Is That That Bad?

December 18, 2007 by Chris · 1 Comment
Filed under: Lessons Learned

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I came across this post regarding a point of grammar that sometimes leaves me scratching my head. Is that always necessary? As the post points out, usage often decides its efficacy. That bad, that fat, that great all have their place. As a conjunction, one needs to look closer.

The example as given in the article makes perfect sense. It also brings to light an important aspect of revising. If you’re like me and I know I am, during the initial process of revising, my concentration is on the sound and flow of my work as I read it out loud and identify weak areas. Frankly, I’m not scrutinizing my work at that point to determine how my wording may or may not mislead a reader. My focus is style. Which brings me to the next point in my writing process.

Read a few writing blogs and sooner or later, you’ll stumble upon a post regarding strong versus weak words. I’ve inventoried those words, such as could, get, look, and walk. In an effort to view my work critically, I’ve searched through my list of weak words as they appear in my work. I am then taking the time to examine the sentence/paragraph structure and deciding if I can make it stronger. Sometimes it’s perfectly acceptable to say walk because a substitute like traipse while it will add variation, it may not convene the message properly or be too distracting. So, to my list of words to watch, I will add that.

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