Difference between tautology and pleonasm with examples
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What is the clear difference between tautology and pleonasm?
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Achyut Soman
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Kerry Snyder
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Answered Oct 9, 2014 · Upvoted by Sophia N. Bush, M.A. in English Composition and Rhetoric
A tautology is a expression that is true by necessity or by virtue of its own form, e.g., "That fire is fire." Logically speaking a tautology is equivalent to "A equals A".
A pleonasm is an expression that uses more words than are necessary for clear expression, e.g. "That burning fire is hot." The word 'burning' is an unnecessary modifier for 'fire' because all fire is burning, thus 'burning fire' is pleonastic.
Interestingly, "all fire is burning" is a tautology, but, I would argue, not a pleonasm. Therein lies the rub, and likely the reason this distinction is such a difficult one to tease out. An expression often is pleonastic due to an underlying tautology.
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Achyut Soman
Achyut Soman, Director at Acsom Navigation (2003-present)
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Dip Choksi
Dip Choksi, Educationist at Choksi Classes (2012-present)
58 Answers in Grammar
Prasanth Nair
Prasanth Nair, works at Ip.access
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Manasi ParalkarTejSaumya MishraView More or Search
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Kerry Snyder
Kerry Snyder, Breathers gonna breathe, writers gonna write.
Answered Oct 9, 2014 · Upvoted by Sophia N. Bush, M.A. in English Composition and Rhetoric
A tautology is a expression that is true by necessity or by virtue of its own form, e.g., "That fire is fire." Logically speaking a tautology is equivalent to "A equals A".
A pleonasm is an expression that uses more words than are necessary for clear expression, e.g. "That burning fire is hot." The word 'burning' is an unnecessary modifier for 'fire' because all fire is burning, thus 'burning fire' is pleonastic.
Interestingly, "all fire is burning" is a tautology, but, I would argue, not a pleonasm. Therein lies the rub, and likely the reason this distinction is such a difficult one to tease out. An expression often is pleonastic due to an underlying tautology.
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