Redundancies do have their place.

• To emphasize something important in display advertising/marketing
• In jargon among legal professionals
• As a comedic device
• In written dialogue
• In storytelling

The key is to know your audience. When writing for business and for academic presentations, writing is effective only when it is clear, succinct, and well organized. It should have very little jargon, and must be specifically crafted and presented to give the clearest call to action to readers and get the most direct and accurate response from readers.

Redundancies in business writing tend to introduce ambiguity that may confuse readers, thereby diminishing your credibility with them. Here are some redundancies to avoid in business writing.

• Repay back (use either repay or pay back)
• Revert back to (revert)
• Sequential order (sequential)
• Unexpected surprise (Really? When is a surprise expected?)
• Various different (These words mean the same thing. Choose one.)
• Whole entire (These words mean the same thing. Choose one.)
• Circle around (Circle implies going around.)
• Armed gunman         (If there is a gunman, he is armed with a gun.)
• Honest truth (Truth is honest always.)
• Complete and utter
• Exact duplicate

Use this as a cheat sheet in your arsenal of tools to ensure a clear message. Add your own discoveries of redundancies to avoid. And. Avoid. Them.

For help in putting your best word forward, contact donna@dmarks.com or go to editsbymarks.com. Let’s talk about what you need.