Do away with redundancy

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