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Workshop 10

Page history last edited by cduprey1616@... 13 years, 2 months ago

Habit Words

In this workshop you'll learn how to find those pesky words you don't even realize are your favorites. We all have them. Writers get stuck in ruts they don't even know are there and getting rid of these words in your writing will make your descriptions more vivid, your characters more alive and your dialogue more realistic. There are three parts to this workshop:

First up, E-prime language -- Click here to re-listen to Taylor Mali's wonderful attempt at speaking in Eprime

Second up, Microsoft Word

1. Open one of the stories you wrote.

2. Do a quick word count and write down the number of words you have thus far (if you've forgotten how to do this, click here for directions).

3. In the lower right-hand corner of your screen is a small white circle. Click on it for a menu of choices. Choose the binoculars.

4. In the textbox that appears, type the word you want to look for (typical habit words include "was", "were", "begin", "had").

5. Be sure the box marked "Hightlight all items found in" is checked and that the drop-down box beneath it reads "Main Document".

6. Choose "Find all"

7. The number of times you've used that word will appear (note in the video below I've WAY overused the word "was").

8. Close the textbox but BE CAREFUL NOT TO CLICK ANYWHERE ON THE WHITE PAGE OR YOU'LL HAVE TO DO STEPS 3-7 AGAIN!!!

9. Go up to your highlight icon and click it to color in all the uses of that word.

10. Finally, do a save and keep those highlighted so you can go back and edit them out at your leisure.

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Third up, Wordle assignment

Using the same manuscript as you have above, copy and paste it into the open box on the Wordle site. Submit and stand back! You'll find out in a split second what other words you use far too often. Print it out and turn in to Mrs. Duprey. When she returns it to you, use the diagram to edit your story. Don't forget you can use the "Find" feature you learned about above to help you with that.

Fourth up, Extra Credit Challenge

Challenge time! I hereby challenge you to write a short, one- to two- paragraph piece using Eprime. This can be a piece that will later go into a previously existing work.