How to Earn Your Ph.D. in Find/Replace

Or how to get damn good at using that Microsoft Word Function in undreamed of ways, to improve over ©Grammarly’s spotty performance and become master of your own editing

Is there anyone so dependent on Grammarly that they follow that giant genius of grammar’s dictates of without challenge?

I certainly hope not.

[I’ll get back to that because it’s “key” to my contention that there is a better way, but I need to digress a moment. If you read that first paragraph you may have wondered why I italicized “they.” I wanted to draw attention to the fact that I have been unsuccessful in training myself that it is now grammatically acceptable to use the “singular they” pronoun instead of “he” or “she” after the singular (in this case) “anyone.”

I explored the subject in my previous post …

…I’m digressing to make what I think is a very important point.

While I couldn’t help cringing when I used the hopelessly awkward sounding “they” above, if I chose not to use it, but opted instead for “he/she” I am, through non-inclusion, issuing a solid slap in the face to any of my friends in the transgender community — for “they” may not feel comfortable with either “he” or “she.” So with a sincere apology-in-advance to any of them, I am going to use “he/she” in the appropriate places for the remainder of this post.

Oh, don’t for a moment think that Grammar isn’t political!

It’s just that there are too many internal censors as it is blocking the writer’s all-important spontaneity while creating.]

End of Digression

With that out of the way, I’ll conclude my contention that Grammarly makes some egregious mistakes in some of its “suggestions,” mistakes it won’t own up to as proven by the fact that even though you press the “ignore button” the red line goes away only until you refresh, then returns when they think you’re not looking.

How arrogant is that?!

I won’t bother with examples because if you have Grammarly you already know what I’m talking about and may think I’m beating a dead horse as it is. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter anyway.

Exploring a Better Way

Besides, I have a better way for anyone who chooses to master it. At least it’s been a better way for me.

Most everyone knows where the “Find/Replace” button is on their Microsoft Word app. You may have even used it to find and correct a few minor problems.

Spend a few minutes with me here and I’ll show you scads more ways you can use it as an editing tool.

If there is anyone who hasn’t heard of it, pull up your Microsoft Word app. See the ribbon at the top? (Make sure you are under the “home” tab.) Look all the way to the right of that ribbon and you’ll see the box with Find/Replace in it. Click on “Find.” It will open up a “Navigation” panel to the left of your text.

I don’t see any use for it until you have a draft ready to edit. For writers who create right on Medium, copy and paste your completed draft into Word.

I think we’re ready. Shall we?

Some Basic Non-Grammar Uses for Find/Replace

Descriptive Consistency

Have you ever gotten deep into reading a novel, say three-quarters through it, when you discover a character’s eyes have changed from brown to blue? Or he had been six-ten but now has shrunk to six-six?

It’s enough to shut down the movie that had been playing in your head.

You probably won’t encounter this if you’re writing a short story or an article, but if it’s a novel or a non-fiction book it can be a real concern.

How Find/Replace works in the above example. Say your fear is that you changed your character’s eye color from silver to gray.

• Use the smallest common denominator. Why? Assume you put “eyes” in the “find” box. Highlighted in yellow in your navigation box is each instance you used “eyes.” Not shown, though, is that on page 354, you had written, “He scrunched his right eye in pain, but glared at her with his cold, gray left eye.” The “Find” function goes through your entire novel for eyes but doesn’t uncover the one time you changed his eye color to gray.
• Hint: add a space before the word. Assuming you only want to test for “eye” and “eyes,” as the above example, tap the space bar before you enter “eye.” That will eliminate all words beginning with “eye.”
• Exception to smallest common denominator. Sometimes you will need to go just a little beyond the smallest common denominator. For example, with the character’s diminishing height. (By the way, these are both examples from my own novel-in-progress.)The smallest common denominator would be six (from six-ten). But that will also pull up such words as sixty, sixteen, as well as Lasix — any word with six in it. But what if you put six- in the find box? Then it will limit the search to hyphenated six words.
• Important: READ THIS: When you’ve put a word in the Find box and do a search you’ll notice every time you make a change in your document, it will erase all the other highlighted words. Not to worry! Look under the Find box. You’ll see 3 categories: Headings, Pages, and Results. Make sure you click on “Results.” Just above and to the right of the Results Category, you’ll notice upward and downwards arrows. Every time you change the highlighted word in the document and the remaining Results disappear, click the downward arrow. They will return.

Some Basic Grammar Uses for Find/Replace

Overuse of Adverbs

Face it, we’ve been using adverbs for so long, thinking we’re beefing up the verb (an adjective or another adverb), sometimes they slide into the first draft without your thinking about it. Still, a strong verb needs no beefing up. A good rule of thumb is not to use adverbs unless they change the meaning of the verb.

• Adverbs ending in -ly. In your Find box, enter ly (space). You use the space after ly to eliminate those words that have ly in the middle of them. (Remember, the space you enter in the box will be “invisible,” but you should see it advance by that one space in the box.) Do not put a space before the ly.

Go through each -ly adverb that is highlighted. Can you, instead, strengthen the verb? For example: “The boy lying on the rug, got up and ran quickly to the store. ” Consider instead changing “ran” to “sprinted,” thus eliminating the need for “quickly.”

• Adverbs not ending in -ly. Tons of adverbs don’t end in -ly. Here is a sampling I Googled from thefreedicionary.com: afterward, already, almost, back, better, best. When you survey the entire list, you’ll discover those you use more than others. Keep a copy of your favorites.

In the Find box, simply type in that adverb, leaving a space before and after. See if you can replace or eliminate those adverbs, thereby tightening your prose.

Overuse of -ing Endings

Usually, we toss in some -ing endings (verbs-endings, for the most part, but sometimes nouns) when we’re trying to add variety to our sentences. An example: an introductory clause, “Leaping from his bed, he raced to the door.”

Since this is a Find/Replace tutorial and not a grammar book, I won’t burden you with examples from now on. Okay? Most writers have developed a strong intuitive sense of what doesn’t work and what works better. Use that sense. Also, I feel that by tightening your focusing on a possible offending word or phrase, your intuition will be improved. ‘Nuff said.

In the Find/Replace box, input ing with a space after. NOTE: It will pick up words such as ding, sing, bring, thing, etc. But as long as you keep your mind focused on ing endings, you’ll zip right past the others.

The overuse of “that”

I have heard many writers on Medium mention the overuse of “that” as a bridge between two clauses. We tend to do it without thinking. It’s rarely a wrong choice, just clunky-sounding when “that” is used as an unnecessary bridge. Use your intuition as to how it sounds. If you don’t need it, remove it.

In the Find/Replace box, put “that” with a space before and after.

Comma After Coordinating Conjunction

There are 7 coordinating conjunctions. They are and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet (the acronym is fanboy). The only thing you need to remember is never put a comma after a coordinating conjunction (except in the sentence above in which I was describing a series of words).

In the Find/Replace box, enter one of the 7 coordinating conjunctions only and check for results. Beginning with “and” followed by the comma + a space. Because of the space, it won’t show the coordinating conjunction that doesn’t have the comma following — which means you are using it correctly anyway.

Concluding Remarks

The uses of the Find/Replace button I’ve illustrated above will be enough to enable those who’ve never used it before to get some knowledge of the process, while the rest, I hope, will have learned some new processes. I hope both groups will have seen the valuable potential in using it.

Please accept that I have merely scratched the surface.

I shall return shortly with the expanded usage of the Find/Replace features.

It will include, among a multitude of other things, a list of words that, when you put them in the find box, can be the keys to opening up your manuscript to unsuspected weaknesses.

I’ll look forward to seeing you on the other side.