A Subtle Redundancy

Redundancy is when you unnecessarily repeat yourself. There’s a place for redundancy when it comes to hardware. We call it “carrying a spare.” The more critical the issue, the more redundancy. That’s great for the space program, the military, and aviation, not to mention lots of other places. But in language, particularly in expository writing, it’s better to be concise than redundant. Here’s a redundancy I almost missed; it serves to show shows how easy it can be to use unnecessary words. (The bold is my way of pointing it out.)

Again, there’s good news. Active debris removal is technically challenging, but potential solutions exist. Things like “laser brooms,” electrodynamic tethers, nanosatellites, solar sails, space grapples, and tugs are being considered (more on these to come). Some of these technologies even exist as more than prototypes, although they’re sequestered away under military control.

“Away” is redundant. You get the same meaning if you take the word out.

That sentence is from an Ars Technica article by Mark Pontin, dated May 27 2014