The Land of That! Or "How to give yourself a heart attack...

1. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   ... without even trying..."
   
   Proceed to one of your longer hubs you are proud of.
   
   Do a browser search for the word, "that".
   
   I'm busily cleaning mine up as we speak.
   
   And that is that.

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      moonlakeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Do you mean a search through your hub for the word "that"?

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      1. 59

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yep. In Chrome for example, they will all turn up bright yellow.

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2. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Kind of odd. Some of my hubs had only 2 or 3 redundant "that"'s. And then there were a couple that had around 15 each. I submit there may be a correlation between frequency of redundant "that"'s and stress/fatigue. Interesting. At any rate, throwing out reduntant "that"'s really does class up a hub. I'm not kidding. Happy Days.

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3. 60

   ytsenohposted 11 years ago

   Totally agree.  "That" is an overly overused word that is not always necessary.  Try reading a sentence you have it in without it and if it reads great, then leave it out.

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4. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 11 years ago

   The word, was, is another no no. And that was that.... ouch, like fingernails on a chalk board.

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5. 61

   Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

   Just out of curiosity I randomly went to one of my 2400-word Hubs - one "that". 
   Then I went to a 5400-word Hub - one "that".
   
   The thought occurred to me to quit while I was ahead, so I did.  I'm just going to assume that over-using "that" doesn't happen to be among my own "collection" of "writing misdeeds".     (Actually, I've been making it a point, in more recent stuff, to use "that" more often.   Some sentences just kind of look "too abrupt" (or something) without it.  Maybe my "one-'that'-in-thousands-of-words" is actually a sign that I have, in fact, not been using the word often enough.    )
   
   One thing I may check my own stuff for, though, is "of course".  I battle with "of course" all the while I'm writing.     A spin-off "exercise" for this thread might be for each writer to check for the words/phrases that he knows tend to be his own "demons".  (I just chose to use "that" just then because it seemed more right     ).   (I also struggle with "in any case" and "in any event".)

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6. 93

   FatFreddysCatposted 11 years ago

   Suddenly I have a Hall & Oates song going through my head:
   
   "I can't go for THAT... whoa, nooo... no can do
   No, I can't go for THAT..."

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   1. 0

      Brenda Durhamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Or Meatloaf
      ♫"I would do anything for love.......but I won't do that...........No I won't do that"..........♫.

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7. 66

   cfinposted 11 years ago

   "AS". If any of you write fiction, see how many times you write that word. The other one is "while"...... as he wiped a tear from his sun dried cheek.

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8. 90

   GA Andersonposted 11 years ago

   I must be missing something, or else it does not work for Firefox
   
   I pulled up a hub, put "that" in the browser search - bingo! serps for "that."  wiki, dicts, etc.
   
   GA

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Press cntrl F, then "highlight all'.  I find 43 "that"s in 3100 words.  Too many, that's for sure, and that makes it plain that I some work cut out in fixing that particular problem that I seem to have in spades.
      
      I hate paradigm people...

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9. 67

   theluckywriterposted 11 years ago

   Instead of counting the "that"s...just read your hub and see how it flows! Some words - that, the, a, is, was, and, it - turn up time and time again, but that doesn't mean that they're "bad". They're building blocks of language. So long as a word isn't jarring in how often it's repeated, then I say don't worry about it!
   
   It's like fiction writers who feel the need to replace "said" and "say" with other verbs. No. Just...don't.

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10. 61

    Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

    In fairness to all "that" over-users, though...
    
    
    Isn't there a difference between American and UK English when it comes to using "that"?  I was under the impression THAT (;rolleyes:) aiming to eliminate "that" is mostly an American thing.  I imagine someone else can clarify if there's such a difference between (at least) the two different countries.

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