Writing tips
This section gives guidelines on writing in everyday situations, from applying for a
job to composing letters of complaint or making an insurance claim. There are
plenty of sample documents to help you get it right every time, create a good
impression, and increase the likelihood of achieving your desired outcome.
Explore the links below to find information about:
Types Of Clichés And Other
Redundant Expressions
Being an effective writer means choosing the right word to say what you mean and
conveying your meaning in an interesting and engaging way. You can improve
your writing style by avoiding overused or clichéd expressions and by making sure
that every word you write has the maximum impact. This section will help you to
streamline your writing style by:
Avoiding redundant expressions
What do all the expressions in bold type in the sentences below have in common?
They are constantly working on new innovations in gambling.
He was the younger of the two twins.
The events will start at 11 a.m. on the following dates below.
They are all redundant expressions: groups of words in which at least one word is
unnecessary because it just repeats the meaning that's already contained in the
other word or words. An innovation is ‘a new method, idea, product, etc.’, so there's
no need to use new to describe one; following means ‘coming after’, so it's not
necessary to say belowas well; and as for twins, there can only ever be two of
them.
This sort of repetition of meaning is also known as tautology and it's something to
be aware of when you're writing. It can give the impression that you don't really
understand the meaning of the words you're using, or that you're just careless in
your choice of words.
The key to a good writing style that avoids redundant expressions is to develop
your knowledge of what words really mean, checking in a dictionary whenever you
aren't completely sure.
Here is an outline of some of the main types of redundant expressions:
Different types of redundant expressions
There are several ways in which you can fall into the tautology trap. Here are some
of the main types of redundant expression together with tips on how to deal with
them:
Adjectives that repeat the meaning already contained in
the word they describe, e.g.:
In a moment of hopeful optimism, she made the call.
If you look up optimism in the dictionary, you'll see that it means ‘a feeling of
hopefulness about the future’ so there's no need for the word hopeful in this
sentence. It would be better to just leave out the adjective altogether:
In a moment of optimism, she made the call.
Here's another example of an adjective repeating the meaning of a noun:
It was a strange place for both of us to be, given our past histories.
A person's history is the whole series of past events connected with them. There's
no need to use the adjective past in this sentence because this meaning is already
contained in the noun history. If you remove the adjective, the meaning of the
sentence is unaffected:
It was a strange place to for both of us to be, given our histories.
Adverbs that repeat the meaning contained in a verb,
especially a verb that begins with a prefix such
as re- (meaning ‘again’ or ‘back’) or pro- (meaning ‘out’,
‘forwards’, etc.). For example:
On her death, the throne reverted back to the next male in the line of succession.
If you look up revert, you'll find that the dictionary gives the meaning ‘return to (a
previous state, practice, topic, etc.)’. Since the idea of going back to something is
contained in the verb itself, there's no need to include the adverb back. The
sentence would be better if the adverb was just left out:
On her death, the throne reverted to the next male in the line of succession.
Here's another example:
The sign above the door protruded out over the sidewalk.
Protrude means ‘to extend beyond a surface’, so the adverb out is unnecessary:
it's just repeating the meaning of protrude. We can just omit it:
The sign above the door protruded over the sidewalk.
Two or more words or groups of words which mean
exactly the same as each other. For example:
The fertilizer had no direct fungicidal effect but nevertheless it completely arrested
the spread of the fungus.
Nevertheless and but mean the same thing: if you looked them up in a thesaurus,
you'd almost certainly find that they were given as synonyms of each other. You
only need one or the other to get your point across:
The fertilizer had no direct fungicidal effect but it completely arrested the spread of
the fungus.
Here's another example of this type of redundant expression:
The reason for this is because nobody cares
Because means ‘for the reason that’: there's no need to include it in this sentence
since this idea has already been expressed. The sentence should read:
The reason for this is that nobody cares.
Key points to remember about redundant
expressions
•
Getting rid of unnecessary words will make your writing clearer and more effective.
•
Using a dictionary or thesaurus will help you to identify redundant expressions in
your writing.