Writing Peeves #1
Hello and Hi! Today’s blob and weblog is about a writing peeve. Specifically, I identify redundancy and tautology in some common phrases. Do you get the point? Let’s go!
Each and every. This one gets my wife sputtering when she reads or hears it. Each refers to an individual object or person, or where only two objects apply. Every refers to a group of individuals or objects.
Yuck: I’ve been to each and every store in town looking for it.
Better: I’ve been to every store in town looking for it.
Yuck: I wore a glove on each and every hand.
Better: I wore a glove on each hand. Note that “I wore a glove on every hand” seems weird when we only have two hands.
Yuck: I watched each and every episode on the DVD.
Better: I watched each episode on the DVD. Or I watched every episode on the DVD.
Exact same. If two things resemble each other in the same way, they are exact.
Yuck: I have the exact same shoes.
Better: I have the same shoes.
In order to. This one makes me sputter because I see many print editors allow it into copy. I have yet to see an example where “in order” is needed and dropping it changes the meaning. “To” does it all.
Yuck: I had to start the car in order to listen for the strange engine noise.
Better: I had to start the car to listen for the strange engine noise.
Period of time. Let’s look at the definition of “period.” Period: noun, a length or portion of time. So “period of time” then equates to “a length of time of time.” Huh?!
Yuck: I stood waiting for the bus for a long period of time.
Better: I stood waiting for the bus for a long time.
Here are a few double-talk examples to close out.
repeat again -> repeat
visible to the eye -> visable
complete stop -> stop
integral part -> integral
concatenated together -> concatenated
precisely the same -> the same
Which sentence do you prefer?
Each of us for a time do the same thing to recharge our bodies: we sleep.
Each and every one of us for a period of time do the exact same thing in order to recharge our bodies: we sleep.
I don’t know why I got an F on this assignment in elementary school. The assignment was to write a 1000-word essay on any topic. Here’s what I turned in.
I really, really, really, [990 more reallys] don’t want to write an essay.
