Element of Eloquence: Pleonasm

Pleonasm is using more words than necessary to express something, often for emphasis or clarity.

Why a writer would use it

A writer might use pleonasm to stress a key point, add rhythm to a phrase, or ensure the meaning is unmistakable. When used sparingly, it can make writing more impactful.

Use-case

If you want to underscore the finality of something, you could say: "It was the end. Full stop. No more." The repetition drives home the point.

A couple more examples:

1. "The heavy rains fell down from the sky."

Since rain always falls downward from above, specifying "down from the sky" is redundant but adds emphasis.

2. "I saw it with my own eyes."

One's "own eyes" is implied when saying "I saw it" - but adding those extra words stresses that it was witnessed personally.

Effect on AI prompts

Using pleonasm in AI prompts, if done carefully, could help emphasize key instructions to guide the AI.

But overusing pleonastic phrasing may make prompts overly verbose and less clear. Aim for concise prompts, only employing pleonasm for occasional stress on the most vital points you want to get across to the AI model.