A. 有些重複不只不可避免，甚至是必要的：
在「給寫作初學者一把鑰匙」一文中我們曾提到不要那麼在意「重複」。例如以下這個僅僅只有兩句話的段落中就重複了3次differences。其中，第二個句子還用了兩次。
Undoubtedly, many of the differences traditionally believed to exist between the sexes are based on stereotypes. But despite this, evidence from recent brain research indicates that many behavioral differences between men and women are based on differences in brain functioning that are biologically inherent and unlikely to be modified by cultural factors alone.
這個小段落出自"The Other Difference between Boys and Girls"一文。文章中，神經學家Richard Restak綜合各方和他自己的研究，主張男女因腦部結構不同而影響身心機能的發展與表現。因此，教育制度和考試方式應當因應這樣的差異而有所調整，以達到真正的公平。由此可知，「不同」(differences)是全文的關鍵點之一，適度地重複不僅難以避免，而且必要。
有時，不僅僅是字或詞，甚至一個句子都可能不斷重複。例如：
I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.
以上段落出自一篇同樣叫做"I Want a Wife"的文章。文章中，作者Judy Syfers用詼諧、誇張和反諷的筆觸，包裹著她強烈的女性主義訴求。筆法當中，也包括I want a wife的不斷重複。藉著這樣的重複，Syfers像是在對父系傳統孕育下的男性讀者提出質問：假如大家光是「讀」這篇文章就覺得煩，那麼得在這樣的體系下「做」妻子的女人又該如何耐煩呢？考量作者這樣的寫作目的，I want a wife的不斷重複無疑地具有加分效果。但仍得再一次強調，無端的重複是該盡量避免的。
B. 適時地應用助動詞與代名詞避免重複：
在「給寫作初學者一把鑰匙」中，我們還提到避免重複不只是當我們寫關於「大學」的文章時呆板地讓university和college交互出現，而是要擴大同義字的思維與想像。這裡想再補充一點，就是助動詞和代名詞的使用。
例1：
Despite his prominence and the respect in which he was held by his fellow Catholics, Karol Jozef Wojtyla's election as Pope John Paul II came as a surprise. "I was afraid to receive this nomination," he told the crowd. "But I did it in the spirit of obedience to our Lord and in the total confidence in His mother, the most holy Madonna."
在這段敘述中，已故教宗若望保祿二世告訴群眾，儘管戰戰兢兢，但基於對主的服從和對聖母瑪利亞的信靠，他決定承擔聖職。所以，斜體字did it就是早先提到過的receive this nomination。
例2：
A connection between animal behavior and earthquakes could be made, but not all earthquakes cause unusual animal behavior while others do.
這句說的是動物行為與地震之間或許存在著因果關係。然而，並非所有的地震都會引發動物的不尋常行為，儘管某些地震的確會。那麼，斜體字do代表的是哪個或哪些字呢？我聽到了，你說指的是cause unusual animal behavior。答對了，聰明！另外，還得注意這裡的others是指other earthquakes。尤其要注意句中的while是「雖然」、「儘管」的意思，這是很常見的用法。
C. 英文中的「隱形重複」問題：
有些英文用法，表面上並未重複先前提過的字或字串，但從語意或字根字首的角度說，它們算是某種形式的重複。這種情況，英文稱為redundancy，也就是「冗贅」或「多餘」的意思。以下是一些redundancy的常見例子。由於嚴格說來這些情況不算是文法錯誤，只是太過累贅，所以我說它們是Not Good，而不說是Incorrect。
1. Not Good: He is a man who is brave.
這個句子明顯累贅。以下是比較精簡的說法：
Better: He is a brave man.
Better: He is a man of bravery.
2. total就是總數，所以「6個男孩」不要說a total of 6 boys，直接說6 boys就行。
3. Not Good: The old lady lives alone by herself.
alone就是by oneself，兩者只能選一個用。
Better: The old lady lives alone.
Better: The old lady lives by herself.
4. Not Good: She is an extroverted/ introverted girl.
雖然字典的確查得到extroverted（外向的）和introverted（內向的）這兩個形容詞。但相較之下名詞extrovert（外向者）和introvert（內向者）更常用。所以，「她是個外向/內向的女孩」最好說成：
Better: She is an extrovert/ introvert.
5. cooperate中的co-是表示「共同」、「互相」或「一起」等的字首，所以單單說cooperate就好，不要說cooperate together。
6. Not good: This shirt is green/ red/ blue in color.
大家都能夠知道green等就是顏色，所以再加上in color自屬多餘。
Better: This shirt is green/ red/ blue.
7. 不要說personally, I think/ feel。因為大家一看到I think/ feel就知道我們要發表個人觀點，自然不用再說personally。
8. 同樣地，personal opinion/ view等也是冗贅的敘述，因為opinion和view所陳述的也是個人看法：
Her opinions are usually based on facts.
In my opinion/ view, you are wrong.
9. re-是字首again的意思，所以「再說一次」不要說repeat again，應該 說repeat或say again。
10. 除了again之外，re-也有back的意思。所以return back明顯畫蛇添足，應該說return/ come back/ go back。
When do you come/ return home?
He has returned/ gone back to Taipei.
11. 如同提到green等就不要再說in color，說了small/ large就不要再說in size，說了square/ round/ rectangular就不要再說in shape。
Not Good: This house is small/ large in size.
Better: This house is small/ large.
Not Good: This table is square/ round/ rectangular in shape.
Better: This table is square/ round/ rectangular.
12. 因為summarize是「做摘要」，摘要自然是簡單明瞭，所以不要說summarize briefly，說summarize就可以。
13. 「包圍」當然是從四面八方團團圍住，所以說surrounded就好，說surrounded on all sides是沒有道理的。
14. 由於circum-是字首round（環繞），所以surrounding circumstances是不對的，應該說circumstances。
15. Not Good: She began to write her own autobiography.
auto-就是self，own也是，兩者不應該同時使用。嚴格說起來，只要有所有格her，auto-和own都不要也行。
She began to write her own biography.
She began to write her autobiography.
Better: She began to write her biography.
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