The problem usually arises when there are two subjects or
two objects. To check you have the correct word, remove
one of them to see if the remaining one sounds right.
Avoiding tautologies
Atautologyis when the same thing is said twice in different
ways. ‘Tauto’ is Greek for ‘the same’. Tautologies should be
avoided as they are unnecessary. Your writing should be
clear and you should not need to repeat yourself. If you
think carefully about what you wish to say, you will avoid
using superfluous words. They will spoil your writing. It is so
easy to add an extra adjective for emphasis when all you are
doing is repeating yourself.
Looking at examples
She picked up the tiny, little baby.‘Tiny’ and ‘little’ mean the same thing. You don’t need both.
She cried tears.Of course she did! We use tautologies often when speaking
but the spoken word and the written word are different.
When you write, think about your words first and then edit
them to get the best sentence. How often have you heard the
following expressions?
First and foremost
Each and every oneAVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES / 117