Do away with redundancy
The dictionary defines redundancy as “Needlessly wordy or repetitive in expression”. Take a look at some words and phrases that are redundant in nature.
- Free gifts
Supermarkets offer free gifts.
In the sentence above free is redundant because a gift has to be free.
- Pair of twins
They were blessed with a pair of twins
Here a pair of is redundant because twins can only be a pair.
- A variety of different vegetables
The shop dispalyed a variety of different vegetables.
Variety already denotes they are different, so different is redundant.
- Past history
The doctor looked at the past history of the patient’s illness.
Here, past is redundant because history can be only of the past.
- Tuna fish
Your tuna fish cutlets are awesome.
Tuna is a species of fish, so the compliment can be rephrased as ‘ your tuna cutlets are awesome.’
- Red color
The walls are painted red in color.
Since red is a color, the correct usage would be- ‘the walls are painted red.’
- Unexpected surprise
He planned an unexpected surprise over the weekend.
Unexpected is the redundant word in the sentence above since a surprise is unexpected.
- Revert back
Do revert back on the project proposal.
A very common mistake that most of us make is to ask someone to revert back. Back is the redundant word here since revert means ‘to go back to’.
- Round in shape
My dining table is round in shape.
Since round is a shape, it would be better to say- My dining table is round.’
- Discuss about
Who were they discussing about?
In the sentence above, about becomes a redundant word since discuss means ‘to talk about’.
- Armed gunmen
Armed gunmen were seen prowling around the city’s outskirts.
Gunmen are armed with guns, so armed becomes a redundant word.
- Big giant
A big gigantic spider was seen in the corner.
In the above sentence, big is redundant since giant means big.
- Foreign imports
Heavy duties were levied on the foreign imported car.
Foreign becomes the redundant word since anything imported from another country is foreign.
These abbreviations become redundant once expanded:
| ATM machine | Automated Teller Machine machine |
| PIN number | Personal Identification Number number |
| HIV virus | Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus |
| GRE exam | Graduate Record Examination examination |
| VAT tax | Value Added Tax tax |
