To Wit is Human: Legalwriting.net has moved here. Wayne reminds us about a few words and phrases that should be banished from legal writing (and most other writing for that matter) and includes “to wit.” This is a pity. I always liked “to wit” and never really lumped it in with some of the real horrors, to wit, “wherefore premises considered” and “witnesseth” that Wayne mentions. Bryan Garner agrees with Wayne, re “to wit,” but I like it. It’s useful, adds variety without obfuscation, and has a nice sound about it. I feel the same way about “verbing.” I’d object a lot more to the habit people have of turning nouns into verbs if it didn’t result in so many wonderful and sometimes funny words. But then there are those pesky adverbs. I made a t-shirt for an ex many years ago that read, “to verb is human, to adverb divine.” We were living in England at the time. At that time the English still USED adverbs, but they are much harder to find there now.