Table 1

Tropes: maximally divergent terms by Mann-Whitney Rho (MWR) score. An MWR score close to 0 means that a term is used consistently more often by the defence, a score close to 1 means the term is consistently used more often by plaintiffs.

Defence attorneys will often say:Plaintiffs’ attorneys will often say:
DefencePlaintiffsMWRDefencePlaintiffsMWR
plaintiff43065360.06they knew14822390.96
quit smoking29754350.07they43 56219 4440.96
quit11 66839220.08what they did577740.95
s/he never19152360.09their419392400.91
Mr/Mrs/Ms32 91215 5140.10doubt41115500.89
decision/s28577610.12drug1289450.88
smoking19 70711 4190.13they were161638750.88
smoking is/was dangerous236310.13product59922320.87
risk/s25807910.14our116831250.87
warning/s28648130.14truth15012920.87
  • P values <0.0001 for all MWR values.

  • This table excludes highly similar terms: ‘plaintiff’ is included, for example, but ‘the plaintiff’ and ‘plaintiff has’ are excluded.

  • MWR, Mann-Whitney Rho.