Is Your Business Writing Redundant and Superfluous?
In previous posts we looked at the importance of keeping your business writing as simple as possible. An easy way to improve your writing is to remove unnecessary words when editing. Tautologies are one form of redundancy in writing and speaking that you can easily spot and remove once you are aware of them.
The Macquarie Dictionary defines a tautology as a “needless repetition of an idea, especially in other words in the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness”.
Examples of tautologies include:
- free gift
- necessary requirement
- adequate enough
- new innovation
- forward planning
- pair of twins (unless you mean two sets of twins)
- short summary
- ATM machine
- unexpected surprise
- past history
- poisonous venom
- 5.00 am in the morning
- reiterate again
- joint cooperation
- safe haven
- added bonus
- $500 dollars
- PIN number.
Removing tautologies in your business writing is one way to make it more clear and prevent it from being redundant and superfluous.