Collins Improve Your Writing Skills. Graham King

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СКАЧАТЬ the part of – by

      owing to the fact that – because

      pink/purple/puce, etc in colour – pink/purple/puce, etc

      prior to – before

      provide a contribution to – contribute to/help

      regardless of the fact that – although

      subsequent to – after

      there can be little doubt that – no doubt, clearly

      there is a possibility that – possibly/perhaps

      to the best of my knowledge and belief – as far as I know/I believe

      until such time as – until

      with a view to – to

      with reference to – about

      with regard to – about

      with respect to – about/concerning

      with the exception of – except

      People prone to pompous long-windedness can be gently reminded of their sins by quoting to them a well-known nursery rhyme rewritten in circumlocutory style:

       Observe repeatedly the precipitate progress of a trio of sightless rodents: together they coursed apace on the heels of the agriculturalist’s consort, who summarily disjoined their caudal appendages with a cutler’s handiwork. One had never witnessed such mirth in one’s existence as the incident involving those hemeralopic and nyctalopic mammals.

      The rhyme is, of course, Three Blind Mice.

An utterly unique added extra: Tautology

       Mr and Mrs David Smith are proud to announce the birth of a baby girl, Sarah Anne.

      Now, like ‘Dog Bites Man’, this isn’t really news. But what if Mrs Smith had given birth to an adult girl? That would be news! Obviously Mrs Smith had given birth to a baby; it happens all the time. The newsy bit is that it was a girl.

      The use of the word baby here is what is known as pleonasm, the use of redundant words. The same would apply if Mrs Smith invited the neighbours in to see her ‘new baby’. Are there any old babies? Of course all babies are new!

      When a word repeats the meaning of another word in the same phrase it is called tautology and, usually, all verbal superfluities are known by this term.

      Free gift! Added extra! Added bonus! These are exciting claims. And also wasted words: classic examples of tautology, the use of more than one word to convey the same thought.

      A gift, if not free, is not a gift – except perhaps in the slang usage, ‘That car was an absolute gift at £6,000’.

      Something extra is clearly something added. And a bonus is normally an addition. Even if the word is used to describe something apart from money, an added bonus is an added addition. Nonsense, obviously. Yet we hear and read phrases such as added bonus every day, from people who have not thought what they are saying or writing, or do not care.

      So accustomed are we to tautology in everyday speech and reading that this form of language misuse can pass unnoticed:

       Will David’s income be sufficient enough for you both?

      How many of us would normally detect that enough is a wasted word?

      Avoiding redundant words and expressions is a sign of a caring writer and here, to help you, is an A to Z of some of the more common superfluities.

      An A to Z of Tautology

       absolute certainty

      actual facts (and its cousin, true facts)

       added bonus/extra

       adequate/sufficient enough

       a downward plunge

       advance warning

       appear on the scene

       arid desert

       attach together

       audible click

      burn down, burnt up (burn and burnt by themselves are usually better)

       circle round, around

       collaborate together

       connect together

      consensus of opinion (it’s simply consensus)

       couple together

       crisis situation

       divide it up, divide off

       each and every one

       early beginnings

       eat up

       enclosed herewith, enclosed herein

       end result

       file away

       final completion

       final upshot

       follow after

       forward planning

       free gift

       funeral obsequies

       future prospects

       gather together

       gale force winds

       general consensus

       grateful thanks СКАЧАТЬ