Tags
Self-editing, Strong vs Weak Words, Strong Words, Weak Verbs, Weak Words, writers, writing, Writing Advice, writing tips
“Took” and “take” are two more innocuous words that pop-up while we aren’t looking.
Sentences with “took” and “take” are fine, grammatically correct, and readable, but look what happens when you reword the sentences.
Robin took the time to show me how to use strong words.
Isn’t she generous with her wisdom?
Robin showed me she knows what she is talking about.
~~~~~
I took one look at Robin’s post about strong words and knew I found a winner.
Have you been drinking?
I looked at Robin’s post about strong words and un-followed her.
~~~~~
She took editing tips and wove them into interesting posts.
Scotch at ten in the morning?
She wove editing tips into tedious posts.
~~~~~
Robin’s talent takes me by surprise.
Or is it gin? Gin makes you crazy, you know.
Robin’s ineptitude surprises me.
~~~~~
Don’t take the blame for weak writing.
Aw, come now . . . your writing isn’t weak.
Don’t blame yourself for weak writing. Blame Robin’s advice.
~~~~~
I decided to take on the job of writing Robin’s Strong vs Weak
Word series.
Phew.
I decided to write Robin’s entire blog.
Ahem . . . Shouldn’t that be, “Run like you stole something?”
P. S. A huge thank you for your kind wishes on yesterday’s post for my daughter’s safety in the Army. Your comments are making today much easier.
Robin Coyle 
Took, ugh, I had a few. Ok, more than a few.
Hey Kate . . . give me an example of how “as” was a problem for you and how you fixed them. If you don’t mind . . .
Pingback: Strong vs Weak Words ~ Part 20 « Robin Coyle
You’re right: took/take are such unusual words. ‘Take a seat’. Okay, where shall I take it to? Lol. 🙂
I’d say take it down to the beach and enjoy a little sunshine and cocktail with an umbrella in it.
Nice plan… I might just do that if this rain ever lets up!
Mind you, I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain… 😉
(Do you know that track?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZuVHQcZlNA
Oh of course I do. About as cheesy as it gets.
I am hearing about your endless rain. Here? Supposed to be 105 degrees today. Ugh.
Woomf – I couldn’t stand that heat! Oh no! 😦 Give me the rain any day!
I should have said 105 at home in Sacramento. That is why I beat a hasty retreat to our cabin near Lake Tahoe (1 1/2 hours from home) where it was a lovely 85 yesterday.
Pingback: Strong vs Weak Words ~ Part 19 « Robin Coyle
Robin. I feel the need to update you. I am going through the list, bit by bit. So far, I have gone through the first 15 weak words that you have warned us about. I didn’t take the time to count how many of each one I had. However, I have deleted approximately 2,000 words from my novel. Now, mind you, that isn’t a straight number of weak words. But once I targeted the weak word, I had to reconstruct the sentence thereby affecting the word count total.
The worst offender so far has been ‘it’.
I’m still trudging along.
I know what you mean about reconstructing the sentence, and also the surrounding sentences while taking out the weak words and putting in strong words. My WIP is down about 3,000 words. In some (many?) cases, the whole sentence was dumped because upon examination, it wasn’t very good at all, didn’t drive the story forward, or bogged down the good sentence next to it.
“It” about did me in. I think I spent the better part of 3 days working on “it” but I am so glad I did. While hard to put a finger on exactly, the story feels richer because of the “it” rewrites.
Thanks for the update. I’ve been curious about whether folks are tackling their WIP with the series as a guidepost.
Never thought about it before! I will take your advice. hmmm. .. I will heed your advice? Er. . .thanks! 🙂
Ha ha! Good one!
I have collected all the words so far and this next weekend I am going to go combing through with my hand find button and see what stands out.
Let me know how it goes. I am curious to hear if perchance I am the only person with these issues.
While I was reading your post, I was listening to Foghat – Slow Ride playing thru YouTube (as a result of http://mydadsalbums.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/pure-rock/ ), and the lyrics “slow ride, take it easy” mean the words “took” and “take” will be forever linked to the tune, making it so easy to remember 🙂
Your comment transported me back to high school when “Slow Ride” came out. Ok . . . now I am dating myself. Darn.
I’d edit this one: “I looked at Robin’s post about strong words and un-followed her.”
I’d say: “I contemplated Robin’s post and used her advice for my own writing.”
😉
How sweet you are!
LOL Run like you took something. That cracked me up.
Nike advocating thievery at its finest.
I never thought of this on my own — I’m so glad you’ve done these!
Ha ha! I’m glad you don’t dislike me for these.
OMG – I’m a photo blogger not a writer – now I’m even more inhibited! Love your blog! Hope I spelled this all right!
Ha ha! Oh no! Don’t be inhibited! You made me laugh tho.
P.S. Speling lok gud two mee.
Another good one. I thought my manuscript would be pretty good with this. I was wrong. Thanks for adding another one to my list. I think. 🙂
Sorry 🙂
I have a vision of writers reading these posts and waving a clenched fist at their computer and shouting “Curse you Robin Coyle!” Or, saying, “Ha! That is NOT a problem for me, so THERE!”
Problem a little of both. 😉 But mostly, just gratitude. 🙂
Sweet of you to say.
Ha ha! I curse and wave a clenched fist at myself!
thanks for this reminder. Do you know I actually did a beta read for someone recently who used the word ‘take’ or some form of it over 200 times in her novel? Not only that, she also used the word ‘tooken’ four times. LOL! She was mortified when I pointed those out to her. It gave us a huge laugh.
Seriously, “tooken?” Didn’t her spell check catch that?! That is hysterical. Sounds like she was a good sport tho.
Good one. I never think about took or take. They are invisible words to me! Interesting “take” on this issue. ; )
They are invisible but so much better when “taken” out.
Here we go again . . . talking in code.
Hmmm maybe they ‘took’ something of a medicinal nature I can’t decide which would be worse for them to be suggesting lol
Good point. Or maybe they “took” drugs and then stole sneakers to support their habit.
What a tough cookie you are. One the one hand, my vocabulary is shrinking, on the other, I’m reworking words I vaguely remember . . . Teehee.
That means your vocabulary is growing, not shrinking, right?
*Bangs head against desk*
How many looks can these characters take???? ARGH!
Sorry darlin,’ “just” doing my job.
Don’t bang your head. You will give yourself a headache and I will need to come put a cold compress on your forehead.
I’ve been editing out “try/tried” in one manuscript. Unless the character then says he failed, it’s coming out. Jack timed how long it took Landry to disappear. He didn’t “just” try!
Try/tried is on my list to add to the Strong vs. Weak Word series. In the same post I’ll write about “attempt/ed” as well. When I was editing, I started out with 11 “trys” and whittled it down to 4.
Have you looked at “attempt?”
I’m good there. Only two and they’re for “attempted temporal violations.”
Very good! I had 17 and I am now down to 9 but it is where she “attempts” something and fails.