Page 521 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

5 Wonderful, isn't it? etc
There is a common kind of exchange in which one speaker gives his!her opinion of something, and the other speaker agrees by saying the same thing in other words which are at least as emphatic. Repetition is carefully avoided.
Glorious day. ~ Wonderful, isn't it? (NOT ••• 6Iori6ttS, ;Sti't it?) Terrible weather. - Dreadful.
United didn't play very well, then. - Bloody rubbish.
6 clumsy style
In writing, repetition is often considered clumsy even when it is not ungrammatical. Most of the repetitions in the following text would be avoided by a careful writer, by varying the structure and by careful use of synonyms (e.g. tried!attempted, summarise! describe briefly, forecast! predict).
In this report, I have tried to forecast likely developments over the next three years. In theftrst section, I have tried to summarise the results ofthe last two years, and I have tried to summarise the present situation. In the second section, I have tried to forecast the likely consequences o f the present situation, and the consequences ofthe presentfinancial policy.
7 deliberate repetition
Speakers and writers can of course repeat vocabulary and structures deliberately. This may be done for emphasis.
I'm very, very sorry. I want every room cleaned - every single room. Repeating somebody else's words may show surprise or disbelief.
I'm getting married. - You're getting married? Who to?
Structural repetition can show how ideas are similar or related (by using the same structure for the same kind of item).
First ofall, I want to congratulate you all on the splendid results. Secondly, I want to give you some interesting news. And finally, I want to thank you all ...
8 literary examples
Here are two contrasting examples of repetition used deliberately for literary purposes. In the first, by John Steinbeck, structures and key vocabulary (especially nouns and verbs) are repeated and rhythmically balanced in order to create an impressive (or mock-impressive) effect - to make the story and characters sound striking and important.
This is the story ofDanny and ofDanny's friends and ofD4nny's house. It is a story ofhow these three became one thing, so that in Tortilla Flat ifyou speak ofDanny's houseyou do not mean a structure ofwoodflaked with old white- wash, overgrown with an ancient untrimmed rose ofCastile. No, when you speak ofDanny's houseyou are understood to mean a unit ofwhich the parts are men, from which came sweetness andjoy, philanthropy, and, in the end, a mystic sorrow. For Danny's house was not un:ike the Round Table, and Danny's friends were not unlike the knights ofit. And this is the story ofhow the group came into being, ofhow itflourished and grew to be an organisation beautiful and wise. This story deals with the adventuring ofDanny's friends, with the good they did, with their thoughts and their endeavors. In the end, this story tells how the talisman was lost and how the group disintegrated.
(John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat)
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