Tautology: Needless repetition

Tautology: Needless repetition

From English Composition and Rhetoric by Alexander Bain.

 

I. Synonymous words and phrases

Tautology means the repetition, often needless, of the same sense in different words.

“In the Attic commonwealth, it was the privilege and birthright of every citizen and poet, to rail aloud and in public.” —Swift

The meaning is the same as, “it was the privilege of every citizen to rail in public.”

In another example from Addison:

“The dawn is overcast; the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day.”

These three clauses all express the same fact.

II. Normally to be avoided

Often tautologies simply reflect sloppiness of style. It is desirable to avoid such tautologies as the “standard pattern,” the “verdant green,” “some few,” and other redundancies that add words but no new meaning.

In the same way, excess of inflection is a type of grammatical tautology to be avoided: as “chiefest,” “extremest,” “worser,” “ most highest.”

III. Can be used intentionally

A. Use when one word does not express the full sense intended.

No two words are exactly synonymous for all purposes; one has a shade that the other wants, and it may take the intentional use both to give the whole meaning. Hence we are accustomed to such phrases as “ways and means,” “passing and transitory,” “subject-matter.” In legal documents synonymous words are joined for the sake of exhaustive completeness. When Wordsworth couples “the vision and the faculty divine,” he intends that the two phrases, which are nearly alike, should unfold between them a greater amount of meaning than either conveys.

B. Use for the sake of greater emphasis.

Good exposition requires that the main subject should be distinguished from the subordinate parts. This is effected, among other ways, by intentionally dwelling longer upon it. In that case, repetition by means of equivalent phrases may be resorted to. “The head and front of his offending” “the end and design.”

C. Use to reflect strong passion.

Chatham's famous address abounds in tautologies, but they work because they are used intentionally to stir the emotions of his audience.

“I am astonished, I am shocked, to hear such principles confessed; to hear them avowed in this house and in this country.” 

Affection and admiration may lead to similar intentional repetitions.

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Brevity: A virtue

Brevity: A virtue

From English Composition and Rhetoric by Alexander Bain.

Figures of speech all contribute to a greater effectiveness of style. They either present a thought more vividly to the intellect, or operate more powerfully upon the feelings.

Brevity has the same object in view as figures. It concerns the number of words used, on the principle of

attaining the desired end at the smallest cost.

I. Brevity is a virtue of language

Every word uttered taxes the attention and occupies a space in the thoughts. Therefore, when words are used only as instruments, they should be compressed into the smallest compass consistent with the adequate expression of the meaning.

“Veni, vide, vici.” —Caesar (“I came, I saw, I conquered.”)

II. Sources of brevity

A. Selection of the most apt words

For the selection of words no precise rules can be given. The effect, on trial, will show what answers the purpose of conveying much meaning in a small compass.

B. Condensed grammatical structure

There are certain constructions favorable to brevity. Try using

1. a participle instead of a clause with a finite verb;

Prepared students do well on tests.
(rather than, Students should prepare themselves to do well on tests.)

2. apposition instead of connectives;

Constance, president of the club, ordered pizza for everyone.
(rather than, Constance is the president of the club, and she ordered pizza for everyone.)

3. adjectives for adjective clauses;

Organic strawberries are expensive.
(rather than, Strawberries that are grown organically are expensive.)

4. The phrase made up of preposition and noun, with or without an adjective

“The might of the strongest is undisputed.”

5. The contracted and the condensed sentence.

That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

You're sillier. (than I am silly)

C. Use of figures

Use of some kinds of figurative speech may contribute to brevity. 

Pitt’s defense of the rotten burgh system was,

“Their amputation would be death” (to the country).

Curran’s saying on Irish liberty is equally terse:

“I sat at her cradle, I followed her hearse.”

The proverb, or aphorism, is a condensed expression of a truth, generally embodying an epigram, or a balanced structure:

“Least said, soonest mended.”

III. Brevity has to be sought without sacrificing meaning or intent.

There are occasions when the desired effects of style are gained by diffuseness. For example, an explanation must be suited in length to the state of mind of the persons addressed, while things well known are recalled by brief allusion. In working up the feelings, a certain length of time is requisite, which the orator and poet know how to adjust. Again, in suiting the sound to the sense, a polysyllabic word, or a lengthened clause, may be required. Thus the long word stupendous better corresponds with a state of intense astonishment than the monosyllable vast; magnificent is more powerful than grand. The high sounding word ambassador suits a dignified functionary; while we often express contempt by a curt appellation, as a flirt, a fop, a sot, a thief, bosh.

It is a general rule that an excess of the connecting parts of speech—as pronouns and conjunctions—enfeebles the style. Yet emphasis sometimes requires their multiplication, as in the words Milton:

“Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose,
Or flocks or herds, or human face divine.”

 

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Paronomasia: Very punny

Paronomasia: Very punny

From Elements of Rhetoric by James de Mille; The Outlines of Rhetoric for Schools and Colleges, by Joseph Henry Gilmore; Paronomasia and Kindred Phenomena in the New Testament, by Elbert Russell; Rhetoric, by Erastus Otis Haven.

Paronomasia (Greek, ‘to alter slightly in naming’) is a figure in which words used in close connection are similar in sound, but not in sense:

“A fratricidal struggle will be waged between those members who have taken their back pay and those members who have sent their pay back.” — The Nation

I. Words as playthings

Through the ages people have used words as playthings, like rattles and tin pans, to make rhythmical noises or, like blocks, to build fantastic sound structures. This delight in sound combinations lingers and permeates mature language.

“Fortune foretuned the dying notes of Rome,Till I thy consul sole consoled thy doom.” — Dryden

Paronomasia adds to the literary effectiveness of a passage in a variety of ways:

A. Alliteration

Paronomasia may give variety and liveliness through alliteration or irregular rhyme.

“To begirt the Almighty's throne,
Beseeching or besieging.” —Milton

B. Resemblance

Paronomasia may add a gnomic effect through the striking resemblance of neighboring words.

“My Lord, I have remembrances of yours,
Which I have longed long to re-deliver.” —Shakespeare in 

Hamlet

“A little more than kin, and less than kind… Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun…” —Shakespeare in 

Hamlet

C. Paradox  

Paronomasia may give the effect of paradox through sound-similarities of different words or through different meanings of the same word.

“Shame soiled thy song, and song assoiled thy shame.” —Swinburne

D. Antithesis  

Paronomasia may be used to enhance an antithesis.

“Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.” —attributed to Francis Bacon or Tom Waits

II. Pun

A. Pointed language

Pun is a kind of paronomasia that is associated with wit and pointed language. The pun consists in the use of a word in a double sense. It is regarded as a species of paronomasia, but it differs from it in this respect, that the play of thought turns more exclusively on the sense, while in the paronomasia the similarity in sound is the prominent characteristic. An example of paronomasia as pun:

“His death, which happened in his berth,
At forty odd befell;
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton toll’d the bell.” —Thomas Hood

One of the best puns of this character in the language is seen in a letter addressed by Benjamin Franklin in July, 1775, to a member of the British Parliament who opposed the Americans. It was not intended to excite laughter, or the emotion of the ludicrous, but in a respectful, and yet severe way, to express opinions, and may be regarded as illustrating sarcasm, which is a species of wit. It was as follows:

“mr. Sthahan,—You are a member of Parliament, and one of the majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn oar towns and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends. You are now my enemy—and I am

Yours, B. Franklin.

The double meaning of “yours” is immediately perceived.

B. Wit

Puns abound in all languages. Many persons obtain a great reputation for wits, founded only on the frequent use of them. For example, one day William Henry Curran was walking with a friend who was punctilious in the use of language. Hearing a person say ‘curosity’ for ‘curiosity,’ he exclaimed,

“How that man murders the language!”
“Not quite murders,” replied Curran, “he only knocks an i (eye) out.”

The two meanings of the word pronounced “i,” and the fanciful connection of knocking an eye out with murder, constituted the expression a kind of double pun, and made the reply truly witty.

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Zeugma: One word used in more than one sense

Zeugma: One word used in more than one sense

From English Composition by W. Davidson; The Might and Mirth of Literature, by John Walker Vilant Macbeth.

Zeugma (Greek, ‘a joining’) is a figure of syntax in which one word, often a verb, has the same grammatical relationship to two or more other words in the sentence, but it is used in a different sense at least one of the times:

He hit the bottle, the beach, and John, in that order.

I. Different applications

In zeugma, one of the applications of the word may be literal, and one of the applications may be idiomatic or metaphorical.

“You held your breath and the door for me.” -- Alanis Morissette lyric

II. Often humor is intended

The off-beat or unexpected dichotomy of connections displayed in a zeugma may make us smile.

 “She looked at the object with suspicion and a magnifying glass.” --Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

III. Sometimes includes parallelism

Zeugma lends itself to a balanced construction which is pleasing to the ear.

“We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” --attributed to Benjamin Franklin

IV. Easily misconstrued  

Zeugma can be rather a fault than a figure. If the author is not intentional in his use of zeugma, misplaced modifiers may make the meaning of the sentence nonsensical or unclear.

She dug for gold and for praise in the ground.

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