Tags
Overused Words, Overusing the Word Had, Overusing the Word Have, Strong vs Weak Words, Strong Words, Weak Words, writers, writing, Writing Advice, writing tips
“I’ve HAD it up to here with the word HAD,” she said while drawing an imaginary knife across her throat.
Today’s words of the day are, you guessed it, “had” and her kissing-cousin “have.” My novel was littered with them.
Many (too many to count) of my “had’s” and “haves” were tossed out with the bathwater. I give you the following examples:
I had breakfast.
Big deal. Me too.
I threw up my breakfast.
I ate breakfast with Superman.
I inhaled my breakfast.
~~~~~
She had questions for me.
Yawn.
She pommeled me with questions.
~~~~~
She had red hair.
What? Is she now bald?
Her red hair glowed like a match-tip.
~~~~~
I have a bossy dachshund.
Really? He should meet William.
My bossy dachshund thinks he owns me.
~~~~~
The problem I have is ______________.
You fill in the blank, but please be nice.
My problem is abuse of the words “had” and “have.”
If you will excuse me, I’m off to do hours of editing.
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
- Strong vs Weak Words – Part 4 for the words GO and GOING
- Strong vs Weak Words – Part 5 for the words ALWAYS and NEVER
- Strong vs Weak Words – Part 6 for the words PRETTY, SURE, and CERTAIN
- Moldy Verbs, Adverbs, and Intensifiers
Robin Coyle 
I really like these examples. They are going to make me analyze my WIP even more closely to see if I can fire up some of my “have” statements. Thanks!
I’m so glad you stopped by William. The series is well-received and I am putting them all in a book. A one-stop-shop for finding weak words and how to replace them with robust-pull-their-own-weight words!
Yeah I really like that. Many times I get stuck on a word, and I hammer and hammer and hammer away at it. Even the thesaurus can be a hindrance, and what’s disappointing is that it’s not that I don’t “know” the word that I want to use. It’s just that I can’t conjure it up in that “free-writing” mode.
So many words sneak into our writing. They hid in perfectly fine sentences, but when ferreted out, the sentences are SO MUCH BETTER!
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I have had a wonderful time here this morning.
It was lovely having you. Come back soon!
Pingback: Strong vs Weak Words – Part 11 « Robin Coyle
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It’s like a work out for my WIP. You’re whipping it into shape, Robin.
I hope you don’t hate me because of it!
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Robin, I appreciate these posts so much. Had is one of those verbs that wants to sneak in between the writer and good writing. Great post!
Well thank you so much! I am tickled by the positive response. Stay tuned because there will be more!
I have dedicated a page of my notebook to your posts. 🙂
This is one of the biggest culprits in my writing. Until I did the *seek and destroy* I didn’t realise how many times I used them both. Damn!
I am flattered Pete! Coming from you, that means a ton because I know what a talented writer you are. My “hads” and “haves” were in the hundreds until I slashed and burned most of them. Like you, and again, I thought . . . this isn’t a problem for perfect moi! Ha!
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This is a pet peeve of mine … the ‘had’s.’ I am a member of a writer’s critique group, and it drives me crazy when I have to critique submissions with lots of the words “had” and “had been.” I’ve had some writers in my group hand in submission after submission without cleaning those up first. We’re just there to help each other find last minute issues, not all that messy passive stuff. Usually, those are the writers that end up leaving the group because they can’t keep up with those who continually improve their work, like you are doing here. Good job. BTW, in case you missed it, I wrote a blog about how I used too many pronouns a while back.
http://loreezlane.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/everyone-writes/
I didn’t know how much the haves and hads bug me until I learned how ubiquitous they are. Damn little words. Tell me more about your critique group . . .
I’ll check out your pronoun blog. Oh no. Something new for me to worry about?
Hey Robin ~ My writer’s group was formed through the Florida Writer’s Assoc. There are local chapters of critique groups all over the state. I joined it over 4 years ago and have since become the leader of our local chapter. It’s wonderful and difficult all at the same time. Getting critiqued isn’t always easy. We critique each other, so we must be careful how we choose our words when using constructive criticism. Sometimes there are personality conflicts, and being the leader of the group can be a challenge. However, it was time I stepped up and took on that challenge. Here is a link to a little something I wrote about the group on my blog.
http://loreezlane.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/thank-you-to-my-favorite-writers/
When you mix personalities, egos, and criticism (no matter how constructive), it can make for hurt feelings and conflict. How good of you to take charge. I am heading over to check out the post on your group and will also see if there is a local chapter in our area. I am NOT submitting any work to them UNTIL I fix my “hads” and “haves!”
Thanks, Robin. Hope you find something that works for you. Sounds like you’re doing great with the editing process of weak & strong words. 🙂
I cleaned some out earlier, but there are more to go. Just “have” to make sure I don’t accidentally delete them when they’re part of the past perfect tense!
The “haves” and “have-nots” are keeping me busy this afternoon!
Hi,
Yes, I tend to use “had” a lot as well, your examples are excellent.
A very busy time for you editing, I hope you still get time to enjoy a bit of the weekend. 🙂
It is hard to come up with short and sweet examples without creating other gaffes and causing people to shout at me “some advice-giver you are lady!”
We are headed to our cabin so I shall be able to enjoy the weekend. Hope you have a good one. Happy Friday!
UGH! These are two of my most frequent rule breakers! Ouch not again.
Sorry! I had hundreds. HUNDREDS! I am learning how to fix them tho.
Yep. Got a lot of those. 🙂
I stopped counting mine when I reached over 100 and the little elevator thing-y wasn’t moving far down the document.
… Thnx. I have it now. I wish I had it before THAT post 😉
Sorry. Let me know what you find so I don’t feel so bad about my writing.
No need for sorry, after I wrote it I felt “have” was an obvious for your list. You’ve helped my awareness, technical writing skills & my level of comfort that comes from having tools. I look out for those words, watch my repetition, and take my time usually but it was a response to a tag post and until later I didn’t think I cared. I was wrong 🙂