Jose Carillo's English Forum

English Grammar and Usage Problems => Badly Written, Badly Spoken => Topic started by: Joe Carillo on January 16, 2015, 09:19:01 AM

Title: How to deal with redundancy, illogic and contradiction, and bad syntax
Post by: Joe Carillo on January 16, 2015, 09:19:01 AM
Facebook member Mary Anne Santos Fernandez asked me following question today on my Facebook page (January 16, 2015):

Good morning, Sir!

Which of the following is correct?
1. Answer briefly AND concisely the following.
2. Answer briefly BUT concisely the following.
3. Answer the following briefly but concisely.
4. Answer the following briefly and concisely.

Thank you.

My reply to Mary Anne:

Here’s my assessment of the following sentence constructions that you presented:

1. “Answer briefly AND concisely the following.” - Use of the conjunction “and” results in redundancy because “briefly” and “concisely” are virtually synonymous; positioning the phrase at the tail end of the sentence makes for awkward reading. Bad construction.

2. “Answer briefly BUT concisely the following.” - Use of the conjunction “but” results in contradiction and illogic because “briefly” and “concisely” are NOT polar opposites; positioning the phrase at the tail end of the sentence makes for awkward reading. Worse than Sentence 1.

3. “Answer the following briefly but concisely.” - Contradictory and illogical for the same reason as Sentence 2 but reads better because it positions the phrase “the following” in its syntactically proper place in the sentence. Bad construction.

4. “Answer the following briefly and concisely.” - Redundant for the same reason as Sentence 1 but reads better because it positions the phrase “the following” in its syntactically proper place in the sentence. Bad construction.

A grammatically and syntactically preferable construction: “Answer the following briefly” or “Answer the following concisely.”

Take your pick.
Title: Re: How to deal with redundancy, illogic and contradiction, and bad syntax
Post by: Melvin on June 15, 2015, 02:34:27 PM
Answer the essay question briefly and substantially. Is it correct? Thank you.
Title: Re: How to deal with redundancy, illogic and contradiction, and bad syntax
Post by: Joe Carillo on June 23, 2015, 07:56:01 AM
"Substantially"  means considerable in quantity in that particular context. I don't think that word would be appropriate. It certainly isn't synonymous with "concisely," which means "marked by brevity of expression." Indeed, "substantially" could give the examinee the idea that he or she needs to give a long, detailed answer.