1a. cua-mode is off, transient-mark-mode is on.
2. Move point before This.
3. Select the word This by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Right arrow.
4. Invoke isearch by pressing Ctrl+S.
5. Enter `notes' as the search string.
* Selection is extended to include the word that was found by isearch.
and extending/shrinking it to include the match.