The grammar tip o'the week comes courtesy of "Grammar Girl," who asks an apt question: Are you annoyingly redundant? If you say (or write) later this year or earlier this week, future plans or past history, or "please RSVP" you just might be.
How about these?
In the Process of
One such phrase to excise from your writing is “in the process of,” as in, “My kids are in the process of driving me crazy.” Delete it, and you have, “My kids are driving me crazy.” Anytime you see “in the process of,” take it out and check to see whether any meaning is lost. You’ll save your fingers thousands of superfluous keystrokes over a few decades. (Notice we didn’t need to say “a period of a few decades.”)
Whether or not
Another quick way to trim a couple of words at a time from your writing (and your speech) is to keep an eye on the “whether” – the “whether or not,” that is. I can’t decide whether or not to bring my umbrella. Lose the “or not”in that instance, and you’re fine. Just don’t lose your umbrella.
One redundancy that I think is particularly embarrassing (because it is so egregious) is: "irregardless." The proper word is "regardless."
ReplyDeleteThis reminds my dad of the department of redundancy department.
ReplyDelete