Redundant – characterized by verbosity or unnecessary repetition in expressing ideas.
I’ve witnessed a great deal of bad grammar throughout this writing journey of mine, and marvel when I hear the same errors in everyday speech. A particular pet peeve is the piling on of intensifiers that turn a simple word into a poorly thought out redundancy. Newscasters, celebrities, and politicians give questionable credence to them, without a thought as to the meanings of the words.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve jotted a number of them down as I’ve read or watched television. Most are redundancies, but some are outright laughable when you think about the meanings of the words.
Think/Thought to myself – who else would you think to?
Exact same/same identical – Per Writer’s Digest: If my pair of pants is exactly like your pair of pants, then—aside from us both having a keen sense of style—we’re wearing the same pants. If you’re comparing items that aren’t exact or the same, then they’re similar—so combining the words to form the phrase “exact same” adds no extra meaning.
On the day I wrote this column, I saw a tweet from a grown man, using exact same. When 140 characters are required, why waste five?
End result – by definition, the result is the end.
Unexpected surprise – surprises are always unexpected. Surprise suffices.
A.M. in the morning/P.M. at night/12 noon/12 midnight – GRR. A.M. is ante meridiem, from the Latin words meridies (midday), ante (before) and post (after), the term ante meridiem (a.m.) means before midday and post meridiem (p.m.) means after midday. Noon and midnight suffice. No need to say twelve for either one.
Armed gunman –if the guy is a gunman, he is armed.
Blend together – to blend is to mix together. You blend the ingredients, not blend them together.
Collaborate together – To collaborate is to work together. You collaborate, not collaborate together.
Added bonus – a bonus is something added.
Free gift/giveaway – LOL A gift or giveaway is always free. Free adds nothing. If free is the selling word, consider Free Book.
Advance notice/planning/reservations/warning: Notices, planning, reservations, and warnings all occur in advance of the event they announce or you prepare for. Advance is an unnecessary qualifier.
Close proximity – proximity, by definition, means closeness.
True fact – facts are truths, sometimes sticky ones.
False pretense – a pretense is a fabrication, false by definition. Perhaps false pretense is a truth. No, it’s bad grammar.
Final outcome – an outcome is final. The use of final here is redundant.
Invited guests – guests are those we invite, so no need to say invited. They wouldn’t be our guests without an invitation. They would be intruders.
Past history – history is always past. Past here is not only redundant, but silly.
Revert back – sillier. To revert is to go back.
Unintended mistake – Does anyone intend to make a mistake? Mistakes are by definition errors, therefore, unintended.
Usual custom – a custom is a habit, routine, tradition. Usual means traditional, customarily, habitual. Usual, in this application, is redundant.
Crystal clear – clear is clear. Adding crystal makes it no more or less clear.
Whole entire – as in, I ate the whole entire pie. Obviously, this is redundant. They mean the same thing.
Every single – every is the better choice.
Literally – you aren’t going to literally die if eat the whole entire pie.
Basically – This one is simply overused.
Leave a comment, say hello, wish me happy birthday, and I’ll enter your name in the random draw for commenter’s choice of a book from my backlist.
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My newest release is Beloved Unmasked, where I assure you, you won’t find any of the above.
Blurb: Born to a spiteful prostitute in Storyville, the red-light district in New Orleans, David comes into the world as Picayune, meaning “of little value,” or, as his mother reminds him, “nothing.” In the early 20th century brothels and clubs, his love of music sustains young Pic until a life-changing meeting places him on the road to respectability, and Pic reinvents himself as David Reid.
As David realizes happiness for the first time, conscription forces his friend and first love, Spencer Webb, into the Great War. While he pursues a law degree, letters from Spence connect David to his hopes for the future. After staggering news at war’s end, David must find a way to move forward. Under the tutelage of his benefactor, David’s career prospers, but specters from Storyville threaten all he’s worked so hard to achieve.
The past holds both pain and love. Will facing it head-on destroy David or give him everything he’s ever dared dream?
Buy Links: Dreamspinner Amazon
Born in a small town in upstate New York, Brita Addams has made her home in the sultry south for many years. In the Frog Capital of the World, Brita shares her home with her real-life hero—her husband, and a fat cat named Stormee. All their children are grown.
Given her love of history, Brita writes both het and gay historical romance. Many of her historicals have appeared on category bestseller lists at various online retailers.
Tarnished Gold, the first in her gay romance Tarnished series for Dreamspinner Press, was a winner in the 2013 Rainbow Awards, Historical Romance category. The book also received nominations for Best Historical and Best Book of 2013 from the readers of the Goodreads M/M Romance Group.
A bit of trivia—Brita pronounces her name, Bree-ta, and not Brit-a, like the famous water filter. Brita Addams is a mash-up of her real middle name and her husband’s middle name, with an additional d and s.
Readers can find more information about Brita Addams at any of the following places: Website/Blog || Twitter || Facebook || Fan page || Pinterest || Goodreads || Monthly column at The Novel Approach || Please stay in touch by subscribing to my monthly newsletter || Cold Coffee Café
In relation to this subject, I always thought the phrase was “another THING coming” but I found recently it really is “another THINK coming”.
In my readings I have seen “another THINK coming” used frequently now.
Brita, thanks for a very interesting article.
I grew up saying “another thing coming,” and discovered later it was think. Thank you for stopping by, Maryann. Glad you liked the article.
I loved the article! May I use your examples for my reading/writing classes?
Hi Ivette,
Of course you can. I’m honored that you’d ask. Thanks for coming by.
Happy Birthday Brita
congrats on your new release
Thank you, Lee. Thoughtful of you.
Happy Birthday! Enjoy your day.
Thank you Debra.
Happy Birthday, Brita. Thank you for a wonderful post. I love finding people who are as picky as I am about the use of language and grammar.
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Happy Birthday Brita! I hope you have an awesome day =D
Thank you for the post! It’s always fun to read your post about the use of language and grammar.
Hi H.B. I’m glad you like the columns. Thank you for the birthday wishes. I will do my best to have an awesome day. It’s shaping up nicely.
Hey, Brita, great to see you here, honey. Love your columns. My mom’s biggest pet peeve was dead body. People always use those two words together in cop shows on TV, in films, and in just about every mystery I’ve ever read. What other kind of body is there? Am I missing something? I’ve got several of my own but I’m writing this late at night here–well, late for an old duffer like me, and I can’t think of a damned one. Oh, well. Wonderful column as always. I’m sharing. Hugs and <3 Paul (and Bob)
Hi Paul!! Dead body is a great one to add. Lately I’ve seen a lot of blend together or mix together or combine together. UGH. Hope you and Bob are well. Big hugs.
Happy birthday, Brita, and thank you for a really interesting post. It is amazing how many words we use which are not really that necessary…
Hi Susana,
You are so right about unnecessary words. I hear them all the time. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Thank you for coming by.
Susana, you are the winner of a backlist book! Happy my birthday to you. LOL. Please go to my website – http://britaaddams.net and then email me with your selection and format you’d prefer. Sapphire Club and Her Timeless Obsession are only in PDF, the others in every format.
Thank you everyone for coming by.
Big hugs,
Brita
My email address is: britaaddams@gmail.com.
Actually, I’m not sure some of these redundancies are as bad as you feel they are, Brita. They’re annoying when over used, but a body could be dead or unconsiou. And you can technically give someone notice while still springing it on them. Asking someone to give you a ride during work hours for an event two days away technically is giving sommeone notice, but you didn’t ask long enough before for it to be “advance notice.”
Happy birthday btw.
A body is dead, a breathing person is unconscious.
Asking for a ride two days in advance is giving notice. Advance notice is redundant. A notice is something you give in advance, no matter the length of time involved.
We’ve grown accustomed to hearing these things, but that doesn’t make them less redundant or in some cases, downright silly.
Thank you for the birthday wishes. I had a great day. :)
I still have to disagree with how bad they are, though I agree with them being redundant and sometimes silly.
Writing is about the characters, especially Romance where close 3rd and 1st person are the narrative norm. And when you get that deep, the narrative needs to sound like the character despite things such as redundancy. It’s unavoidable. Precise characters can fix the problem, but not all characters or people are precise.
It’ll concede on character authenticity. I have to assume you’re talking about contemporary romance. Those stories will live on past the current “exact same” phase, into a time when readers will look at them differently. That said, we control the characters. Sometimes they may use redundancies due to their level of education or social influences. Over all, a teenager might use them, but once in college, they should rise about the tendency to mimic the latest fad. A guy or girl saying some of the above will and sound silly in the workplace. If they don’t go to college, they may remain in that mindset.
The point of my article is to point out the errors (and they are, despite being in apparent vogue,) and hopefully people will see the old tried and true grammar never goes out of style.
Now that is an area we can agree on. We may view these verbal/written tics in a different way, but it is always best to use the best grammar possible for the character. If you have a Spock-like, character things should be more formal and definitely as grammatically correct as possible, less formal but still mostly right for a less formal character etc.