That, There and Then

by Laura on September 19, 2010

in Writing Exercises

From Self Editing Tips #2 on Write Anything:

Annihilate the words ‘that’, ‘then’ , ‘there are’ or ‘there is’ or ‘to be.’ . Its a rare piece of text which requires either of these words to show up regularly or as a valuable or necessary participant. There are always better ways to write sentence without having to use those phrases.

The words ‘that’ and ‘there’ are two I try to watch for in my own writing. I know I over use them. Practice taking them out as you are writing. You can see how your writing has more punch when you eliminate these space takers. There are some words, like these, which wind you down rather than wind things up.

Word Grrls is my mad science experiment, my adventures with fame and world domination (politely). This is where I inspire people to create: invent mutations, cause change, bring colour into your world. Web writer since 1998. Find me on StumbleUpon , and Tumblr.

Facebook Twitter Google+ Flickr 

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: