Word Macro for Word Abusers

I overuse some words and phrases in my writing. Most writers have some problem words. It isn't that the words should never be used, or that we use them incorrectly. We simply use them too frequently.

The following Microsoft Word VBA macro marks words I should check for overuse. Also included are words and phrases I should avoid.

Feel free to copy and modify this macro. I encourage my students to try this macro, too. Once you have the macro in Word, you can alter the word list to reflect your preferences and habits.

Sub macWordsToAvoid()

Dim vFindText As Variant
Dim txtWord As Variant

'list the exceptions to look for in an array
vFindText = Array("about", "all", "almost", "a lot", "already", "always", "along with", _
"anxiously", "absolutely", "as well", "believe", "certainly", "clearly", "definitely", _
"eagerly", "easy", "easily", "even", "every", "feel", "felt", "few", "finally", "frequently", _
"good", "got", "honestly", "intrigued", "intrigues", "just", "literally", _
"many", "merely", "must", "nearly", "need", "never", "nice", "not", "numerous", _
"only", "quick", "quickly", "really", "so", "think", _
"utilize", "utilized", "utilizes", "very", _
"in the event", "in order to", "on the grounds that", "in case", "the public", _
"come to the conclusion", _
"is", "am", "are", "was", "were", "have", "has", "had", "do", "does", "did")

Options.DefaultHighlightColorIndex = wdGray25

ActiveDocument.Select
Selection.MoveLeft

With Selection.Find
' Highlight found words
For Each txtWord In vFindText
.Text = txtWord
.Replacement.Text = txtWord
'Set the Replace parameters
.ClearFormatting
.Replacement.Highlight = True
.Replacement.Font.Bold = True
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.MatchWholeWord = True
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.Format = True
.MatchCase = False
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
Next
End With

End Sub