Parsing: What are Redundant Expressions in English

Original author: Brett Johnson
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In English, an excess expression is a language construct consisting of two or more words with a similar or identical meaning. This means that if one or more words can be removed from a phrase without losing meaning, then it is redundant. The use of redundant phrases is considered a bad style, since it makes the text more bulky and makes it difficult to understand.

I found an interesting post-explanation of what the various types of redundant English expressions are. I present to you an adapted version of this material.

What is redundancy?


Here's what redundancy in a sentence looks like:
The former alumnus of Harvard was elected as a mayor of his hometown.

He had money sufficient enough to buy a new car.

I was going to send an email to you.
Expressions in bold are redundant. In the first perimeter, you can leave only the word alumnus, since it means a former student, in the next sentence, the word sufficient means the same as enough, just as if instead of “send an email to you” you just leave “email you” meaning Will not change.

Obviously, if you clear these sentences of redundancy, they will become easier, it will be easier to read them. In addition, sometimes the use of redundant phrases gives the impression that the writer is not very versed in what he is talking about.

Types of Redundant Expressions


There are three main types of redundant expressions.

Type # 1. Adjectives with the same meaning as the word they describe


An example :
I was invited to their annual anniversary party.
If you look at the meaning of the word "anniversary" in the dictionary, it will be written there that it means "the date on which the event happened last year" - that is, the annuality is emphasized here. The adjective annual means the same thing, which means you can easily get by with one noun.

Type # 2. Adverbs that repeat the meaning of the verb


This often happens when using verbs with prefixes, like re-, which mean repetition.

Example:
After figuring out that the new ad campaign does not work out, it was reverted back to the previous one
In this case, it would be better to abandon the word back.

Type # 3. Group of words with identical meanings


Sometimes people include several words with extremely close meanings in a sentence at once. As a result, nothing good happens.

Example:
He has acrophobia but nevertheless continued climbing this high wall.
In this example, “But” is the same as “nevertheless,” so there is no need to use both words.

How to find and get rid of redundancy


This is not always very easy to do. The main advice here is to practice more, to study the real meanings of English words. If in doubt, use the dictionary.

Another way is to activate one of the existing spell checking tools today. Most of them do a good job of finding redundancy.

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