{"id":3591,"date":"2014-07-22T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2014-06-13T19:55:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T23:55:18","slug":"redundant-words-in-english-time-to-cut-them-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/redundant-words-in-english-time-to-cut-them-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Redundant words in English \u2013 time to cut them out."},"content":{"rendered":"

Redundant words are words that are extra<\/em>, not needed<\/em>, and\/or repetitive<\/em>. Sometimes people use redundant words to emphasize a point or to try and make what they are saying seem stronger or clearer, but usually redundant words do exactly the opposite. Redundant words often make a person look like they don\u2019t know what they are saying, because they are simply saying the same thing twice.<\/p>\n

Take a look at this infographic from Grammar.net<\/a> about redundant words and intensifiers.<\/p>\n

\"From:<\/a>

Image from http:\/\/www.grammar.net\/hi-res.<\/p><\/div>\n

In this infographic a few common redundancies are highlighted:
\nanonymous<\/del> stranger
\ntrue<\/del> fact
\nATM machine<\/del> (ATM = automated teller machine)
\nPIN number<\/del> (PIN = personal identification number)<\/p>\n

But there are many other redundant word combinations in English that people use regularly. Take a look at the list below of common redundant word combinations in English. Try to avoid using these redundancies.<\/p>\n

absolutely<\/del> essential \u2013 both of these words mean the same thing, they mean ‘necessary’
\nadvance<\/del> preview \u2013 both of these words mean ‘ahead of something else’
\nadvance<\/del> warning \u2013 the word ‘warning’ implies receiving information beforehand so you don\u2019t have to say ‘advanced’ too
\nbest ever<\/del> \u2013 the word ‘best’ is\u00a0 superlative and implies something is better than all others
\nbrief<\/del> summary \u2013 summaries are, by nature, ‘small’ or ‘brief’
\ncease and desist<\/del> \u2013 these words are synonyms and mean the same thing so both are not needed
\nclosed<\/del> fist \u2013 a fist is when a person’s hand and fingers are bent in toward the palm and held there tightly so a fist is by nature closed
\ndisappear from sight<\/del> \u2013 to disappear means to no longer be visible or to be out of sight
\nexact<\/del> same \u2013 these words are synonyms
\nfall down<\/del> \u2013 to fall implies downward movement; you can\u2019t fall up \ud83d\ude42
\nforeign<\/del> imports \u2013 to import means to bring something from an outside place, which, by nature, means that the thing imported is ‘foreign’
\nfrozen<\/del> ice \u2013 ice is always frozen – that is what makes it ice!
\nHIV virus<\/del> \u2013 the V in HIV stands for \u2018virus\u2019
\njoin together<\/del> \u2013 to join means to bring things together; you can\u2019t join apart, you always have to join together, so there is no need to say \u2018together\u2019
\nkneel down<\/del> \u2013 kneeling is to bend the legs in order to sit on the knees, you can\u2019t kneel up
\nmay possibly<\/del> \u2013 these words both mean the same thing and imply ‘a lack of definite action or decision’
\npast<\/del> history \u2013 there is no such thing as future history, all history is past, so there is no need to say \u2018past\u2019
\nre-elect for another term<\/del> \u2013 the \u2018re\u2019 in re-election is similar to the word \u2018again\u2019, it implies that a person is serving a second term
\nsum<\/del> total \u2013 these words both mean \u2018the whole amount\u2019 of something
\nwall<\/del> mural \u2013 murals are by nature art that is painted on walls, so you don\u2019t have to include that information when talking about a mural, it is understood<\/p>\n

Here are some practice sentences for you with some redundancies from above and some news ones. See if you can find the redundant words and eliminate them. Remember removing the redundant word is a good thing, it won\u2019t change the meaning of the sentence, and it will actually make the sentence better!<\/p>\n

Check your answers below.<\/p>\n

1. We need to join together the pieces in order to sew them.
\n2. Please sit down.
\n3. It is absolutely essential that you turn the report in by 5pm.
\n4. I met a man today who has the exact same name as I have.
\n5. I may possibly be able to attend the party, but I don\u2019t know yet.
\n6. We need to look ahead to the future for the solutions to our problems.<\/p>\n

\"Redundancy\"<\/a>
\nAnswers – these are the redundant words:
\n1. together; 2.down; 3. absolutely; 4. exact or<\/em> same; 5. may or<\/em> possible; 6. ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Redundant words are words that are extra, not needed, and\/or repetitive. Sometimes people use redundant words to emphasize a point or to try and make what they are saying seem stronger or clearer, but usually redundant words do exactly the opposite. Redundant words often make a person look like they don\u2019t know what they are…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":3593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[135139],"tags":[304898,304897],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-language","tag-redundancies","tag-redundant-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3853,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}