Definition and Examples of Tautologies in English

Definition and Examples of Tautologies in English   In grammar, a tautology is a  redundancy,  in particular, the needless repetition of an idea using different words. Repetition of the same sense is tautology. Repetition of the same sound is tautophony. In rhetoric and  logic, a tautology is a statement that is unconditionally true by virtue of its form alonefor example, Youre either lying or youre not. Adjective: tautologous or tautological. Examples and Observations Here are examples of tautology in use by famous authors in their work: It took only as many minutes to find the following half-dozen examples in one days crop of papers: A major nuclear disaster could have been sparked off . . .. . . who died of a fatal dose of heroin. . . equalized the game to a 2-2 draw. . . kept it from his friends that he was a secret drinkerDirty Den has made up his mind never to go back to EastEnders, finally severing his connection with the soap . . . a group for one-parent single mothers Tautology is either unnecessary elaboration (the Inland Revenues white-collar workers), pointless repetition (pair of twins), superfluous description (Europes huge butter mountain), a needless appendage (weather conditions) or a self-cancelling proposition (He is either guilty or not guilty). (Keith Waterhouse, Waterhouse on Newspaper Style, rev. ed. Revel Barker, 2010)At the risk of being redundant and repetitive, and redundant, let me say that tautology is the last thing children need from their parents, especially when they are in trouble.Whatever you have to say, whatever you do, avoid tautology. Try to say it only once! (Tom Sturges, Parking Lot Rules 75 Other Ideas for Raising Amazing Children. Ballantine, 2009)The new public management has brought new ailments, particularly tautology. You often see such phrases as first class organizations are those that perform excellently. (David Walker, Mind Your Language. The Guardian, Sep. 27, 2006) Mark Twain on Tautological Repetition I do not find that the repetition of an important word a few timessay, three or four timesin a paragraph troubles my ear if clearness of meaning is best secured thereby. But tautological repetition which has no justifying object, but merely exposes the fact that the writers balance at the vocabulary bank has run short and that he is too lazy to replenish it from the thesaurusthat is another matter. It makes me feel like calling the writer to account. (Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain. University of California Press, 2010) Tautologies in Logic In common parlance, an utterance is usually said to be tautologous if it contains a redundancy and says the same thing twice over in different wordse.g., John is the father of Charles and Charles is a son of John. In logic, however, a tautology is defined as a statement that excludes no logical possibilitiesEither it is raining or it is not raining. Another way of putting this is to say that a tautology is true in all possible worlds. No one will doubt that, irrespective of the actual state of the weather (i.e., regardless of whether the statement that it is raining is true or false), the statement Either it is raining or it is not raining is necessarily true.(E. Nagel and J. R. Newman, Gà ¶dels Proof, 1958  A  tautology is  a statement that is logically, or necessarily, true or is so devoid of content as to be practically empty (and thus true because completely empty statements, making no claim, cannot be false). Example: Scott Peterson did it or he didnt.  (Howard Kahane and Nancy Cavender,  Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, 10th ed. Thomson Wadsworth, 2006) Tautology. Yes, I know, its an ugly word. But so is the thing. Tautology is this verbal device which consists in defining like by like . . .. Since it is magical, it can of course only take refuge behind the argument of authority: thus do parents at the end of their tether reply to the child who keeps on asking for explanations: because thats how it is, or even better: just because, thats all. (Roland Barthes, Mythologies. Macmillan, 1972) Tautology as a Logical Fallacy One of the most boring fallacies, the tautology, basically just repeats the premise. FAN: The Cowboys are favored to win since theyre the better team.​  (Jay Heinrichs, Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. Three Rivers Press, 2007) Pronunciation: taw-TOL-eh-jee Also Known As: pleonasm EtymologyFrom the Greek, redundant