Thursday, April 21, 2011

A-Z Blog Challenge: R

R is for Repeat…again.

Sometimes it’s obvious when we repeat a word in a sentence, paragraph, page, or scene.  We, or our critique partners, can find them when we edit.  But there are times redundancies aren’t quite so obvious because they are phrases we use everyday without thinking.  If we want to tighten up our writing and make it shine, weeding these out will be a great help. 

Below is a list of several commonly used phrases that, when you take a closer look, you’ll see are completely repetitive.  When I first saw these, I had to laugh.  Some are just way too obvious.


Advance warning
And etc
Assemble together
Bald headed
Best ever
Brief moment
Closed fist
Combine together
Drop down
Disappear from sight
Each and every
Exact time
Final end
Follow after
Gather together
Head honcho
Hoist up
Incredible to believe
ISBN number
Join together
Kneel down
Lift up
Live witness
Mental telepathy
Mix together
Never before
None at all
Old adage
Over exaggerated
Pair of twins
Past memories
Plan ahead
Pouring down rain
Pursue after
Reflect back
Rise up
Safe haven
Sum total
Tall in stature
Temper tantrum
Tuna fish
(or )
Unexpected emergency
Visible to the eye
Warn in advance



You can find a larger list here.  I had fun looking over these.  It was a bit of an eye-opener to how often I use them without realizing it.

How many of these look like familiar phrases you’ve used in your writing?  Would you go back and change them?



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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow. Some of these I don't really think about but I know I've said them and probably written them too.

Sarah Allen said...

Haha, great realization here for me :) Thanks for sharing!

Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)