如何起草一份优秀的合同
合同是约定当事人权利义务的正式文件,对英文合同中的语言的要求不同于一般基础英语或者文学作品.Martin Joos按照语言使用的正式程度提出了英语的五种变体,即庄重文体、正式文体、商议文体、随便文体和亲密文体.一般认为合同英语属于庄重文体,即文体中正式程度最高的一种.合同英语在词汇和句法等方面具有鲜明的文体特征.
如何起草一份优秀的合同
写完合同的初稿算是一项大工程取得了阶段性的胜利。不过这还不是放松的时候，你需要认真的检查初稿，改正错误和矛盾的地方。
1.Let your secretary or paralegal read it. Not only will your staff frequently find spelling and grammar errors missed by your word processor's spell checker, but they will find inconsistencies and confusing areas that you missed when drafting.
让你的秘书或者助手阅读你草拟的合同。你的同事不仅能帮你检查到你的文字处理软件没有查到的拼写和语法错误，而且他们还能发现你起草时没有察觉到的矛盾和混淆之处。
2.Check spelling, paragraph numbering, and cross references both manually and with your word processor's spelling and grammar checker. This almost goes without saying today, especially since Microsoft Word now checks your spelling and grammar as you type. (Unfortunately it also changes "per stirpes" to "per stupid" if you fail to watch it closely.) And now there are even computer programs that check contract documents for undefined terms. DealProof is packaged with Corel WordPerfect for law offices, and DocProofReader is available for download for MS Word 97 and 2000.
核实合同的拼写情况、段落序号以及上下文的注解，你可以自己手动来做，也可以用文字编辑软件中的拼写和语法检查功能来完成，特别是自从有了微软的word软件后，做这样的工作你似乎不要费多少精力(但机器有时也不可靠，如果你不看仔细，它就会把“per stirpes”改成 “per stupid”)。现在，有些专业的软件甚至可以帮你检测到合同中没有释义的术语，如：Corel公司专门为法律办公开发的文字处理软件包中的DealProof软件，还有可供word97和word2000下载安装的DocProofReader软件。
3. Stamp "Draft16/22/2000" on it. This may be the first of many drafts, so avoid confusion early by numbering and dating all drafts at the top of the first page. It is also a good idea to write "DRAFT" across the face of each draft to preclude the possibility of an impatient client signing a draft rather than waiting for the final version.
在合同上注明“第一稿于2000年6月22日”，第一稿完成后，可能还要草拟几个版本，为了避免他混淆，最好在每份草稿首页的顶部注上序号和起草时间。另外，在每一个版本的封面上注明“草稿”字样，也能够避免你那急躁的客户不等到最后的定稿文本就急于签字。
4. Let your client read it. Letting the client in on reading the first draft assures that your drafting will stay in tune with the client's wishes.
让你的客户读你草拟的合同。这样可以确保你起草的东西和客户的愿望相符。
5. Save the drafts as multiple files on your computer. If you save the first draft on your computer as two files, you will have one file identified as the first draft and the other identified as the current version. This can be done by naming the current version "contract" and the first draft as "contract.d1." Then, subsequent versions can be named "contract.d2", "contract.d3," etc., where the "d" in the extension indicates draft.
在电脑中将草拟的合同多保存几个复本。如果你将第一稿合同存了两份在电脑中，那么其中的一份可以用来存档，另一份则可以用来继续修改。用来存档的文件可以命名为“合同.草1”。用来修改的文件可以命名为“合同”。以此类推，以后修改的版本就命名为“合同.草2”，“合同.草3”，等等。带“草”字的扩展名表示此合同是草拟版本。
6. Compare the current version to prior versions. If you save draft versions, it is very easy to compare one version to another using the word processor's compare feature or using the CompareRite computer program. When you compare "contract.d1" to "contract.d2", save the comparison as "contract.c21" and print it to show the client what changes were made.
将当前的草拟版本和以前的版本进行比较。如果你存了很多个草拟版本，那么你就可以很容易地用文字处理软件或者是CompareRite软件来比较分析两个合同版本。当你用软件比较“合同.草1”和“合同.草2”两个版本时，最好将软件的分析结果打印出来给客户看，让他知道变化在哪里。