Repetition again* | xpostfactoid

Repetition again* | xpostfactoid:

I share in the general admiration for the tour de force in gotcha editing pasted below the jump -- so much so that I've added its author to my blogroll.  But of course I want to add my two cents.

Tom Freeman @SnoozeInBrief

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In his book ‘Simply English’, Simon Heffer recommends cutting redundant words. Well, he’s convinced me.

Freeman is no pedant. His point is not that his victim, Daily Telegraph editor and prescriptive grammarian Simon Heffer, was not as concise as humanly possible in his concision admonition. In a followup post, Freeman adds that while Heffer "doesn't follow his own advice"

Whether that’s a fault in his writing or a fault in his advice – or a bit of both – you can judge for yourself. Personally, I don’t think filler words are “unpardonable” and I don’t think you should cut every word that isn’t needed to preserve meaning and clarity. Redundancies may improve the rhythm or allow flashes of the author’s personality to shine through. Some of his sentences simply read better without the kind of cuts he claims to insist on.

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