January 06, 2005
Nitpicking about writing

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a writer. I would spend hours writing stories and "novellas" (in quotes, because I don't think I ever actually finished anything longer than what qualifies for a short story). In fifth grade I had a Polish teacher who felt style was a very important aspect of writing. Translate this into fifth grade world where most kids were lucky to form a coherent paragraph! That year was a joy for me -- I felt my ability to write well (for an 11 year old anyway) was finally appreciated! My short essays span far longer than assigned wordage and my imagination was unrestrained.

That is the very same teacher responsible for an affliction I've had ever since. Over use of words. If a word is used more than once in a sentence or paragraph (and it isn't out of necessity) it bothers me. Much like the reaction to a nail dragged across a blackboard. That badly.

What brought this on? I just read a comment in another weblog that used the word "dreadful" in three separate sentences. One after another.

Use a thesaurus people! Otherwise it's just dreadful!

Posted January 06, 2005 09:29 AM in Blogging
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Comments
On January 6, 2005 10:11 AM jfc added:

Hahahaha. Dreadful.

Good point. So... are you going to post these "novellas" for all of us to read? Or maybe you could post more recent short stories?

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On January 6, 2005 10:46 AM fluffy added:

Regarding your last paragraph, "people" is already plural. Unless you're referring to multiple groups of people.

This is also stylistic, but you probably should have a comma after "thesaurus."

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On January 6, 2005 10:49 AM kasia added:

That was a typo :)

I really should start using a spell checker.

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On January 6, 2005 11:07 AM Lynne added:

My son loves to write poems, every spare moment he's composing a little verse. I entered him into a contest a few months a go and we've just got word his poem will be published. I hope he never loses his love of writing, it has a calming effect on him not to mention the fact it's one of the few occasions he's actually sat down quietly and not getting in my way.

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On January 6, 2005 02:01 PM Lance Lavandowska added:

I have the same affliction, though I've always blamed it on my English Teacher grandmother (passed through my mother).

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On January 6, 2005 04:03 PM Dave added:

"That badly." Is that a complete sentence??

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On January 7, 2005 11:49 AM Zher0 added:

My head explodes when someone writes 'nite' when the mean 'night', or 'lite' when they mean 'light'.
*shudders*

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