WRITING ERRORS
Wordiness (inflated sentences)
It has come to our attention that your tax returns are overdue and we urge you to file them at your earliest convenience.
Your tax returns are overdue. Please file them now.
If you have something to say to readers, spit it out (figuratively, not literally). Inflating sentences with unnecessary words, or
pointless filler only muddles what you mean to say. Wordy sentences also frustrate readers, so get to the point.
Streamline your sentences by using strong verbs and nouns instead of trite adjectives and adverbs.
William Shakespeare once wrote that brevity is the soul of wit. Follow the Bard’s lead by never using ten sentences when
two will suffice. Don’t overuse words such as “that,” “just,” and “very.” Proofread your work to keep your prose tightened and
toned!
Tautologies
Jack made a water pail for Jill. Jack made a water pail with his own hands for Jill.
Tautologies express the same thing twice with different words. In our example, the word “made” implies that Jack used his
own two hands to create the pail. The prepositional phrase “with his own hands” creates a redundancy. Once you know
what they are, it’s fun to discover tautologies: dilapidated ruins, close proximity, added bonus, large crowd . . . The list goes
on and on!
What Is Redundancy In English?
Redundancy in the needless repetition of words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas.
Redundancy is when we use two or more words together that mean the same thing, for example, ‘adequate enough’. We
also say something is redundant when a modifier’s meaning is contained in the word it modifies, for example, ‘merge
together’.
INSTEAD OF… SIMPLY…
12 AT NIGHT MIDNIGHT
12 IN THE AFTERNOON NOON
A TOTAL OF 14 BIRDS 14 BIRDS
BIOGRAPHY OF HER LIFE BIOGRAPHY
END RESULT RESULT
SUMMARISE BRIEFLY SUMMARISE
FREE GIFT GIFT
When we write, we should try to be as clear and concise as we can be. If we learn how to get a message across without
adding unnecessary words, readers are more likely to read what we write.
Ambiguity
Read the comic strip. The humor is based on ambiguity. That means that the words can
be interpreted in more than one way. Communication fails because one person in the story
doesn't interpret the ambiguous statement correctly. That's the humor!
Explain the ambiguity. The boy meant that , but the girl thinks he means that
.
The ambiguity in this comic strip is based on a word that has more than one meaning. The woman means
that , but the man believes that .
[Link]
The ambiguous word in this joke is . When this word is a verb, it means , but when it is a
noun it means .
This man is being ambiguous about ambiguity! Please help him by writing a clear definition of ambiguity here: