Tautology is saying the same thing twice. We don’t often realise we are doing it, but we commonly emphasise a word by adding another word with the same meaning either in front or after the word we are using.
Common examples are:
Past history
Near future
Completely finished
False illusion
New innovations
8am in the morning
Foreign import
True facts
If you pull the words apart, you see how the words are different yet say the same thing or that common sense says you don’t really need both words!
Example:
Past history – history refers to the past and the past is history so there is no need to use both words. You could use either as:
History tells us ….
OR
In the past …
Tautology doesn’t make what we’re saying more important, we’re just using more words to say what we mean. By eliminating tautology, we can make our writing clear and concise.
Are they any examples of tautology that you commonly use?