Chapter 5 Redundancies
177
"totally" engulfed, "partially" destroyed,
"completely" totaled, HIV "virus"
Conservation is the theme of today's lesson.
Mrs. B is going to help you use fewer words than you might think
you need.
We'll begin with ENGULFED and DESTROYED.
Don't use modifying words like "partially" or "completely" or
"totally" with them.
v
The house is engulfed in flames. (That means flames are
everywhere.)
v
The house was destroyed. (That means it lies in rubble. If the
house or any part of it still stands, it was DAMAGED, not
destroyed.)
The same goes for a car that is in a wreck.
It may be damaged, or it may be totaled.
But to say it's "completely totaled" is wasting words. (Totaled means
wrecked beyond repair.)
Donna Halper, a radio consultant in Boston who teaches J-courses,
wrote to Mrs. B about redundancies that annoy her.
"I actually heard a reporter talk about a man who had `five
biological children of his own.' Umm, how do you have five
biological children of somebody's else's? But my pet peeve in
the redundancy department is the reporters who talk about the
HIV Virus ..."
HIV stands for "human immunodeficiency virus."
So, say either HIV or the AIDS virus.
