Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3, Volume 8 | Page 14

Y OU D ON ’ T S AY !
By Mike Dennis and Morgan St. James
Redundancies & Contradictions
Mike and Morgan explore the pitfalls of the English language, because so many words are misused. From
words that sound alike, to ones that almost sound alike—redundancies, oxymorons and words that don’t re-
ally exist but are used every day. The list goes on, and we’re going to have fun with them in every issue
Can there be too much of a good thing? Absolutely. We see this all the time. Adjectives that have the
same meaning as the verb or noun or actually contradict it. When used to the extreme the entire
reason for using an adjective is lost. So, think before you duplicate your meaning or contradict it
with a modifier. Sometimes there actually is a reason. Here are two examples:
MIKE : Hey, Morgan. Where've you been? I haven't seen you lately.
MORGAN : I've been doing some research for my new novel. It revolves around the
business of making furniture in prisons.
MIKE : Prisons? Research? Don't tell me you had to talk with...
MORGAN : That's right. As some would say, Convicted felons, instead of just saying
felons.
MIKE : Oh No! Not a redundancy again.
MORGAN : Yes, I'm afraid so. And by the time I got back home, I was swimming in those
damned redundancies. You know, if the felon is in prison, he or she has been
convicted, right?
MIKE : Well, there are other possibilities. Couldn't you find any acquitted felons to talk
to?
MORGAN : Mike, you know if they were acquitted, they wouldn’t be in prison. Then on
the plane back here, the flight attendant kept talking about our final destination.
MIKE : Isn’t that the same as your destination?
MORGAN : Right. But, they insisted upon calling it final on a non-stop flight. What other
kind of a destination would it have been?
MIKE : Well, if there were stops and if it isn’t your final, they usually do mention your
destination for a connection. Maybe that’s why they find the need to say final.
MORGAN : I guess that sort of makes sense.
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
P AGE 9
F ALL 2018