. (NY Times)

Instead, Mr Collins advocates old-fashioned management virtues such as determination, discipline, calmness under pressure and strategic decision-making based on careful sifting of the evidence. (The Economist)

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on December 10, 2009 (boomark / email).