Posted on 7-15-23

Redundancy!

Repetition, unnecessary, needless, unneeded, superfluous, extraneous, unimportant, avoidable, extrinsic, nonessential, surplus, not required.

Saying the same thing twice with different words.

Guilty!

Not only have I been guilty of this, but I’ve said the same thing twice, using different words in two separate sentences.

Let’s take a look at common words and phrases we’ve no doubt used in our writing:

Palm of my hands – we only have palms on our hands – unless you are an alien created from the mind of a writer who decided palms are somewhere else on the body.

Nodding my head – We can only nod a head. (Take out ‘head’). Conversely, you must say ‘shake my head’ since you can shake other body parts.

Past History – History is in the past.

Forever and ever – There is no ever after forever.

Unintentional mistake – mistakes are always unintentional. Otherwise, it would be a planned mistake

Major Breakthrough – Breakthroughs are significant in their own right.

Plan ahead – When a person plans, they are already looking ahead.

Postpone until later – Postponing something means to do later.

Actual Fact – Facts are actual events.

Unexpected surprise – If it was expected, it wouldn’t be a surprise.

Written down – when something is written, it has been noted, ‘down’ is not needed.

Sit down – Pretty self-explanatory, however I see this one a lot.

Still remains – If something remains, then it is ‘still’ here/around/there, etc.

Absolutely certain or sure/essential/guaranteed – someone who is certain/sure is already without a doubt.

Add an additional – Add or additionally, but you do not need both.

Added bonus – a bonus is extra so added is not needed.

Advance notice – tricky, but again, advance is not needed since notices are foretelling of an event.

As for example – ‘for example.’

Ask a question – asking is posing a question.

At the present time – present means at this time.

Basic fundamentals/essentials – fundamentals and essentials are elementary in themselves.

Filled to capacity – filling something is to capacity.

Came at a time when – When is a temporal reference and so ‘at a time’ is unnecessary.

During the course of – during means throughout, so use ‘during’ or ‘the course of’ but not both.

Difficult dilemma – dilemmas are difficult, otherwise they wouldn’t be dilemmas.

Direct confrontation – Confrontations are head-on and head-on means direct.

Few in number – Few is a small number, so number is redundant.

Final outcome – And outcome is final.

First began, new beginning – A beginning is when something first occurs.

False pretense – A pretense is deception.

Invited guests – This should be self-explanatory.

Protest against – a protest means opposition.

Suddenly exploded – explosions are sudden.

Phew! That’s a lot of redundancies! But wait, there’s more!

Have you used any of these?

Adequate enough

Merge together

Collaborated together

The reason why

Plus in addition

Past experience

Circle around

In spite of the fact that

One and the same

In the event that

New innovations

Period of four days

Repeat again

Revert back

Shorter/longer in length

Summarize briefly

A total of (whatever it is) just use the amount

Each and every

Biography of his life

Close proximity

End result

Exactly the same

Take a look at your document and eliminate as many as you can. You’ll find a new way to write.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to…

Write On!