I've made an editor really mad :(

[dbvirago]

I've never seen the phrase commented on anywhere. If I recall, two of the rejected uses were, "There are two materials used..." and "If there are more than two ships..." Of course, I ca re-write both sentences and avoid the phrase, I just don't agree that it's necessary. Of course, of course is unnecessarily wordy also.

[dbvirago]

Okay, one down and one to go. Five "there are" eliminations and once where I used 'this' to refer to the subject of the previous sentence. This was frowned up.

[ReneeF]

Okay, one down and one to go. Five "there are" eliminations and once where I used 'this' to refer to the subject of the previous sentence. This was frowned up.

This, That, These, There.. all frowned upon. I do document checks now after editing to eliminate the NO-NO words. the edit again, then I read aloud, then I do comma checks again, then spacing checks. lol...

Check out the constant content blog posts which highlight the No-No words:

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... sentences/

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... wordiness/

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... postrophe/

to be continued because we cant post more than three links in a commant

[ReneeF]

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... -vs-which/

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... paragraph/

if it isnt on the forums, it is probably on the blog.

[dbvirago]

Thanks for the info and links. I will certainly give them another read before I submit the next article.

A link from one of the links: http://web.uvic.ca/~gkblank/wordiness.html is great. Thanks

[Jumping4Joy]

I'm a noob to this site, with two articles submitted and only one accepted, but I can tell you that it is not proper to use this or that in reference to a previous sentence: that is what a colon is for.

[Jumping4Joy]

Aslo, thanks for the links, I should probably read them. It's just too bad a lot of it is going to be redundant for me

[LauraGinn]

I'm a noob to this site, with two articles submitted and only one accepted, but I can tell you that it is not proper to use this or that in reference to a previous sentence: that is what a colon is for.

Do you have any references where it says you should not use 'this' at the beginning of the sentence. I've looked all over the net, and can't find anything. I've seen a few websites that say the rule it's a myth though.

I understand what you're saying, but if the first sentence is pretty long, adding a colon in between two sentences, could make it run-on. Plus, I still don't see an issue with writing 'this' if it's referencing what you just talked about in the previous sentence. For example: 'One thing that the statistics do show is that men and women, in general, use Facebook differently. This means that you should alter your marketing for each demographic'. The info that I've found online all states that as long as the reader can understand what 'this' is referring to, it can be used to start a sentence.

[Lysis]

I don't think it's wrong. I use "this means..." too. I noticed that when I use "this" excessively is when I get a revision.

[Isabelnewth]

I agree that it isn't wrong.

If those sort of pronouns are used a lot, the writing can become a bit flat and dull, but it's more of a style thing, I think. Shouldn't be called a mistake really.

[Jumping4Joy]

Hmmm, I think that we use this in reference to a previous subject so we don't have the redundancy of a repeated subject., but if you're referring to a subject with a pronoun is it clear enough for the reader to know for sure what you're talking about? I think maybe That is the real issue if it is not actually a rule. I don't know really. I just fix what the editor tells me and try to learn from it.