Wolfenshire opened this issue on Mar 07, 2016 · 11 posts
Wolfenshire posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 5:19 PM Site Admin
Weekly Writers Challenge – 3/7/16
Redundant expressions can make a story cliche and weak. There are many possible reasons why a writer might inadvertently use a redundant expression; not understanding the meaning of the words, attempting to write as you speak, or even an attempt to be colorful.
An example would be: The space hero was in close proximity to the alien for too long.
Close and proximity are synonyms, and used together make a redundant expression.
This week’s challenge is to create a list of redundant expressions to avoid using in writing.
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader
Wolfenshire posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 5:33 PM Site Admin
My list:
multiple others
leave from
unexpected surprise
join together
continue on
raise up
drop down
enter in
evolve over time
emergency situation
could possibly
fall down
actual experience (actually, using actual is actually pretty bad)
first of all
grow in size
hurry up
join together
merge together
new beginning
hopeful optimism
outside of
over exaggerate
past history
(a big pet peeve of mine: pizza pie)
plan in advance
reason is because
rise up
sum total (uhg! you can thank Microsoft for this one)
very unique (actually, almost anything with the word very is going to go very wrong)
write down
two twins
final outcome
coming after
few in number
still remains
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader
ldgilman posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 10:42 PM
Looks like you have most of them covered. I'm not so sure about "final outcome". As in..."We won't know the final out come until all the votes are counted."
Wolfenshire posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 10:56 PM Site Admin
ldgilman posted at 9:51PM Mon, 07 March 2016 - #4259816
Looks like you have most of them covered. I'm not so sure about "final outcome". As in..."We won't know the final out come until all the votes are counted."
There are countless hundreds of combinations that make redundant expressions. And, let me do a re-write of the above sentence so you can see.
Looks like you have most of them covered. Though, I'm not so sure of the outcome.
or
Looks like you have most of them covered. We won't know until the final ballets are counted.
The test for a redundant phrase is to remove either word, if the sentence still stands, you likely have a redundant expression.
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader
ldgilman posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 10:59 PM
HMMM, food for thought
Wolfenshire posted Mon, 07 March 2016 at 11:28 PM Site Admin
ldgilman posted at 10:27PM Mon, 07 March 2016 - #4259819
HMMM, food for thought
I'm glad you brought the point up. Redundant expressions can be difficult to spot.
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader
auntietk posted Tue, 08 March 2016 at 6:59 PM
Just.
Just anything.
It's as bad as very or really, and I'm with you on actually. And honestly.
Honestly, I'm just actually very tired of really redundant ...
shit ... what was I saying?
"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." ... Robert Capa
Wolfenshire posted Tue, 08 March 2016 at 7:48 PM Site Admin
auntietk posted at 6:47PM Tue, 08 March 2016 - #4259992
Just.
Just anything.
It's as bad as very or really, and I'm with you on actually. And honestly.
Honestly, I'm just actually very tired of really redundant ...
shit ... what was I saying?
Editing a book, now that's redundant. Gah! Writing is so much more fun than editing.
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader
auntietk posted Thu, 10 March 2016 at 9:01 AM
lol! I don't mind editing at all, especially when it's something that's fun to read! What's boring, in a redundant sort of way, is editing a manual for a piece of audio gear and having the person who wrote the manual resent you so much for criticizing his work that he doesn't make 75% of the recommended changes and publishes a piece of technically correct but basically unreadable drek. sigh it's good to be retired.
"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." ... Robert Capa
McGyver13 posted Thu, 10 March 2016 at 10:12 AM
auntietk posted at 11:03AM Thu, 10 March 2016 - #4260227
lol! I don't mind editing at all, especially when it's something that's fun to read! What's boring, in a redundant sort of way, is editing a manual for a piece of audio gear and having the person who wrote the manual resent you so much for criticizing his work that he doesn't make 75% of the recommended changes and publishes a piece of technically correct but basically unreadable drek. sigh it's good to be retired.
At one of the companies I worked for, in addition to doing most of the sculpting and machining and being the model making department, I got to write most of the instruction manuals for our own products (and even a few for clients)... I used to try and be as clear and precise as possible, but loved including stuff like "Step 1- Make sure you are fully clothed and seated in an upright position Step 2- Using your eyeballs, locate the red lever and without severing your index finger, rotate it counter clockwise until you hear a distinct click. If the lever snaps off, you have rotated it too far. A green light and lack of fire should indicate you have properly engaged the motor...." Not alway that sever, but fun stuff.
Wolfenshire posted Thu, 10 March 2016 at 12:06 PM Site Admin
McGyver13 posted at 11:04AM Thu, 10 March 2016 - #4260246
auntietk posted at 11:03AM Thu, 10 March 2016 - #4260227
lol! I don't mind editing at all, especially when it's something that's fun to read! What's boring, in a redundant sort of way, is editing a manual for a piece of audio gear and having the person who wrote the manual resent you so much for criticizing his work that he doesn't make 75% of the recommended changes and publishes a piece of technically correct but basically unreadable drek. sigh it's good to be retired.
At one of the companies I worked for, in addition to doing most of the sculpting and machining and being the model making department, I got to write most of the instruction manuals for our own products (and even a few for clients)... I used to try and be as clear and precise as possible, but loved including stuff like "Step 1- Make sure you are fully clothed and seated in an upright position Step 2- Using your eyeballs, locate the red lever and without severing your index finger, rotate it counter clockwise until you hear a distinct click. If the lever snaps off, you have rotated it too far. A green light and lack of fire should indicate you have properly engaged the motor...." Not alway that sever, but fun stuff.
Ah ha!!! It's your fault my refrigerator leans to the side when the microwave comes on.
Wolfenshire, Moderator/Community Leader