The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

No, those are not typos in the headline. They were done on purpose, as an illustration of what a redundancy is. Unfortunately, I see many such repetitive goofs in the materials I proofread and edit, and I hear it often in everyday speech.  Perhaps people do it unconsciously. Maybe they do it because they think that it adds emphasis to what they are saying. Instead, they may be giving the impression that they don’t know the definitions of the words they use.

One of the most often used redundancies is pairing the words “whole” and “entire” in describing something. For example: “He ate the whole entire pizza and had heartburn afterwards.”  “Whole” and “entire” mean the same thing.  You can choose one or the other and still get your point across – and do it correctly.

Stringing synonyms together is not an effective way to communicate, not only because it is redundant, but also because it lengthens the sentence without adding anything new to it.  Effective communicators will always “write tight.” (I know, that should be “write tightly,” but it’s much easier to remember if it rhymes.)  That means that they choose their words carefully and make each one count. They know that padding their communication with unnecessary words can result in their audience “tuning out,” or getting tangled in a jungle of verbiage and missing the point.

A similar description that I see frequently is “little tiny.”  For example:  “That little tiny puppy is so cute!” It could be argued that “little” and “tiny” are not quite the same; “tiny” is probably smaller than “little.”  But the logic of that fails, also.  If it is “tiny,” then it stands to reason that it is “little.” You still don’t need both, and in fact using both indicates confusion as to just what size that puppy really is!




BONUS TIP:

Just as a synonym surplus weakens communication, using words that tend to contradict each other – not necessarily antonyms, but words that don’t quite “fit together” – can punch holes in your prose.  Specifically, I’m thinking of this one: “Most everyone is going to Mitch’s party.”  Do you see the problem here?  “Everyone” indicates that all are involved, but “most” indicates that a majority, but not all, are involved.  I think this one may be more of a laziness in speech (leaving out a syllable) than an actual error; in other words, I believe that the speaker actually means to say that almost everyone is going to the party.  Either way, it’s an easy fix: just add that extra syllable and make it “almost,” and you’re good to go!