Why are they a problem? And how can you avoid them in your written work? Let us explain. Redundant expressions are phrases made up of two or more words that repeat the same idea. Other redundant expressions include:. What, then, should one do upon spotting a redundant expression? The simplest answer is to remove the unnecessary word or words.
Depending on the redundant expression used, you may even have a choice of which term to keep. Will you cease and desist that infernal racket! Will you cease that infernal racket! Will you desist that infernal racket! But most of the time you will need to be careful about which term you remove.
The key is that most redundancies contain a modifying term i. For instance:. Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox. Very useful compilation. Many of these are so common, particularly in speech, I think I will have a hard time eliminating some of them without a conscious effort. This is wonderful! This was one of the first phrases my Journalism professor taught us to avoid.
But I frequently hear and read this in the news. I have a salad, with two tomatoes in it I can add some eggs to my salad Or, I can add an additional tomato to the tomatoes that I already have. False pretense — This is a legal term and so would be quite valid in formal writing.
Oh, I am wounded…I am guilty of using many of those redundancies. I solemnly swear is that redundant? Nevertheless, there are some I would hesitate to banish. A bonus! Then another bonus! And if you order now…all these added bonuses! So there are degrees of pain, and agonizing is…well, pick a number from 1 to There are more with which I could take issue but I need to get back to work! Unique is unique. I disagree with a lot of these. Often an idea is repeating quite intentionally for emphasis.
If you had to be somewhere at 3 a. Invited guest is also valid. Nowhere in the definition of guest is the word invitation.
If I show up at your house and you allow me to enter, I am a guest whether you invited me or not. While I agree that some of these truly fit the definition of redundancy, many of them are more about adding emphasis to a particular point. However, that points out the difference between using words properly for emphasis, as the title, and your 50 examples.
You can have a past, current, or future status. An update on the status of the bill could be rewritten as an updated status. Largest in his third grade class. Re 29, are you saying that Handel blew it in the Hallelujah Chorus? I think a lot of people write how they speak, so these things end up in their writing. It will certainly come in handy.
I am fond of people saying figment of my imagination. Not sure where else figments exist except in the imagination. It always makes me smile a bit to hear it. I disagree that a number of these are always or even often incorrect. People commonly refer to levels of certainty or surety e. In order to revise this, one would have to completely change the construction to something more formal and perhaps awkward. In the course of a chain of events, there may be many results of many actions.
How else are you supposed to use this word in the imperative? Not sure, but I think this has some important idiomatic usages. Accept the hyperbole and move on. I repeat the same mistakes again and again each and every time. A redundant expression is a group of two or more words that repeat the same idea. Here are examples of redundant expressions: brief summary, repeat again, return back, current trend, few in number, absolutely essential, twelve noon, twelve midnight.
One word in each of the phrases is unnecessary. Look at this example. It is good to delete either of the phrases to make the sentence more readable. Style: MLA. Medical Definition of redundant. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Love words? Need even more definitions? Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?
How 'literally' can mean "figuratively".
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