Saluting the death of "That"!

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Lyxdeslic

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While making another round of edits, I realized I had grossly misused the word "That". Thus, after hitting the delete key three-hundred-some-odd times, that is dead.

Anyone been there? -- Any word will do, I just need some relation here. :)

That, my friends, is all that I had to say. :)

Lyx
 

Siddow

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Yeah! Take THAT! that.

When you type it over and over, it just looks silly.

that that that that that that that that that that that that
 

kristie911

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I grossly misuse this word too. I have to remove hundreds of "that"s every time I edit something.

But I also find myself using it when speaking also, so it's not just when I write! :)
 

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Hmm. A problem I've never really had.

I'm learning Spanish, and the word "that" (well, Que) is essential to their sentence structure. It's so confusing trying to translate sentences back and forth.
 

rhymegirl

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Do you guys think that it is really a problem using "that" over and over such that it becomes really bothersome and that it starts to really get on your nerves and other people's nerves so that they don't even read what it is that you have to say?
 

maestrowork

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That, my friend, is something that I should applaud and that I should commend you for. That's cool.

That's all.
 

Kristin Landon

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Then that's that. By which I mean that "that," that that subset of writers that still lacks that particular insight is inclined to overuse.

You know, that "that."
 

maestrowork

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The reminds me of that stuttering fighter pilot from WWII...

"that that that that that that that and that's how they're all dead..."
 

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I used the word 'that' too much in my work but I've broken...that...habit. I think it has something to do with local speech habits. Since I've worked at keeping 'that' from creeping in my writing I've noticed people saying it often in everyday conversations.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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I've done manuscript reduction surgery on that, felt/feel, was, saw, look, were, -ly, -tion, up, down and by. I've also done it to remove all unneccesary usage of character names.
 

AnneMarble

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While making another round of edits, I realized I had grossly misused the word "That". Thus, after hitting the delete key three-hundred-some-odd times, that is dead.

Anyone been there? -- Any word will do, I just need some relation here. :)
Oh my yes. I didn't realize it until I ran one of those grammar programs that listed my most frequently used words. (I no longer have that program as it was on a floppy, but luckily, our own Roger J. Carlson has a macro that does the same thing, available here. :D)

When I set out to delete huge herds of "thats," it feels like machine gun fire. That-that-that-that-a-that.
 

Inky

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...that that that that's all folks

or

....all folks....

Nope..sometimes...gotta have that in there so that it fits or makes that final statement all that and a bag of chips!:D

Now...how 'bout them commas????
 

swvaughn

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That who is about to die salutes you. :D
 

Lyxdeslic

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I've done manuscript reduction surgery on that, felt/feel, was, saw, look, were, -ly, -tion, up, down and by. I've also done it to remove all unneccesary usage of character names.
Awesome list, Dev. Call me a dork, but I've copied and pasted this list to a new document just to...keep me aware during this hair-pulling editing process I'm goin' through right now.

As stated, I've axed that, but I, too, have killed a lot of felts, were, lys and bys. I'll have to check on the others though. :) Good list!

Lyx
 

Devil Ledbetter

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Awesome list, Dev. Call me a dork, but I've copied and pasted this list to a new document just to...keep me aware during this hair-pulling editing process I'm goin' through right now.

As stated, I've axed that, but I, too, have killed a lot of felts, were, lys and bys. I'll have to check on the others though. :) Good list!

Lyx
I almost forgot, just should be on the hit list as well.
 

Lyxdeslic

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Inky

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Awesome list, Dev. Call me a dork, but I've copied and pasted this list to a new document just to...keep me aware during this hair-pulling editing process I'm goin' through right now.

As stated, I've axed that, but I, too, have killed a lot of felts, were, lys and bys. I'll have to check on the others though. :) Good list!

Lyx

Add 'as' to that list. I've a passle of editor friends who, for kicks, decided to start a game of how many 'as' they could find in a manuscript. You don't want to know what the winner ended up getting...but they HATE when 'as' is used for examples...as if one can't figure out a good enough verb, so, as usual, they over explain that which should just be rewritten or deleted.:Ssh:
 

Lyxdeslic

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Oh my yes. I didn't realize it until I ran one of those grammar programs that listed my most frequently used words. (I no longer have that program as it was on a floppy, but luckily, our own Roger J. Carlson has a macro that does the same thing, available here. :D)

When I set out to delete huge herds of "thats," it feels like machine gun fire. That-that-that-that-a-that.
:) Glad to see others can relate, Anne. Thanks for the link as well.

Lyx
 
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