Remedy for Redundancy

By Denise Loock

“Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.” That’s #47 in William Safire’s entertaining and enlightening book, Fumblerules.[1] The principle is simple, but its mastery elusive, even for seasoned writers and editors.

 

Be Precise

Too often we’re unaware of the redundancies that lurk undetected in our sentences. Did you catch the needless repetition in the previous sentence? Using unaware and undetected with lurk is redundant. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, lurk means “to lie in ambush, to be hidden but capable of being discovered.” I should have written this: redundancies lurk in our sentences. Use precise verbs.

 

A devotion in the December 2014 edition of a daily devotional magazine was titled “Free Gift.” Again, Merriam-Webster exposes the redundancy. By definition, a gift is “transferred … without compensation.” If it isn’t, the writer should use reward, bribe, or exchange. Use precise nouns.

 

In a book written by a well-known author, I came across “unsuspected surprises.” By definition, a surprise is “something unexpected or astonishing.” The fraternal twin of unsuspected surprises is unexpected surprises. Avoid both. And use a dictionary.

 

Sir Ernest Gowers provides some helpful advice in The Complete Plain Words. And no, helpful advice isn’t redundant. Haven’t we all received plenty of unhelpful advice? Back to Gowers: “Cultivate the habit of reserving adjectives and adverbs to make your meaning more precise, and suspect those that you find yourself using to make it more emphatic. Use adjectives to denote kind rather than degree … economic crisis or a military disaster … [not] acute crisis or a terrible disaster.”[2]

 

Be Proactive

Examine a page of your work in progress, sentence by sentence. Probe every noun and verb for preciseness. Interrogate every modifier: what value does it add to the sentence? Scrutinize every word under the microscope of its dictionary definition.

 

Search for redundancies like these:

Basic necessities

Filled up, cover up

Up above

Brand-new

Brief summary, brief snippet

Close proximity

Gave away

Future plans

Reflect back

 

And while you’re editing, reduce phrases like these to one word:

Made a decision (decided)

Faced a need; is in need of (needed)

Have the opportunity to see (saw)

Look forward to the future (anticipate)

Synonymous with one another (synonymous)

Take the time to listen to (listen to)

Take a moment to read (read)

My prayer is that (I pray)

My hope is that (I hope)

 

Recently, I almost used actual proof in a Facebook post. Similar phrases—actual truth and actual fact—also creep into our speech and writing. Watch out for the very one and almost exactly too.

 

Be Wise

Redundancy and repetition are not synonyms. Redundancy is characterized by excess and reveals a writer’s carelessness in craftsmanship or inattentiveness to detail. It is nonessential and unproductive. Repetition is deliberate—a tool that reinforces a theme or a symbol. It provides symmetry and cohesion. Writers use it to develop character, establish a pattern, and foreshadow outcomes.

 

Redundancy is an excessive, oppressive, pervasive disease. (See how unnecessary that list of adjectives is?) It is a virus that can threaten the health of any sentence. (Check the definition of virus, and you’ll realize that adding an adjective like destructive or pernicious would be redundant.)

 

Be ruthless with your editing. Don’t let redundancy put your manuscript on life support.

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[1] William Safire, Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1990).

[2] Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Book of Plain Words (Boston: Godine, 1988).

Photo by Daniele La Rosa Messina on Unsplash

Denise Loock is the owner of Lightning Editing Services. As a freelance editor, she helps published and unpublished writers create clean, concise, and compelling manuscripts that will attract publishers and intrigue readers. She teaches Editing Devotionals 101 and Sentence Diagramming 101 for The PEN Institute and is the director of PENCON, the only annual conference for Christian proofreaders and editors.