Repetition Has Its Uses
PROGRAM: “IN A WORD”
EPISODE: REPETITION HAS ITS USES
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Hastings with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Writers often worry about repeating themselves. Imagine, for instance, a student is writing about psychiatry. The student might think, “Oh, I’ve used the word ‘psychiatry,’ too many times in this paper” and search for a synonym.
The problem is that if you’re writing about something specific, like psychiatry, the word “psychiatry” is going to have to appear in your paper—not just once or twice but over and over.
And there really aren’t a lot of synonyms for some words, “psychiatry” among them. Of course, once you’ve introduced psychiatry as your topic, you could refer to it as “this field of medicine” or “this discipline” but too much of that kind of substitution can start to seem silly. Most of the time you’ll just have to say “psychiatry.”
So is repetition in writing a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it’s both. Sometimes, too much repetition (or repetition in the wrong places) can make your writing clunky. For instance, if you do have to repeat the word “psychiatry,” you probably don’t want to write a paragraph like this:
“Psychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental health. Psychiatry is practiced by medical doctors with specialized training. Psychiatry deals with a wide range of disorders.”
The problem there is not only repetition but also a lack of sentence variety. You can improve the flow and cut some redundancies, by combining those sentences. For instance:
“Psychiatry, the branch of medicine dealing with mental health, is practiced by medical doctors with specialized training, who treat patients for a wide range of conditions.”
Another way to improve the flow of a sentence is by replacing an over-used noun with a pronoun, such as “it” or “they.”
But repetition can also be a powerful tool, especially when it’s used deliberately and thoughtfully. For instance, think of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. His repeated use of that phrase, “I have a dream,” becomes almost a musical refrain. King’s repetition is clearly deliberate and highly effective.
Even in less emotionally charged language, repetition can be useful, especially for reinforcing key points. If you’re not sure if repetition is working in your prose, read it aloud and listen to how it flows. If things sound clunky, use some sentence-combining or substitutions to reduce redundancies. But don’t feel you have to cut every repetition: after all, some things bear repeating.
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Hastings, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
EPISODE: REPETITION HAS ITS USES
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Hastings with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Writers often worry about repeating themselves. Imagine, for instance, a student is writing about psychiatry. The student might think, “Oh, I’ve used the word ‘psychiatry,’ too many times in this paper” and search for a synonym.
The problem is that if you’re writing about something specific, like psychiatry, the word “psychiatry” is going to have to appear in your paper—not just once or twice but over and over.
And there really aren’t a lot of synonyms for some words, “psychiatry” among them. Of course, once you’ve introduced psychiatry as your topic, you could refer to it as “this field of medicine” or “this discipline” but too much of that kind of substitution can start to seem silly. Most of the time you’ll just have to say “psychiatry.”
So is repetition in writing a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it’s both. Sometimes, too much repetition (or repetition in the wrong places) can make your writing clunky. For instance, if you do have to repeat the word “psychiatry,” you probably don’t want to write a paragraph like this:
“Psychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental health. Psychiatry is practiced by medical doctors with specialized training. Psychiatry deals with a wide range of disorders.”
The problem there is not only repetition but also a lack of sentence variety. You can improve the flow and cut some redundancies, by combining those sentences. For instance:
“Psychiatry, the branch of medicine dealing with mental health, is practiced by medical doctors with specialized training, who treat patients for a wide range of conditions.”
Another way to improve the flow of a sentence is by replacing an over-used noun with a pronoun, such as “it” or “they.”
But repetition can also be a powerful tool, especially when it’s used deliberately and thoughtfully. For instance, think of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. His repeated use of that phrase, “I have a dream,” becomes almost a musical refrain. King’s repetition is clearly deliberate and highly effective.
Even in less emotionally charged language, repetition can be useful, especially for reinforcing key points. If you’re not sure if repetition is working in your prose, read it aloud and listen to how it flows. If things sound clunky, use some sentence-combining or substitutions to reduce redundancies. But don’t feel you have to cut every repetition: after all, some things bear repeating.
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Hastings, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]