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Simply to retrench one word from each sentence, one superfluous epithet, for example, would probably increase the disposable time of the public by one twelfth part; in other words, would add another month to the year, or raise any sum of volumes read from eleven to twelve hundred. A mechanic operation would effect that change; but, by cultivating a closer logic and more severe habits of thinking, perhaps two sentences out of each three might be pruned away, and the amount of possible publication might thus be increased in a threefold degree." 1

REDUNDANCY

Redundancy.

the fault of using more words than are necessary to express an idea - is one of the commonest faults of composition.

various forms.

It assumes

The crudest form of redundancy is TAUTOLOGY,2— the repetition of an idea in the same or in differTautology. ent words.

Among tautological expressions are: first or original aggressor, his own autobiography, coal collier, funeral obsequies,5 sylvan forest, umbrageous shade, falsely misrepresents, recalled back, mutually reciprocal, verdant green, audible to the ear, intolerable to be borne, popular with the people.

Other examples of tautology are to be found in the following sentences:

"Never did Atticus succeed better in gaining the universal love and esteem of all men.' "99

1 De Quincey: Essay on Style.

2 From Tauró, the same thing, and Aéyew, to say.

The Quarterly Review (1876).

4 American newspaper.

5 Disraeli's first speech in Parliament. Bulwer (Lytton): The Com ing Race.

6 John Bright: Speech at Manchester, April 30, 1878.

7 Anthony Trollope: The Last Chronicle of Barset.

8 Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter.

The Spectator, No. 467.

"More power to his elbow' is the popular panacea for all the ills of the body politic."1

"This subject, which caused mutual 2 astonishment and per plexity to us both, entirely engrossed us for the rest of the evening." a

"Let us glance briefly at the facts." 4

"Sir Robert assured his son in reply, that from the informa tion, intelligence, and tidings, which had been communicated to, and laid before him, he had the deepest reason to believe, credit, and be convinced, that a riotous assault would that night be attempted and perpetrated against Hazelwood-House.'” 5

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And, gentlemen, when the timbers of the Vessel of the State are unsound and the Man at the Helm is unskilful, would those great Marine Insurers, who rank among our world-famed merchantprinces ― would they insure her, gentlemen? Would they underwrite her? Would they incur a risk in her? Would they have confidence in her?" "6

"Let observation, with extensive view,

Survey mankind from China to Peru."7

Or, as the lines, somewhat unfairly, have been translated into prose: "Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively."

Macaulay's example from Dr. Johnson is well known:

"The Rehearsal,' he said, very unjustly, 'has not wit enough to keep it sweet; ' then, after a pause, 'it has not vitality enough to preserve it from putrefaction." " 8

Mr. Borthrop Trumbull, the auctioneer of Middlemarch, “never used poor language without immediately correcting himself:

"Oh yes, anybody may ask. Anybody may interrogate.

1 The [New York] Critic, Dec. 27, 1884. Quoted from "The Pall Mall Gazette."

5 Scott: Guy Mannering, vol. ii. chap. xviii.

6 Dickens Our Mutual Friend, book ii. chap. iii.

7 Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes.

8 Macaulay Essays; Boswell's Life of Johnson. For the preference between these two expressions, see pp. 102-104.

Anyone may give their remarks an interrogative turn. a very nice thing, a very superior publication, entitled "Ivanhoe." You will not get any writer to beat him in a hurry, I think - - he will not, in my opinion, speedily be surpassed. . . . I hope some one will tell me so - I hope some individual will apprise me of the fact.'"1

...

Words that are habitually coupled come to constitute a single idea, which requires both words for its full expression. Such are: "kith and kin,” “ways and means,” "end and aim," "intents and purposes," "pains and penalties," "bag and baggage," "part and parcel," "rags and tatters," "sum and substance," "metes and bounds," "rules and regulations," "safe and sound," "null and void."

Many common expressions, on the other hand, are justly chargeable with tautology. Such are: "prominent and leading lawyers," "bold and audacious robbers," "a usual and ordinary occurrence."

Expressions that are not exact reproductions of what has already been said may come so near being such as to belong under the head of tautology. For example:

"he rushed into the yard without his cocked hat, — which 2 is a very curious and remarkable circumstance: as showing that even a beadle, acted upon by a sudden and powerful impulse, may be afflicted with a momentary visitation of loss of self-possession and forgetfulness of personal dignity." 8

...

"he [the engine-driver] preserved a composure so immovable, and an indifference so complete, that, if the locomotive had been a sucking-pig, he could not have been more perfectly indifferent to its doings." 4

"He [Prior] had infused into it ["Solomon "] much knowledge and much thought; had often polished it to elegance, often digni.

1 George Eliot: Middlemarch, book iii. chap. xxxii.

2 See page 53.

8 Dickens: Oliver Twist, chap. vii.

Ibid. Martin Chuzzlewit, chap. xxi.

fied it with splendour, and sometimes heightened it to sublimity : he perceived in it many excellences, and did not discover that it wanted that without which all others are of small avail, the power of engaging attention and alluring curiosity."1

...

"every one that resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time.” 2

"As she swept down into the hall, Lord Hayes, who was standing there, with a pair of white kid gloves in his hand, was suddenly struck and astonished at her beauty."

"8

PLEONASM, another form of redundancy, consists in the addition of words which can be omitted without

affecting the construction or the meaning of Pleonasm.

the sentence. Such words are italicized in

the following sentences:

"Class Day, June 22, promises to be of its usual unique and memorable brilliancy.'

"5

"I have got a cold, together with fever."

"she gave her happy order to her satellites around her." 6 "Both the children stared at each other."7

"Both Governor McKinley and Mr. Reed agree that the fight has only just begun." 8

"From all inquiries on every hand this forenoon the general opinion is stronger than ever that McLean's sole and main motive for his crime was more or less jealousy." 8

"Their thoughts were fettered by the oppressing chains of scholasticism." 9

1 Johnson: Lives of the Poets; Prior. Whately calls the first part of this sentence tautological. See, however, De Quincey: Essay on Rhetoric, note 7.

2 Ibid.: Rasselas, chap. i.

E. F. Benson: The Rubicon, book ii. chap. v.

• From Tλéwv, Tλelwv, more, comparative of roλús, much.

• The [Harvard] Crimson.

6

Anthony Trollope: Tales of all Countries; Miss Sarah Jack.

7 Mrs. Molesworth: The Tapestry Room, chap. vii.

8 American newspaper.

9 Student's theme.

"There is nothing which disgusts us sooner than the empty pomp of language."

"1

"There can be no doubt but that newspapers at present are read altogether too much."

"Being content with deserving a triumph, he refused to receiva the honor that was offered him." 1

“Indeed, each day began to make it evident that he had, on the whole, rather a superabundance of animation than otherwise.” 2

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"By a multiplicity of words the sentiment is not set off and accommodated, but, like David equipped in Saul's armour, it is encumbered and oppressed.":

"he was by no means deficient in the subordinate and limited virtue, which alleviates and relieves the wants of others." 4

"It is, therefore, as it seems to me, utterly incredible and absurd that so natural and common a result of Parliamentary distinction as the offer of a high civil appointment should have moved Stanhope into any expression of surprise or resentment." 5

'It warns us against hasty judgment and cautions us against rash conclusions.” 6

"The author has thrown all the pathos and melancholy which his pen could express into this sad story of love." 6

In the last five citations, the italicized words add so little to the thought that they may be justly deemed pleonastic, if, indeed, they do not make the sentences tautological.

A common form of pleonasm consists in the use of more, most, very, too, so, as, and other particles of comparison, with adjectives or adverbs that do not admit of comparison. For example:

"For in resting so mainly on his army, and drawing from it such unlimited power, he contrived a new variety of monarchy."7

1 Student's theme.

2 Charlotte M. Yonge: The Heir of Redclyffe, chap. iii.

8 Campbell: The Philosophy of Rhetoric, book iii. chap. ii. sect. ii.

4 Scott: The Talisman, chap. vii.

Lord Mahon: History of England, vol. i. chap. iv.

6 Student's theme.

J. R. Seeley: Life and Times of Stein, part. ii. chap. i,