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Subject:Superfluous modifier contest From:Janice Gelb <janiceg -at- ATLANTIC-82 -dot- ENG -dot- SUN -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 5 Feb 1996 17:12:12 -0800
David Ibbetson says:
>
> Janice Gelb gives some examples from the Sun style book. One of them is
> "still pending".
> What about "The judge's written explanation of his verdict ad been pending
> for ten years in 1973. It is still pending today"?
Obviously, there are some cases where the phrase "still pending"
might be necessary, but usually the word "pending" does not require
the modifier "still." One's judgment must be used in all the phrases
given; the examples are merely cases where thoughtless redundancy
often occurs.
I must admit to being puzzled about the sample sentence without
more context. It looks like it could be easily rewritten as follows:
"The judge's written explanation of his verdict has been pending
since 1963."
I'm sure it's not as simple as that, though...
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