Superfluous & Wrong Expressions

Many verbs start with re-, and re- already means back or again. When back or again is added after such a verb, the same thing is said twice. This is what the exam calls a superfluous expression.

Return means ‘come back’ or ‘go back’. So return back really says ‘come back back’. In the same way, repeat means ‘say again’, so repeat again says ‘say again again’.

✘ Radhika returned back from Pune yesterday. (drop back)
✔ Radhika returned from Pune yesterday.
✘ The teacher asked him to repeat again the answer. (drop again)
✔ The teacher asked him to repeat the answer.
✘ The cost has exceeded more than the budget. (drop more than)
✔ The cost has exceeded the budget.

> Do not mark come back, go back, give back, take back or pay back wrong. These verbs do not contain the idea of back, so back is needed there. The mistake is only with verbs that already carry it.

Some words carry a complete idea inside them. A fact is already something true. A conclusion is already the final point. Twins already means two. If true, final or two is added, what the word already says is repeated.

Noun + noun is also superfluous. Some words are already nouns that name a person or an animal: coward, cousin, omnivore. Another noun after them repeats the idea. Ask one question: ‘What is this word in itself?’ If it is a noun, a second noun cannot follow. An adjective can.

Cowardly and omnivorous are adjectives, so an adjective with a noun is fine. Cousin has no gender, so to state which, female or male is added.

✘ Radhika's cousin sister lives in Jaipur. (drop sister)
✔ Radhika's cousin lives in Jaipur.
✘ The leader stood in the front side of the stage. (drop side)
✔ The leader stood in the front of the stage.

> Do not over-correct. These are right: angry mob (a mob is a big crowd that may turn violent, so ‘angry’ adds something), mutual friend, common friend and bad dream. Nightmare is a better word when describing a terrible experience (‘It was a nightmare for me’), but a bad dream is not wrong.

Time expressions are full of small repetitions. The exam checks five patterns.

1. During already means ‘for the period of’. So the word period and often the phrase after it are superfluous.
✘ He worked hard during the period of war. (drop period of)
✔ He worked hard during the war.

2. am / pm already say morning or evening. Use one of the two, never both.
✘ The class starts at 9 am in the morning.
✔ The class starts at 9 am. / The class starts at 9 o'clock in the morning.
✘ We reached at 7 pm in the evening.
✔ We reached at 7 pm. / We reached at 7 o'clock in the evening.

3. Last, next, this, that, every + a time word take no preposition. These words already fix the time, so on, in, at are not needed.

4. Today / yesterday with a part of the day. English does not say today morning. It has its own forms.

Yesterday morning, yesterday evening, tomorrow morning and tomorrow night are all correct. Today in the morning is also accepted, but this morning is the standard form.

5. All day, all night, all morning, all year take no for or since.
✘ It has been raining all day since morning.
✔ It has been raining all day.

> At this time, at that time and at the same time are fixed phrases and are correct. The concept in point 3 is for words like day, week, month, year and the days of the week.

Degree words such as more, most, very, quite, relatively push the meaning of an adjective up or down. If the adjective already carries that push, a second degree word is superfluous.

1. Relatively / comparatively + comparative. Relatively already says ‘in comparison’, and a comparative (colder, better) also says ‘in comparison’. Together they repeat. Use relatively with the plain (positive) form, or drop it.
✘ The weather was quite hot yesterday, but it is relatively colder today.
✔ The weather is relatively cold today. / The weather is colder today.

2. More / most + comparative or superlative. A word like better or taller is already a comparative. Another more is a second comparative.

3. Non-gradable adjectives take no very, more, most. These adjectives are complete in themselves; nothing can be ‘more’ of them.
junior, senior, superior, inferior, exterior, external, circular, square, rectangular, supreme, unique, perfect, universal, everlasting, excellent, prime
✘ This is a very unique idea. ✔ This is a unique idea.
✘ Her answer was more perfect than mine. ✔ Her answer was nearly perfect.
Extreme adjectives (amazing, stunning, terrible, horrible, awful, furious, essential) also refuse very. Use totally, completely, absolutely: ✔ absolutely stunning.

4. Stacked intensifiers.

✘ He is very old enough to decide for himself.
✔ He is old enough to decide for himself.

Our mind says: ‘This is a comparison, so I need than.’ But some words compare without than. They already contain the comparison, and they join the second item with to.

Notice that the first five end in -ior, a Latin comparative ending. That is why they cannot take more or than.

✘ He is senior than me in the office. ✔ He is senior to me in the office.
✘ She is more junior than the others. ✔ She is junior to the others.
✘ This phone is superior than that one. ✔ This phone is superior to that one.
✘ I prefer tea than coffee. ✔ I prefer tea to coffee.

Prefer with two actions. When both sides are -ing forms, the pattern is prefer X-ing to Y-ing.
✔ I prefer reading to going out. (not reading than going out)
When two verbs are used in the base form, the pattern changes: prefer to V1 rather than (to) V1.
✔ I prefer to walk rather than take a bus.

Different takes from. Than belongs to comparatives (taller than). Different is not a comparative, so we say different from (and differ from).
✘ They are completely different than each other. ✔ They are completely different from each other.

> For age, use older than or elder than. Senior to talks about rank, post or years of service.

This concept collects every place where two words do the same job in one sentence. Only one of them is needed.

1. Two joiners or two words of the same meaning

✘ Although Radhika worked hard, but she did not get the first rank.
✔ Although Radhika worked hard, she did not get the first rank.
✔ Radhika worked hard, but she did not get the first rank.
✘ The reason why he is angry is because you lied.
✔ The reason he is angry is that you lied. / He is angry because you lied.

Though ... yet is a correct pair, because yet is a different kind of word. Do not mark it wrong.

2. Modals already carry ability or chance.

Can means ‘is able to’, so can be able to says it twice. May already means ‘possibly’. And requested is already polite.

3. Where already shows the place.
✘ Where are you going to? ✔ Where are you going?

4. A relative pronoun already stands for the noun before it.
✘ The boy who he came yesterday is my cousin. ✔ The boy who came yesterday is my cousin.
✘ This is the book which I bought it. ✔ This is the book which I bought.
What contains its own noun, so nothing comes before it: ✘ All what he said was true. ✔ All that he said was true.

Some words are already negative in meaning. If one more negative word is added (no, not, nothing, nobody), you cancel or repeat the negative. The second negative is superfluous.

1. Almost-negative adverbs: hardly, scarcely, barely, seldom, rarely. Each means ‘almost not’ or ‘not often’. They take any / anything / anybody / ever, not no / nothing / nobody / never.

✘ We hardly knew nothing about the manager. ✔ We hardly knew anything about the manager.

2. Hardly does not mean hard. Hardly is not the adverb of hard. Hard is both the adjective and the adverb.
✘ She worked hardly to pass the exam. ✔ She worked hard to pass the exam.

3. Words that are negative in themselves: without, until, unless, lest. No not after them.

4. Verbs of stopping: forbid, prevent, refuse, deny. They already carry ‘no’. A second not after them is superfluous.
✘ She forbade her son not to go out at night. ✔ She forbade her son to go out at night.
✘ The rain prevented us not to start the match. ✔ The rain prevented us from starting the match.

> Use point 4 as a guide for superfluous-expression questions. Hardly ... when and scarcely ... when are covered in the chapter on Inversion.

Many students add a preposition after a verb because the Hindi sentence has one: के बारे में बात करना becomes discuss about. But in English the verb discuss already carries the meaning of ‘talk about’. So about is superfluous.

1. Verbs that take the object directly

✘ We discussed about the plan in detail. ✔ We discussed the plan in detail.
✘ The test comprises of three sections. ✔ The test comprises three sections. (or: consists of three sections)

> Wait for is correct, but await for is wrong. Await = wait for, so the for is already inside.

2. Verbs that must take a preposition

✘ He proposed her on the beach. ✔ He proposed to her on the beach.
✘ She is married with a doctor. ✔ She is married to a doctor.

Marry itself is transitive, so He married a rich heiress is right; in the passive or with be married we use to.

3. Enter and enter into
Place: enter a room (no preposition). Agreement, quarrel, talks: enter into an agreement / a debate / negotiations.

4. Despite of
Despite already means in spite of, so despite of is wrong. Use despite or in spite of.
✘ Despite of his low score, he passed. ✔ Despite his low score, he passed. / In spite of his low score, he passed.

An idiom is a ready-made piece of English. A word cannot be added to it or changed in it. The exam tests this in two ways.

1. Idioms that take no extra joining word. Students add with, like or since because the Hindi has के साथ, की तरह or से. English does not.

✘ It is raining like cats and dogs. ✔ It is raining cats and dogs.
✘ The tenants were thrown out with bag and baggage. ✔ The tenants were thrown out bag and baggage.

2. Words that always travel together (collocations).

• fond of goes with something you like: fond of music, fond of sweets. Addicted to goes with a harmful habit: addicted to gambling, addicted to social media. Never fond to, addicted of or addicted in.
• sworn enemy and bosom friend are fixed pairs.
• made of is used when the material is still recognisable (a ring made of gold). Made from is used when the material has changed beyond recognition (paper is made from wood, cheese is made from milk). Made by names the maker (made by Radhika). Made up of names the parts (a team made up of eleven players).

✘ Ranjith is addicted of social media. ✔ Ranjith is addicted to social media.
✘ This jewellery box is made from silver. ✔ This jewellery box is made of silver.
✘ This paper is made up of wood. ✔ This paper is made from wood.

Some expressions are wrong not because of an extra word but because the form of the word is not the one English uses. These are also called wrong expressions. They are learnt as a list.

Scholarship is correct as it stands.

✘ I met an other student at the fair. ✔ I met another student at the fair.
✘ Her dressing sense is very good. ✔ Her dress sense is very good.
✘ He gave verbal orders to the guards. ✔ He gave oral orders to the guards.
✘ Radhika wants to become an English teacher. ✔ Radhika wants to become a teacher of English. (a teacher who teaches the language)

> An English teacher can also mean a teacher who is from England. When the idea is ‘teaches the subject’, the exam wants a teacher of English. In the same way verbal means ‘in words’ (spoken or written), while oral means ‘spoken’.

Things with two parts (scissors, trousers, spectacles, pliers) are counted with a pair of. They never have a singular form for the whole thing: ✘ a scissor, ✘ a trouser.
✔ She bought a pair of scissors. ✔ I need two pairs of spectacles.