Pleonasm on Not?

A pleonasm is an unnecessary word in a sentence. An example of a word that’s frequently unnecessary is “different.” For example, take a look at this sentence from an article on using hydrogen to create electricity:

“This process involved a lot of different steps, and at each step we felt we were making progress, which kept us motivated,” Grinter told New Atlas.

https://newatlas.com/science/clean-energy-electricity-produced-air

But sometimes “different” is necessary. Here’s another sentence from the same article:

It’s certainly not the first surprise new finding to come from a different field of study.

Why is “different” okay here, but not in that first sentence? The difference is the number of things you’re comparing. “Lots of steps” is the same as “lots of different steps,” but when you compare only two things, “different” is helpful. “A field of study” is not the same as “a different field of study.”

So think when you write! Leave out those extra words. Concise is nice.

To make this post a bit less poring, here’s a picture from the article: