ShmoopTube

00:04

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by makeup. Try the lipstick, but don't

00:08

be a dipstick.

00:09

How would you correct the underlined portion below, if at all?

00:12

Sally bought makeup she didn't need because the sales associate promised her a free gift

00:19

with purchase.

00:26

In the original sentence, we've got the term "free gift." We hear this

00:29

term all the time.

00:30

However, "free gift" is redundant because all gifts are free by definition.

00:37

The point is that we can get rid of choice (A) because of this redundancy.

00:40

Like (A), choice (B) is guilty of redundancy. The term "added bonus" is redundant because

00:45

a bonus is, by definition, something that's added to something else.

00:49

Which brings us to choices (C) and (D).

00:51

Though they relate the same basic information, (C) does so more concisely.

00:55

There's no need to say "a gift that came with purchase" when we can say "a gift

01:00

with purchase" to communicate the same idea with fewer words.

01:04

Remember, less is best.

Full Transcript