: Re: Do you use the word "that" too much? I find myself using the word "that" too much. How do you really know when you need that "that" word there? Like just now. I don't think I need

@Tiffany377

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Plenty of writers have little tics like this. You may find a turn of phrase that you just fall in love with, or it may be something that carries over from the way you speak. At various points in my life I've found myself overusing parataxis, 'although' and 'however', and probably a few others I can't think of off the top of my head.

To a certain extent, this is a matter of style. Only if a particular phrase or word is heavily overused, to the point where it becomes noticeable to the reader, is it a bad thing. However, there's no obvious line that you cross where style stops and bad writing begins. It's something you just have to keep your eye on.

You've already taken the first step by noticing that you frequently use a particular word. In some cases, you may not realize it until someone points it out.

My advice would be to not worry about it too much while you're writing. It's already in the back of your head. If you notice that you're really abusing it while you're in the process of writing, feel free to make some adjustments, but don't pause for half an hour just to decide if "this" is really necessary.

The best time to work on these tics is after you've written a chunk of prose. Go back through what you've written and look for the tic. All modern word processors have a Find feature (usually ctrl-F or command-F) that you can use to quickly find all examples of a particular word or phrase. As you edit, you can double-check each spot by trying to rewrite it without the word, and comparing it to the original.

If you really have a hard time deciding, it pays to have a few trusted readers who can take a look as well.

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