Unit 9c Book

As explained above, Unit 9c first deals with the language of contracts in terms of vocabulary. So, in the first part of this unit, you are going to come across a lot of legal terms either as part of some vocab matching exercises, or as part of listening/reading comprehension tasks.

First, complete this task to make sure you understand some basic legal terms. Then try to recall the context of Unit 9a. Do you remember? In that unit, the representative of Sigma Systems was offering a smart solution to a client, the company Widgett & Sons, which needs to have their company fully automated and secure. Before installing the automated system, the two companies need to sign a contract to make the terms and conditions clear. To prepare a draft contract, the Widgett director is now discussing its contents with the head of his legal team.  As you will see in this task, the contract terms are going to be full of conditions to be fulfilled, and you are simply asked to match each condition with its consequence. While completing this task, you can listen to the related recording, recording 25, if you wish.  Finally, you are going to see some extracts from the finished written contract in this reading comprehension task. This will give you an opportunity to compare formal legal terms with everyday language expressions. While reading, notice that the modal “shall” is used in legal documents where we would normally use “will”. “Shall” sounds more formal and adds a sense of obligation. However, “shall” in this context is not always used these days. For obligation, “must” is often used; for future time, “will”.