On the flip side of tautology is the common use of contradiction, using two words together which have the opposite meaning.
Common examples are:
- Recent history
- Little while
- Alone together
- Awfully nice
Does It Make What You’re Saying More Important?
Tautology is saying the same thing twice. We don’t often realise we are doing it but we commonly emphasise a word by adding another word with the same meaning either in front or after the word we are using. By eliminating tautology we can make our writing clear and concise.
Common examples are:
- Past history
- Completely finished
- False illusion
- New innovations
- 8am in the morning
- Foreign import
- True facts