Question

The Question of Repetition One of the oldest pieces of advice in word choice is to avoid undue repetition. When you use a prominent word over and over again, it begins to stick out and get in the way of communication. It is therefore a good idea to avoid repeating the same word over and over and over again in a paragraph. You can do this often simply by rephrasing the sentence so that the word is taken out occasionally, or you can use another word that means just about the same thing. Although this is definitely true, don't carry it too far. With many common words, there is no problem with repeating them, and if you go too far out of your way to find a different word, your attempt to replace it will stick out more than the repeated word itself. As newspaper columnist James Kilpatrick once said when writing about this topic, four bananas are four bananas, not "three bananas and one elongated yellow fruit." Dialogue--A Special Case of Repetition Years ago, writers who were afraid of repeating words too often had a real problem when writing dialogue in novels and short stories. They had to use words like said and asked often, and they went to great lengths to avoid this. They used words like stated, queried, interjected, posited, iterated, reiterated--anything to avoid saying said and asked over and over again. Modern writers do not do this! When you use simple words like said and asked, the reader barely notices it. Their eyes simply skim over the word, and the brain registers only the name of the speaker. That is what you want to have happen! If you use unexpected words like interjected, the reader is startled. The brain focuses on that word instead of what the speaker is saying. The brain becomes more aware of the author's voice than the dialogue. The goal of writing dialogue is to have the author's presence disappear, so that the reader has the feeling of listening in on a conversation. The exception to this comes when a different word adds value to the description. For example, words like shouted, screamed, and sobbed are good to use because they create a picture of what is happening. Replied and responded are also commonly used, and they will not cause a problem

Answer 1

When one chooses one’s word choices in oral communication, one needs to choose familiar words because the listener won’t have any time to check what it means or how it fits into the context. It’s more intriguing when used in a public speaking set-up. However, in a written communication, one would have ample time to refer a dictionary or check the words on a phone by googling it. Nevertheless, using unfamiliar and strange words would reduce the speed of the reading or would block the understanding of the one listening thus leaving them confused. It’s also true that if someone keeps repeating the same word, one is either struggling with one’s next idea or one is not strong in that language. Both lexical and non-lexical fillers also block the communication process by creating more pauses and stops.

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