On the day of

Question

I'm editing a contract, and I need to make the second sentence of the following clause easier to understand:

"Additional time may be added to up to 7 days prior to the event date if available and will incur additional cost. Additional time is not available on the day of the event."

The way we have it written is confusing to the client. How can I make "on the day of the event" understood as the future present?

Thanks,

Jennifer

Clive · Accepted Answer

How about this?

Additional time will not be available on the day of the event.

Mr D · Answer

Clive's suggestion is a good one, but I would make one slight change to it.

As you know, Jennifer, legal contracts need to be incredibly explicit in order for them to be enforceable. I'm not a lawyer, but I do know that.

And, as it stands, the second sentence merely makes one simple assertion about the future state of things. There will be no additional time on that day. Well... what if there is additional time? What then?

I would suggest, "Additional time will not be made available on the day of the event." This construction asserts that even if "additional time" is available, it won't be time that can be used.

I'm more concerned with that first sentence, frankly.

"Additional time may be added to up to 7 days prior to the event date if available and will incur additional cost."

Who incurs the additional cost? The sentence doesn't say. That's a problem.

On the day of

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