Career AdviceCareer DevelopmentJob Skills Development

Once is enough: Avoiding repetition in your communication

In business communication, eliminating unnecessary words is always a goal.

By Helen

This post is by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene, authors of The Business Style Handbook, An A-to-Z Guide for Effective Writing on the Job.

“The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components,” wrote William Zinsser in his classic book On Writing Well. In business communication, eliminating unnecessary words is always a goal. And now that everyone is reading email and other communications on smartphones and tablets, achieving that goal is more important than ever.

One easy way to tighten your language is to ensure it doesn’t contain redundancies — words that repeat something and are therefore unnecessary. Redundancies can creep into writing with surprising frequency. Always delete them to avoid unnecessary repetition. While you may say something twice for emphasis, you rarely need to write it twice. Here are five examples of redundancies commonly seen in business:

  • In addition, the company will also be forming a Sustainability Committee. Cut the “In addition” or the “also” to avoid saying the same thing twice. Be on the lookout for this mistake with the word “too,” too. (Remember to put a comma before the word “too.” A common punctuation error is to omit that comma.)
  • The company will contribute $1 million dollars to the hurricane relief effort. Delete the word “dollars,” which is unnecessary because the dollar sign is there. (You could delete the dollar sign, but the currency symbols are a better choice in business writing.)
  • The company’s share price reached a new record high. Delete “new.” If it set a record, then the “new” is redundant. The same for “all-time record.” If it’s a record, the “all-time” is unnecessary.
  • The technology team worked months and months to roll out the new system. Delete “and months.” It won’t change the meaning and it will tighten the sentence. Be on the lookout for this construction elsewhere: faster and faster, more and more, longer and longer, etc.
  • The keynote speaker is Dr. Jin Yong Park, Ph.D. Delete either the “Dr.” or the “Ph.D.” since they both signal doctor. Make your decision based on the situation and the audience. If you want to highlight the doctorate degree and avoid possible confusion with a medical degree, then keep the “Ph.D.”

Once you’re tuned into redundancies, you’ll spot them everywhere. Here are 20 other examples. Sometimes, you can decide which word to delete. Other times, you have no choice.

  1. 2 a.m. in the morning or 2 p.m. in the afternoon
  2. Absolutely necessary
  3. Advance notice
  4. ATM machine (ATM stands for automated teller machine)
  5. Close proximity
  6. Collaborate together
  7. Completely eliminate
  8. Consensus of opinion
  9. Estimated at about/around/approximately
  10. PIN number (PIN stands for personal identification number)
  11. Rarely ever
  12. Surround on all sides
  13. Major breakthrough
  14. Might/could possibly
  15. New beginning
  16. Please RSVP (RSVP means respond if you please in French)
  17. Same exact
  18. Totally unique
  19. Very unique
  20. Whether or not