100 Redundant Expressions You Should Avoid In Writing

100 Redundant Expressions You Should Avoid In Writing

by | Mar 27, 2018 | Speaking, Writing

100 Redundant Expressions You Should Avoid In Writing
27
MARCH, 2018
Samuel Osho
In William Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, a popular phrase was uttered in the second act by Polonius, “Brevity is the soul of wit […]” This phrase is adjudged as one of the countless witty expressions of the English writer. If wit connotes wisdom, it implies that it is of necessity for you to be brief and concise if you want to make sense either while speaking or writing.
In the heat of the jungle, the lions that go for the jugular are the ones that survive. No stories or perambulating, they go for the kill! These are writers that get the applause because they put their readers in mind while writing. Readers love writers who go straight to the point; they launch words like stones in David’s sling. In the long run, they make their words count because they are not in a race to fulfill a word count.
I am sure you can easily spot such writers in a crowd. If they are scripting a novel, they shove aside redundant expressions and clear the path as you race towards the end of the spectrum called suspense. If they are writing articles, they use powerful verbs instead of adverbs and adjectives. I know why you love them so much: it’s because they use simple language to explain everything – from chaos to serenity.
Readers love writers who go straight to the point; they launch words like stones in David's sling. In the long run, they make their words count because they are not in a race to fulfill a word count. Click To Tweet
Editing is a tough turf for many writers. While you edit your work, one of the clutters you must eliminate is the use of redundant expressions or often known as needless repetitions. Am I saying don’t repeat yourself? Yes, you only need to speak once for you to be heard. To every rule, there is an exception, use repetition in the case of emphasis or clarification of a topical theme.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic speech in August 1963 but we can’t get “I have a dream” out of our heads perhaps because he repeated it eight times in his speech. So, repetition has its place. However, this article will open your eyes to some needless expressions and unnecessary duplicity that can be axed out of your writing. It will give wings to your writing. The words in parentheses should be removed.
The 100 Expressions
  1. ATM (machine)
  2. PIN (number)
  3. HIV (virus)
  4. LCD (display)
  5. GRE (exam)
  6. WASSCE (exam)
  7. RAM (memory)
  8. (live) witness
  9. (little) baby
  10. evolve (over time)
  11. (basic) necessities
  12. (basic) fundamentals
  13. (actual) facts
  14. (annual) anniversary
  15. (exploded) suddenly
  16. sat (down)
  17. stand (up)
  18. rise (up)
  19. raise (up)
  20. fall (down)
  21. drop (down)
  22. dwindle (down)
  23. compete (with each other)
  24. (old) adage
  25. (natural) instinct
  26. (new) innovation
  27. (new) invention
  28. (two) twins
  29. (pair of) twins
  30. (mutually) agreed
  31. (mutual) cooperation
  32. merge (together)
  33. refer (back) to your notes
  34. (armed) gunman
  35. (necessary) prerequisites
  36. (absolutely) essential
  37. (unexpected) emergency
  38. (original) founder
  39. (first and) foremost
  40. (brief) summary
  41. (free) gift
  42. (finally) completed
  43. (final) conclusion
  44. (final) outcome
  45. (final) end
  46. (final) ultimatum
  47. (prior) planning
  48. (advance) planning
  49. (each) individual
  50. (personally) think
  51. (annoying) pests
  52. (past) experience
  53. (new) breakthrough
  54. (different) kinds
  55. cancel (out)
  56. repeat (again)
  57. (foreign) imports
  58. (false) pretense
  59. (difficult) dilemma
  60. ask (a question)
  61. (invited) guests
  62. few (in number)
  63. (added) bonus
  64. enter (in)
  65. (end) result
  66. (unexpected) surprise
  67. written (down)
  68. (closed) fist
  69. (general) public
  70. (harmful) injuries
  71. grow (in size)
  72. (proposed) plan
  73. reply (back)
  74. revert (back)
  75. round (in shape)
  76. true (facts)
  77. three a.m (in the morning)
  78. (twelve) noon or midnight
  79. (white) snow
  80. undergraduate (student)
  81. (tiny) bit
  82. (regular) routine
  83. protest (against)
  84. pursue (after)
  85. close (proximity)
  86. (important) essentials
  87. cheaper (in cost)
  88. disappear (from view)
  89. (completely) eliminate
  90. advance (forward)
  91. tuna (fish)
  92. spell out (in detail)
  93. warn (in advance)
  94. (crystal) clear
  95. (in the field of) biology
  96. (in a period of) a week
  97. whether (or not)
  98. share (together)
  99. postpone (until later)
  100. kneel (down)
Let’s see how much you have learnt from this article with this short exercise. Eliminate the redundancies in the passage below:

“Mona had a difficult dilemma. She worked for a caterer, and from 9 a.m. in the morning until 12 noon, her job was to hand out free gifts at the mall. But her close personal friend Myrtle had just given birth to a baby girl, and she had promised to take care of Myrtle’s pair of twins while Myrtle was in the hospital. To Mona, the twins were annoying pests, but she would keep her promise. When Mona explained to her boss that Myrtle’s early delivery had come as an unexpected surprise, she could see the intense fury in his eyes. Silently, he prepared the different varieties of his decorative garnishes. The evil fiend then suddenly exploded and spelled out in detail why Mona was fired. Mona’s future prospects looked dim, as jobs were few in number. Mona now runs her own company, so getting fired may possibly have been her lucky break.”

Answer

“Mona had a dilemma. She worked for a caterer, and from 9 a.m. until noon, her job was to hand out gifts at the mall. But her close friend Myrtle had just given birth to a girl, and she had promised to take care of Myrtle’s twins while Myrtle was in the hospital. To Mona, the twins were pests, but she would keep her promise. When Mona explained to her boss that Myrtle’s early delivery had come as a surprise, she could see the fury in his eyes. Silently, he prepared the varieties of his garnishes. The fiend then exploded and spelled out why Mona was fired. Mona’s future looked dim, as jobs were few. Mona now runs her own company, so getting fired may have been her lucky break.”
Eliminating redundancies will be a lot easier with the following resources:
In conclusion, wordiness and vagueness in writing starve clarity of message. Your writing will be a lot better if you pay attention to these common redundancies.
If this has helped you in any way, then help me by hitting the share button (smiles). Please don’t hesitate to add to the list of redundancies in the comment section. 

Shareable Quotes

Shareable Quotes

by | Dec 15, 2017 | Quotes

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If you are in need of inspiration, motivation and the mental energy to get a task done, some of these quotes may come in very handy for you. Quotable quotes often mean more than a thousand words – they just hit the nail right on the head. To share these images, just hover your mouse over them and you can share on your favorite social media networks.

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How Active Reading Changed My Life: 7 Things That Happened To Me

How Active Reading Changed My Life: 7 Things That Happened To Me

by | Nov 13, 2017 | Personal Development, Productivity, Writing

How Active Reading Changed My Life: 7 Things That Happened To Me
12
NOVEMBER, 2017
Samuel Osho
You have heard that readers are leaders. You have heard that reading makes you intelligent. If you are a public speaker, you must have been told that reading makes you a better speaker. And I am pretty sure that writers must have heard a million times that reading makes their pens smarter. These assertions are true but there is more.

 

American novelist and 1954 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is no friend as loyal as a book.” From my personal voyage, I totally agree that good books are loyal friends and they keep the company of the wise. I love reading good books. Reading is an activity that refuels and rewires the brain.
When you read fiction books, you learn to live in the world of the characters and travel to new places. Reading a non-fiction book opens your mind to new insights from unique wells of knowledge that can make your life better. I have been married to good books for about a decade and the impact of reading in my life is mind-blowing.
"Reading Click To Tweet
To be honest, before engaging in active reading, I was that young lad who was inherently shy and always scared of criticism. I was helplessly battered by an inferiority complex and lacked the energy to sustain intellectual conversations with people.
Asides my school books, I was a complete novice and to make matters worse, I loathed movies. These three traits perfectly describe my personality before engaging in active reading:
  • Timid:
I was that smart but diffident kid that sits at the back of the class. Everything about me including my grades spoke eloquently except my lips. They were sealed by timidity. Provided the discussion is out of the spheres of science, I was a complete ignoramus. There was really nothing to say due to lack of exposure.
  • Lack of self-worth:
I lacked the dignity of believing in my worth as a person. Inferiority complex dealt with my personality and made me a fragile soul. I was that moody guy pummeled by the actions and inactions of others like a ball in a pendulum. I was a people pleaser and never believed in myself.
  • Terrible at communication:
Communication can be tough for shallow minds. The two most popular media of communication – writing and speaking, places a demand on your reservoir of knowledge and drains you. I was terrible at both writing and speaking and would always find a way of running away from them. Worst of all, I struggled with engaging in simple conversations because I was always afraid of making grammatical blunders. To earn a modicum of respect, I kept my mouth shut and watched others unleash their thoughts and ideas.
"Reading Click To Tweet
In 2007, shortly after graduation from high school, my Dad gave me a book, “You Can Make A Difference” by American author Tony Campolo. And that was the turning point! The book appeared to me as a mirror that showed all my flaws, weaknesses, pain-points and shortcomings.
 

 

I perceived so strongly in my heart that Campolo had me in mind when he wrote the book because it did not only talk about my challenges but also offered solutions to them. He showed me why I felt inferior to others, why I always chose to follow the crowd and why my lips were sealed. Before I got to the last page, my inferiority complex encountered a natural death and I was free.
 
What happened to me? Just a book? Yes, one good book brought liberation to my soul.
 
And what was the next thing I did? I searched for more books and read voraciously. At that time, I had a very close schoolmate who lived two blocks away from my house, he was an addicted reader that consumes all manners of books in print. We became very close friends and made reading one of our hobbies.
 
That’s one single decision I have come to eternally cherish. Reading became my strongest addiction. Anyways, I am very proud of it even though I have earned funny names like bookworm and nerd.
 
After reading Campolo’s book, I pounced on novels and found a special taste for thrillers and science fiction. In the novels of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, I learnt about topics such as medicine and public health.
 
While rummaging through novels by John Grisham, I understood the meaning of words like subpoena, probono, affidavit, and other legal terms. I was intrigued by the problem-solving instincts of Dr. Watson’s fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, and fascinated by the solutions of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s mystery novels.
 
Reading books made boldness surge through my veins; it was like putting on a switch in my brain. Let me show you some of the things that happened to me when I started reading actively:
7 Amazing Things That Happened To Me

1. Increased Concentration

Reading good books sharpened my ability to concentrate on tasks and get them completed. It takes a lot of discipline and concentration to pick a book and finish reading it. When I started active reading, phones and tablets with social media were not in vogue. Grabbing a book was my way of getting entertained.

Now, it’s more difficult to read a book because of the multitude of distractions here and there. My concentration levels increased because of reading. You just need to sit and concentrate, one book at a time and it gets better.
"Reading Click To Tweet

2. Increased Vocabulary Bank

New words will be your friends if you are an active reader. My vocabulary bank increased with the daily deposit of new words, new phrases, and new statements. I also saw how these authors used these words which informed my use of new words in my conversations with people.
"New Click To Tweet

3. Better Writer

I became a better writer after giving myself to reading. After delving into active reading, it influenced my writing skills positively. Writing became easier because I had access to a plethora of words that aptly describe my thoughts. Above all, reading makes it possible for you to know the minds of other successful authors and you can explore their writing styles.
"After Click To Tweet

4. Better Speaker

In speaking, you communicate what is within you to others. It can be exhaustive and could be an arduous task if you don’t know what to say. Active reading made a better speaker out of my timid frame. With reading, I consistently filled my reservoir of knowledge with the insight of others.

Hence, I could engage more people in inspiring conversations without burning out. The inspiring words of American poet, Ralph Wado Emerson comes to mind: “If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”

"Active Click To Tweet

5. Access To Solutions

My adventure with books went beyond corridors of novels to the front porches of non-fiction books. Books are treasure troves. No wonder, American entrepreneur, Walt Disney opined that “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on treasure island.”

Reading of biographies, autobiographies, and self-help has shown me on numerous occasions that one can find help in books. If you are persistent enough, you can find solutions to your challenges in a book. In books, I found ways of becoming a better speaker, I learnt the rudiments of financial literacy and ultimately, how to be the best version of myself.

"Books Click To Tweet
“Ordinary people have big TVs. Extraordinary people have big libraries.” – Robin Sharma

6. Increased Imaginative Power

When you read beautiful novels that are works of ingenuity and creativity, it has a magical effect on your brain. On several occasions, I try to create the scenes of the stories that I read in books. This is an activity that trains your brain and mind to use the power of imagination. In the realms of imagination, I don’t only create new things but I also birth them.
"In Click To Tweet

7. Exposure

With books, I traveled to new places, I learnt about the cultures of other people and I embraced new perspectives about life. I discover new routes of thinking and that is a form of education. Reading exposed my mind to many things that were intellectually stimulating and heightened my curiosity.
I began to ask many questions and find answers to them. I was not surprised when the German-American author, Dr. Seuss Giesel said, “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.”
"Reading Click To Tweet
In conclusion, developing a habit of active reading will make you stand out amidst your peers and it’s the secret of highly effective people. It’s one of the smartest ways to speed up your personal growth along your career path or areas of interest. Read like your life depends on it and you will be handsomely rewarded by life. According to Worldometers’ counter based on statistics published by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 2.2 million new book titles have been published in 2017. That’s huge! In this new week, grab a new book and read. Active reading equals active learning!
Which book are you reading now? Which book is your next catch? Let me know in the comments section below. I am currently devouring Kiyosaki’s updated edition of Rich Dad Poor Dad which was published in April 2017.

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