“Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.” That’s #47 in William Safire’s entertaining and enlightening book, Fumblerules. The principle is simple, but its mastery elusive, even for seasoned writers and editors.
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.”
Recently, I almost used actual proof in a FaceBook post. See what I mean? Redundancy 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.)
Here’s your assignment this week: Examine a page of your work in progress, sentence by sentence. Probe every noun and verb, checking for preciseness. Interrogate every modifier: what value does it add to the sentence? Scrutinize every word under the light of its dictionary definition.
Search for redundancies like these:
Basic necessities
Filled up
Up above
Brand-new
Close proximity
Gave away
Future plans
Reflect back
And while you’re editing, reduce phrases like these to one word:
Made a decision
Faced a need
Have the opportunity to see
Is in need of
Look forward to the future
Get Rid of Gimmicks
Denise Loock
3/15/2024
Avoid Pronoun-Antecedent Dysphoria
Cindy Sproles
3/13/2024
Assignment 6 - Self-Editing Is Not For the Faint of Heart
Andrea Merrell
2/17/2024
Assignment 5 - What in the World is a One Sheet - Andrea Merrell
Cindy Sproles
2/8/2024
Assignment 4 - Storytelling Your Life Lessons
Lucinda Secrest McDowell
2/3/2024
Learn to Show, Not Tell Your Story
Cindy Sproles
1/26/2024
Spit shine that Work - Assignment 3
Cindy Sproles
1/20/2024
Oh! I Need a Professional Email Address?
Cindy Sproles
1/16/2024
Bio, Bio, Who's Got the Bio
Cindy Sproles
1/4/2024
Get in the Mood to Write - Assignment 5
Cindy Sproles
2/13/2023
Assignment 4 - The 5 Cs of an Elevator Pitch
Cindy Sproles
2/2/2023
Appropriate Emails - [email protected] - Assignment 3
Cindy Sproles
1/21/2023
Assignment 2 - Creative Non-Fiction
Cindy Sproles
1/15/2023
Don't Write Your Bio - Write WHY ME? - Assignment 1
Bob Hostetler
1/4/2023
How to Make the Most of Your Conference Experience - Assignment 7
Cindy Sproles
2/12/2022
Sensory Perception Enhances Your Writing - Assignment 4
Cindy Sproles
1/22/2022
January 16, Assignment 3 - Bring Your Characters to Life
Cindy Sproles
1/16/2022
Assignment 2 - Titles & Sentences - Nancy Lohr
Cindy Sproles
1/8/2022
An Adjective Safari - Assignment 1
Denise Loock
1/5/2022
Assignment 5 - Don't Waste Your Conference Experience
Cindy Sproles
2/6/2021
January 24, Assignment Four - Time to Shoot the Weasel Words
Cindy Sproles
1/24/2021
Assignment 3 - The Role of Speaker Tags and Beats
Cindy Sproles
1/21/2021
January 10, Assignment 2 (1 of 2 assignments)
Cindy Sproles
1/10/2021
Assignment 1 - ACWC January 5 - Let's Start with a Bio
Cindy Sproles
1/5/2021
February 1 - Assignments 5 & 6 - Linda Glaz
Cindy Sproles
2/1/2020
How Not to Get an Agent - Assignment 7
Bob Hostetler
2/10/2019
It's Not What You Know; It's Who You Know - Assignment 4
Bob Hostetler
1/20/2019
Stay on Track with a Writing Schedule - Assignment 3
Larry Leech
1/13/2019
Assignment 2 - Finding Speaker Topics
Beth Fortune
1/5/2019
IMAGERY–WHEN THIS IS LIKE THAT
By Ann Tatlock
12/30/2018
Asheville Christian Writers Conference Privacy Policy
Cindy Sproles
6/4/2018
2018 Writers Charge
Cindy
2/18/2018
Getting Rid of “I” Disease - Assignment 3
Andrea Merrell
1/14/2018
Curb Your Adverb Addiction - Assignment 2
Denise Loock
1/7/2018
WHO ARE YOU? - Writing Your Bio
Cindy Sproles
11/17/2017
WRITING IN A PICKLE
Cindy Sproles
11/13/2017
THE NaNoWriMo CHALLENGE
Cindy Sproles
11/10/2017
BRINGING YOUR CHARACTERS TO LIFE
By Andrea Merrell
2/12/2017
DON’T LET SPEAKER BEATS RUIN YOUR MANUSCRIPT
By Andrea Merrell
2/5/2017
HOW TO CRAFT GREAT DIALOGUE
By Andrea Merrell
1/30/2017
AVOID REPETITION AND WRITE TIGHT
By Andrea Merrell
1/20/2017
THE QUOTATION QUOTA – ASSIGNMENT 2
By Andrea Merrell
1/13/2017
ELIMINATE THE EXCLAMATION POINTS – ASSIGNMENT 1
By Andrea Merrell
1/7/2017
WRITING ADVICE FROM MARK TWAIN: WRITE WITHOUT PAY UNTIL SOMEBODY OFFERS TO PAY
By Sandra Merville Hart
12/22/2016
WHEN THE STORY STALLS IN THE MIDDLE
by Sandra Merville Hart
12/20/2016
WHO REALLY SELLS YOUR BOOKS ?
by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted
9/20/2016
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE APPOINTMENTS
by Cindy Sproles
9/16/2016
ARRRGH! ANOTHER REJECTION – CINDY SPROLES
by Cindy Sproles
9/12/2016
FROZEN IN PLACE – ICEY SELF-TALK TO FREEZE YOUR WRITING
By Cindy Sproles
9/8/2016
THE BIO – THE FRAGRANCE OF WHO YOU ARE
by Cindy Sproles
9/3/2016
THE PAIN OF UNSOLICITED
by Cindy Sproles
8/29/2016
REDUNDANCY: AN EXCESSIVE, OPPRESSIVE, PERVASIVE DISEASE
By Denise Loock
8/26/2016
7 THINGS TO DO NOW TO BE READY WHEN WRITING INSPIRATION STRIKES – EDIE MELSON
by Edie Melson
8/23/2016
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE CONFERENCE APPOINTMENTS
by Cindy Sproles
8/20/2016
WHY SHOULD I ATTEND THE ASHEVILLE CHRISTIAN WRITERS’ CONFERENCE?
by Cindy Sproles
8/17/2016
YOU NEED A PLATFORM – LIVING A STORY- ASSIGNMENT 3
By La-tan Murphy
1/20/2016
THE ONE SHEET
by Cindy Sproles
1/8/2016
OVER-EDIT?
By Steven James
11/4/2015
