What is tautology?
Many inexperienced writers think that more words mean better writing. Some may actually seek out extended ways of saying things to boost word count. Too much of it, and the result is the same either way: over-long sentences and a feeling of being stuck in a wordy swamp.
Tautology is a particular type of wordiness. It means saying the same thing in two different ways. To be more precise, it’s where the overall meaning in a multi-word phrase is already contained within a smaller part of the phrase. Often, that’s within just one word. Our language is rich with single words that hold a wealth of meaning; if you choose wisely, you won’t need to embellish them.
Tautology can be found lurking in business writing, journalism or fiction. Rooting it out will tighten your prose, which is nearly always a good thing.
Business examples
A prime example of tautology from the business world is forward planning. Why? Because there is never any other sort of planning! The word planning, in itself, includes the concept of the future.
Other examples include:
serious crisis top priority
important focus absolutely unique
future prospects added bonus
easily facilitate another alternative
Descriptive examples
Hopefully you’ve got the idea from the two-word phrases in the above section. Here’s the kind of thing that might be seen in fiction or journalism:
yelled loudly crept quietly
asked curious unexpected surprise
fidgeted restlessly devoured hungrily
usual routine finally reached the end
Some tautology may not be immediately obvious. Consider the following:
glass windows [They usually are!]
the perimeter is surrounded by a fence… [The perimeter is the surround.]
features characterised by… [Features are characteristics.]
died in a fatal attack [If someone died, it must have been fatal.]
walked in the entrance [That’s what an entrance is for.]
Speech examples
There’s a particular danger around dialogue. You may want to break up dialogue with narrative (a perfectly reasonable thing to do). But beware of using that narrative to repeat what’s covered in the character’s speech. (The following are separate examples, not a single conversation!)
“What’s that gadget for?” he questioned, desperate to find out what it did.
She tried to comfort him. “Everything will be OK, darling.”
He didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“It can’t be true!” she cried. She couldn’t believe her ears.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sometimes, repeated ideas can be used deliberately for effect. I’m not saying that you should never include tautology… but you need to be aware that you’ve done it, and be able to justify it. All too often, I see it used simply because the writer is unsure that they have conveyed their meaning, or because they think that being wordy makes their writing sound extra-clever.
Once you start looking carefully, examples of tautology will begin to leap out at you. You have been warned!
[Photo of nearly-but-not-quite-identical twins from my own archives.]