Redundancy: It Bears Repeating!

Being repetitious. We are all guilty of it. You know how someone might tell the same joke or the same story over and over again — and we listen without saying anything?  Or someone keeps repeating the same idea, and we just want him or her to get on with it? 

Yup. We lose patience with redundancy. And most of us are also guilty of it in our writing — and speaking — but not so blatantly. We aren’t talking about repeating jokes or stories or ideas, but just saying a word or phrase that isn’t necessary because the word next to it means the same thing. 

Unless we are getting extra credit for having more words, we really should try to avoid these redundancies. Here are some sentences with common redundancy issues:

The meeting is at 8 a.m. in the morning. Use a.m. OR morning. You don’t need both.
This dress I found on sale is completely unique. I guess it’s like being completely pregnant.
This car is particularly small in size. As opposed to small in color? weight?
I haven’t finished the first draft of my book as yet. Drop the as.
I live in close proximity to where I work.  As opposed to far proximity? I live close to where I work.
In my personal opinion, this idea will never work. If it’s yours, it is probably personal.
Each and every person in this room needs to fill out the forms. Pick one.
This past year we cut our costs by 25 percent less. You don’t need less. We know.
The smell of your perfume permeates through the room.  Per-  means through. Permeates the room.
It is an actual fact that many fruits are good for dogs. Well, this used to be a redundancy before we had alternative facts. Never mind.
I looked into her past history, and now I understand her behavior. Pick one.
I will love you forever and ever. Romantic, but . . .
We have been doing it this way forever and ever. There. That’s better. You don’t need the and ever.
We are going to postpone this meeting until later. Unless you add some details, you don’t need the later. But you could say We are going to postpone the meeting until later today or later this week.
Well, isn’t this an unexpected surprise? Surprises are rarely expected. That is why they are called surprises.
She made a few unintentional mistakes on her final exam. I don’t think she would be making intentional mistakes on her exam . . .would she?
If you buy one bottle of these vitamins, you will get a free gift. I don’t like gifts I have to pay for. Do you?
The end result of her cheating was that she was expelled from college. Just result will do.
The company is known for the number of new innovations it has come up with just this year. Are there old innovations?
He has reverted back to his old ways of coming in late and leaving early. Reverting is always back. Reverted to is enough.

 

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