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Hey Reader,

Last week, I was walking my (one-year-old today!) twins in their stroller, and I hit a pothole.

They were fine, but I almost fell over. Our oversized stroller’s handlebars saved me from a world of hurt and public shame. Falling over in public is the worst. People ask if you’re okay, and cars stop—it’s a whole thing I’d rather avoid.

Why am I telling you this?

Because today, you’re learning about redundancy, AKA the metaphorical pothole in your content.

It makes the reading experience bumpy and unpleasant. Luckily for your readers, they don’t fall over. But unluckily for you, it can make them stop reading and shift their attention elsewhere.

It’s a huge bummer for everyone involved. Your hard work gets ignored, and readers feel let down, confused, bored, and a slew of negative adjectives no writer wants to be associated with.

Let’s cut that fluff, shall we?

Lesson 1: Redundancy

Redundancy is the unnecessary repetition of ideas or words. It adds friction to the reading experience because readers feel, “Didn’t you say this already?” This split-second pothole pulls readers out of flow and into distraction.

Here’s an example:

The first sentence is 27 words. The second is 10.

Think about how it physically feels to read those 27 words. You almost need to take a breath halfway through. It’s mentally exhausting.

I’m not advocating to avoid long sentences. Diversifying sentence structure and length is a key part of holding attention.

But most of the time, if there’s room to cut without losing meaning, do it.

Let’s look at three common cases of redundancy.

Case #1: Repeated words

In the best case, repetition adds rhythm and aids recall. In the worst case, it makes your writing awkward, creates friction, and screams laziness.

Here’s a Twitter hook a past student of mine wrote:

“Too often we think conflict is a bad thing. But avoiding conflict can be worse. I know, I’m a recovering conflict avoider. Over the last decade, I’ve been on a mission to embrace conflict. Here are 10 things I’ve learned.”

Notice how they wrote conflict four times.

Because it is repeated, it loses its flair. By the fourth mention, it feels like wading through quicksand.

Here’s a quick tip: After mentioning a noun like conflict, you can use a pronoun in the next instance.

“Too often we think conflict is a bad thing. But avoiding it can be worse.”

It’s amazing how many writers repeat nouns when they could use pronouns. This is the most straightforward edit you can make to your content ASAP.

Of course, there’s way more we can edit in this hook. Check the Loom video below for my full breakdown.

P.S. I mentioned there’s a good case for repetition.

There are tons of literary devices where intentional repetition proves helpful. For example, with Anadiplosis, you open a sentence with the last phrase from the previous clause.

“The writer who became an influencer. The influencer who became a millionaire. The millionaire who changed culture as we know it.”

(Oops, I accidentally wrote out a bro’s wet dream.)

There are many more of these literary devices. Google “literary devices for repetition” if you’re curious.

Case #2: Repeated ideas in one paragraph

Repeated ideas cause more trouble because they’re harder to spot. They’re like the oil running low in your car. You know the ride usually feels smoother, but you aren’t sure what’s causing the friction.

(Unless you have a newer car than my 2008 Honda CRV, which dies before it alerts me to what’s wrong. She’s got to go soon.)

Here’s an example from a current student of mine:

“B2B marketers are focused on results. They want to be confident their marketing efforts will engage their customers and drive growth.

But ironically, that often leads them to choose messaging that feels safe, corporate, or impersonal over messaging that stands out. And messaging that’s corporate, or impersonal, or sounds like B2B-speak is messaging readers ignore.”

This is pretty good! It’s clear, written well, and is easy to follow.

However, redundancy rears its ugly head in the second paragraph.

He can make the same point in fewer words without changing the meaning.

Here’s my edit:

B2B marketers are focused on results. They want to be confident their marketing efforts will engage their customers and drive growth.

But ironically, this often leads them to choose messaging that feels safe, corporate, or impersonal.

AKA: messaging readers ignore.

We don’t need the phrase “over messaging that stands out” because it’s implied by the previous sentence that states, “They want…marketing efforts that will engage their customers and drive growth.”

And we don’t need to repeat “corporate, or impersonal, or sounds like B2B-speak” because we’ve just made that point. It’s fresh in readers’ minds.

Case #3: Repeated ideas in one draft

An example of redundant ideas is when you make a claim in your first H2, properly support it, then revisit the claim in your last H2 and support it all over again.

This triggers deja vu and the reader will likely pause and realize the argument sounds familiar. Repeating that process is unnecessary because you made, supported, and concluded your claim earlier.

Unless you’re referencing a previous argument to drive it home in a new way, this redundancy can make readers lose trust in your narrative because they may feel you’re wasting their time.

Case #4: Repeated phrases

A redundant phrase is when you use 2+ words together that have the same meaning.

For example:

“Unexpected surprise”

The fact that you’re surprising someone implies it’s unexpected. We often say things like this in conversation, but when we write it, it’s awkward.

Here’s an exhaustive list of redundant expressions to avoid (so your writing doesn’t sound “off”):

1. Absolutely certain
2. Absolutely essential
3. Actual experience
4. Add an additional
5. Added bonus
6. Adequate enough
7. Advance planning
8. Advance reservations
9. Advance warning
10. All meet together
11. Alternative choice
12. Assemble together
13. At 12 midnight
14. Basic fundamentals
15. Blatantly obvious
16. Blend together
17. Came at a time when
18. Cheap price
19. Close proximity
20. Collaborate together
21. Completely destroyed
22. Completely full
23. Consensus of opinion
24. Continue on
25. Definite decision
26. Difficult dilemma
27. Direct confrontation
28. Down below
29. End result
30. Enter in
31. Estimated at about
32. Estimated roughly at
33. Evolve over time
34. Exactly the same
35. Few in number
36. Final outcome
37. First began
38. Full satisfaction
39. Future plans
40. Large majority
41. Merge together
42. Most optimal
43. New innovations
44. New invention
45. Past experience
46. Past history
47. Plus in addition
48. Possibly might
49. Possibly might
50. Reason is because
51. Regular routine
52. Repeat again
53. Repeat again
54. Return back
55. Revert back
56. Same identical
57. Shorter/longer in length
58. Still remains
59. Sudden impulse
60. Sum total
61. Summarize briefly
62. Surrounded on all sides
63. True facts
64. Unintended mistake

And here are some longer redundant phrases (and what you can say instead):

Longer redundant phrases (and what to say instead):

1. In spite of the fact that → Although
2. Each and every → Each
3. Biography of her life → Biography
4. In the event that → If
5. Period of five days → Five days
6. Shorter in length → Shorter
7. Larger in size → Larger
8. During the course of → During
9. Interestingly enough → Interestingly
10. Manually by hand → Manually
11. Because of the fact that → Because
12. The people who are located in → The people in
13. Make decisions about → Decide on
14. Draw to your attention to → Point out

AND, we need to include redundant adverbs:

Adverbs help to emphasize and convey meaning. But, they’re often overused, thus redundant.

“He shouted loudly” is redundant.

Loud is implied.

BUT

“They drove crazily down the street” is not redundant.

Crazily describes the state of driving.

Here’s a list of redundant adverbs:

1. Shouted loudly
2. Raced hurriedly
3. Whispered softly
4. Deliberated thoughtfully
5. Finished completely
6. Jumped quickly
7. Smiled happily
8. Protruded out
9. Tiptoed soundlessly

​Here’s a Notion link of all these redundant phrases so you can refer back.​

Redundancy: The takeaway

Redundancy makes your writing less succinct. Less succinct writing is harder to read. And if writing is hard to read, nobody will pay attention.

(Bit of Anadiplosis for ya.)

I’ll leave you with this: redundancy screws your flow, kills your pacing, and suffocates engagement.

Avoid it at all costs.

I hope this helps.

The Loom Lesson

Check out this Loom lesson, where I explain how to eliminate redundancy in my past student’s Twitter hook and show you my full edit.

Here’s the before slide. You’ll need to watch the Loom to see the after.

Watch the video:

Catch you next Friday!

Cheers,

Erica

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Erica Schneider

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