A-Z Challenge X = inXcess (ahem)

Me when I heard it was X day

Well, what did you expect for X? Xenophobia? Nah. I live in a country that isn't my birthplace, but, thank God, everyone's pretty tolerant here. The worst they think is that I'm funny, but that's OK - so does everyone else (and not necessarily funny-ha-ha).


Today we have another little grammar lesson, based on excess. An excess of words or to put it another way "tautology". There.





Oh, you want more? A definition of tautology is: the use of more than one word to convey the same thought and I'm guilty of it when I'm writing. Are you? Here're some examples:


absolute certainty.  It's just a certainty - otherwise it's not absolute. Get the idea?
free gift. Umm...it can't be a gift if it's not free, can it?
revert back
added bonus. Just bonus.
end result
forward planning. Just planning
future plans. Just plans
future prospects. Just prospects
past history. Either past or history
revert back. Either back or revert


The famous one from the great British railway services: due to an earlier incident... (due to an incident)
And look at these:
quite distinct
really excellent
very beautiful
quite unique
absolutely perfect


Any ideas what's wrong with this second set?
And do you know any more "tautology"?