Comments on: Grammar Lesson of the Day: Redundancy

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:49:18 +0000

I love them all! Redundancies are so much fun!

I was musing about this example:

“The house was partially damaged by fire. A part of the house was damaged? How can you damage something, if not partially? Something that is completely damaged is not damaged. It is destroyed.”

True. Which led me to play around with the meaning of this in my head.

You could say “partially damaged” in a context where there was more than one kind of damage.

And you could say a house was “entirely damaged” by fire. I suppose technically this would mean the house was not totally destroyed (speaking of redundancies :-) ), but all over the house there was damage, not only in one part of the house.

So, you could say that a house was partially damaged, without having a redundancy, but I believe most people who say this are using it to mean “partially destroyed,” and not “partially damaged.” Then again, you could have a house that was partially damaged and partially destroyed by fire, but I am getting carried away here…

pentamom wrote: “I see “completely destroyed” as redundancy for effect, like a repetition. ”

Yes, a repetition to augment intensity; it adds punch to it, independently if it is a repetition.

By: Steve P in Detroit

Steve P in Detroit — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:55:52 +0000

Or “this morning at 4:00 a.m.”

One that bemuses me, but that no one else seems bothered by, is “we will answer your call in the order in which it was received.” My call was singular, so there’s no “order” in which it could be received!

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:22:29 +0000

i think the “re” in revoyons makes “encore” redundant. but did holmes really say that?

By: Matt Franck

Matt Franck — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:21:35 +0000

Most maddeningly common redundancy one hears today: “This is our one-year anniversary!”

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:00:17 +0000

It’s possible the Cardinals could win the last 6 games of one season and the first 6 games of the next season–which would be 12 in a row, but not 12 consecutive?

Perhaps I need to get back to work…

By: pentamom

pentamom — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:58:18 +0000

I see “completely destroyed” as redundancy for effect, like a repetition. The others carry more of a sense of “I don’t know what both words mean so I’ll use them both thinking they’re not redundant.” Except for the last — I have no clue what it was that Holmes said.