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Overused Words, Overusing the Verb Go, Overusing the Verb Going, Strong Verbs, Strong vs Weak Words, Strong Words, Weak Verbs, Weak Words, writers, writing, Writing Advice, writing tips
Just when you thought you were safe from me spewing pesky words to look for in your writing, I bring you two more.
“Go”
And her boring alter ego
“Going”
Here are examples of how these two little words can suck the lifeblood out of a sentence:
I go shopping for cheap shoes.
That is a lie. I love expensive shoes.
I shop for cheap shoes
~~~~~~~
Let’s go to London by boat to see the Queen.
For her Golden Jubilee perchance? (How British of me.)
Let’s sail to London to see the Queen.
~~~~~~~
I am going to have to edit my novel after reading Robin’s wise advice.
Do you mean Robin’s wisecracks?
I must edit my novel after Reading Robin’s wisecracks.
~~~~~~~
I am going to keep the momentum going.
Would you just be “going” already? Geez.
I will keep up the momentum.
Granted, those sentences are not up for a Nobel Prize in Literature, but I think you can get the point.
I’m embarrassed to tell you how many “go’s” and “going’s” I edited out of my novel. However, I will tell you, if you tell me what you find.
For advice on other words that sneak into your writing, clink on the links below:
- I Have a Problem with “That”
- Sneaky Little Words for the word GOT
- Strong vs Weak Words for the word WENT
- Strong vs Weak Words – Part 2 for the word PEOPLE
- Strong vs Weak Words – Part 3 for the words THING and STUFF
- Moldy Verbs, Adverbs, and Intensifiers
As the photo says . . .
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As a native Texan, we would never say “am going.” Instead, we’re always “fixin’ to.”
I am fixin’ to go over to Robin’s house.
Y’all come over, y’hear? I’m fixin to make some BBQ.
You got it! lol
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I’ve noticed how many times “just” and “had” appears as well. It’s frightening.
You are so right. Here is another one. “Even.” As in, “I EVEN HAD to JUST GO to the store.” Ouch.
No apostrophe in the picture – EEK! 🙂
Yes, Go is great… funny how often people say “like” in everyday conversation… Oh, how to curb that, I wonder? I like think that something, like, really has to be done about that, like soon, right? 🙂
Like, no kidding.
He he he! 🙂
Another word to avoid… Way to GO, Robin! Or should that be, well done Robin?
(seriously, you are absolutely right!)
I rather like the expression “Way to go.” I say we keep it. Makes us sound like cheerleaders.
By the way, I’m not telling you how many time go appears. I am still fixing the want and the people, not to mention the things.
I would love someone to read that comment out of context, Kate – so funny. You sound like you’re on a mission! 🙂
Haha, ohhh how many ways we could apply that, Katy.
What a crack up.
Darn. I wanted to know!
WordPress is automatically notifying us of follow up comments unless we uncheck the little box at the bottom of the comment section. Annoying. I have not been unchecking and have masses of emails today. I am “going” to have to remember to check. Or should that be, I’ll remember to uncheck the box.
I am “going” to do that too because I am drowning! HELP!
Like Carrie, most of mine are in dialogue. But it wouldn’t hurt to lose some of them!
Is anyone else “going crazy” with the change WordPress made on the default for “notify me of follow-up comments via email”? I don’t want all those emails! Does anyone know how to change the defaul to unchecked?!
I’m so glad you said that! I almost blogged about the weird things WordPress has been doing over the past couple of days! It has poltergeists! Comments ending up in strange places, emails about comments by others on blogs I follow, etc. Thanks for brining it up . . . anxious to hear what others have to say about this issue. WordPress tech support doesn’t “support” us lowly free users.
Oh, and I think “going” crazy in this case is perfectly acceptable. I know I am!
I just went over to the forums, and there are numerous complaints about it. It’s a sitewide issue. The forum volunteers have been contacting WordPress techs about it. Hopefully this is a glitch from whatever other changes they’re doing in the background.
Ah. Good to know. Thank you Detective McDowell.
Maybe I’m picking up some tips from one of my mains—Detective Jack Trainer. 🙂
Cue the “Twilight Zone” music. This morning one of the comments in my spam queue was from you — talking about following Jack Trainer. I moved it out of spam. WP said it was posted on my award page. When I tried to get to it, WP said the page couldn’t be found. Of course, the page is there where it’s supposed to be! But there’s no comment. Somebody at WP has messed things up big time in this latest round of revisions!
Sorry, Jack doesn’t have his own blog, so I’m afraid you can’t follow up. He did have a guest post on mine, though…. 🙂
That is crazy. I hope they fix the problems soon. Get this . . . one of MY comments to a reader’s comment on MY blog ended up in MY spam folder. As if I don’t receive enough span without spamming myself. Geez.
I’ll look for Jack’s post on your blog.
Now that’s just plain bad programming or whatever. But at least the comments have defaulted back to unchecked for the email replies!
Good one! I have a lot of ‘going’ popping up all over and I would have sworn I NEVER use it. Little did I know. It’s such a common habit.
I would have sworn the same thing. Now nice to tidy my words up a bit. Glad you found this one helpful!
Hi,
This sounds easy, but this for me would be a bit harder, I am certainly not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. 🙂
I love the photo, it is perfect.
I’m not sure what you mean. What would be harder?
I always seem to use the words go or going. I love “going” to places etc. or I will “go” one day, even speaking I use these 2 words a awful lot. 😀
Ok, I just did it. I panicked when I saw all of the times ‘go’ came up, but then when I looked through the highlighted text, it included words like ego, good, etc. So that made me feel better. But I still have far too many ‘going’s. In my defense, it looks like they are mostly in dialogue to simulate how people really talk, but now that I’m aware of it, I’ll pay close attention to it the next time I go through my manuscript. Who needs an editor when they have you? Keep it coming. You’re adding to my editing checklist. 🙂
I did my search for “go” with a space in front and in back of it so it just founds the “go” words. I think all of the “going’s” I kept were in dialogue too.
Ha ha! You flatter me with the editor comment but I do have some more up my sleeve!
Uh, oh…