I have a lot of sentences with forward, yet I have hard times giving them up with clean conscious do to the nice sound that word have. What do you guys think about stepped/walked forward into (-) vs stepped/walked into (-) ? Any input on 'forward' in general would also be of great help
Hi Erez, you've posted a few threads about words/phrases that you're worried about over-using...it's a bit difficult to respond without an example...but here goes... Depends on the exact sentence, but generally I'd lose forward; after all, what other direction are you going to walk than forward? OK, backward, but that's so unusual it really does need you to tell us that backward is the direction you're walking. And walked into usually implies into a wall, implying a bruise to the forehead. Stepped into implies a puddle and wet shoes. So, to get somewhere, I'd simply walk. I'm not likely to step, unless I'm being very Victorian, when I might "step out" if I'm in a bit of a hurry. You seem to be agonizing over whether to replicate the ungrammatical way that some people speak nowadays. My current pet peeve is "watching on". You can "look on" or you can "watch"!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks shadow, So stepped would be more suitable for a fantasy setting and walking more suitable for a modern setting? I mixed both in my writings, since I didn't want to sound repetitive,
There's another thread where one contributor has suggested that "said" shouldn't be used, and that authors should find different ways of saying it..."stated", "responded", "replied", "shouted", "whispered"...This was generally disagreed with, on the basis that when you use "said" is generally goes unnoticed, whereas a huge variety of different verbs REALLY stand up and get noticed. In a similar vein, being repetitive with walking/stepping is only really a problem if it's noticeable...and if you noticed, that probably means it's a problem! The solution, however, is NOT usually finding a different word to replace it, but to find a different way of saying what you want to say...it's the PHRASE that's becoming repetitive, not the word. We had walked for what seemed like an age, until our legs ached, when we walked into a small village. Dusty streets bounded by mud huts, with blankets for doors. I walked up to the nearest hut, Darren walking beside me and Charlie walking at the back. We had walked for what seemed like an age, until our legs ached, when we came upon a small village. Dusty streets bounded by mud huts, with blankets for doors. I approached the nearest hut, with Darren walking beside me and Charlie bringing up the rear. Rubbish example, but you get the idea?
