Using Microsoft Word® to Highlight Misused Words

It is often difficult for a writer to see words that are misused or used too frequently. Many of us use "was" or "that" with so little thought that the words become almost invisible and nearly impossible to edit out. Microsoft Word® has two features (Find/Replace and Macros) that, when used in conjunction, allow you to automate the process of finding and highlighting these words.

Consider the following words: is, isn't, am, are, aren't, was, wasn't, were, will, would, won't, has, had, have, be, been, do, don't, did, didn't, does, doesn't, seem, seems, exist, exists, appears, make, makes, show, shows, occur, occurs, get, got, went, put, some, many, most, that, very, extremely, totally, completely, wholly, utterly, quite, rather, slightly, fairly, somewhat, and suddenly.

These words either indicate passive sentences or are just plain boring. Often, they are necessary, but more often, they can be replaced with something more evocative.

So how can Word® help? Well, Find and Replace can also be used with formatting. This means that you can find every instance of "was" and replace it with "was" (formatted in red). Suddenly, your manuscript is a forest of red, making these boring words instantly obvious. Then you can decide which instances should be replaced with a more appropriate word and which to leave.

This is all well and good, but it can be time-consuming when applied to all the words above. Fortunately, Word® has another feature call the Macro Recorder, that allows you to record keystrokes and play them back. Here's how it works:

1) Go to the Tools Menu and choose Macros > Record New Macro

2) Give the macro a name like: ReplaceWords

3) Start to record your macroa. On the Edit Menu, choose Find

b. Click the Replace tab. You will see the Find and Replace dialog box.

c. Click the More button

d. Type "was" (without quotes) into the Find box

e. Type "was" (without quotes) into the Replace box

f. With the cursor in the Replace box, click the Format button at the bottom.

g. Choose Font and change the font color to red

h. Click the Whole Words Only check box. (This is important, since otherwise it will find "wasp" and "swastika" as well as "was".)

i. The Find and Replace box should look like this:

j. Now, click the Stop Macro button. It will appear on a small dialog box that opened when you started recording the macro:

(The Stop Macro button is the one with the square in it. If you accidentally close the dialog box by clicking the X, just go to Tools > Macros > Stop Macro)

4) Now, you can test your new macro.a. Select the entire document (Ctrl+A is the easiest way) and change the text

color back to black. You can use the Font Color button (it looks like a

capitol A with a colored bar beneath it)

b. After all of the text is turned back to black, go to Tools > Macro > Macros. You will see a box like this:

c. Select your "ReplaceWords" macro and click "Run"

Macros are stored in your Normal.dot file. This is the default template file, so every document that you create based on it (which is most of them unless you select some other template) will have this macro available.

OK, now you have your macro. And you might think that you are no further ahead than if you did it manually. Well, you COULD record a macro in which you typed every word in sequence into the Find and Replace dialog, clicked Replace All and then on to the next and so on. The disadvantage of this is that you must record it perfectly or start over. The macro recorder records everything, mistakes and all. You

would also have to re-record the whole macro if you wanted to add addition words later. Fortunately, there is an easier way.

Macros are recorded in a language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and YOU can edit it. This is not all that scary, as you must simply use copy and paste as you would in a document. Here's what you do:

1) Go to Tools > Macro > Macros, just as if you were going to run the macro (see above) but this time choose Edit instead. You will get the Visual Basic Editor. It will look like this:

2) It is possible there may be other commands in the macro, but the important part is this:

Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Color = wdColorRed With Selection.Find .Text = "was" .Replacement.Text = "was" .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = True .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False End With Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

All you have to do is copy all of these commands and paste them below the original set, but just above the End Sub line. Then just replace the "was" in the two lines with some other word like "that", so you have:

Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Color = wdColorRed With Selection.Find .Text = "was" .Replacement.Text = "was" .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = True .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False End With Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Color = wdColorRed With Selection.Find .Text = "that" .Replacement.Text = "that" .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = True .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchWildcards = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchAllWordForms = False End With

Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

3) Add this code for every word you want replaced in red. Then save the macro and close the macro editor. If you decide you want more added, you can easily simply copy one section of the code and paste it at the end and change the word.

If you make any mistakes, all you need to do to is go to Tools > Macro >Macros, select your macro and click the Delete button and start over.

The Record Macro of Microsoft Word® is a convenient and easy-to-use feature that you can use to automate many repetitive tasks as well as improve your writing.