Check redundancy in the sentence

Question

"The printing process has only one primary function, which is to put the ink on paper."

Can we ignore ", which is" in the above sentence to read as:

"The printing process has only one primary function to put the ink on paper."
Please suggest.

Nestor · Accepted Answer

Monica--

If you wanted to leave out the 'which is', you'd need to add a colon to the sentence.
"The printing process has only one primary function: to put the ink on paper."

Nestor

Miriam · Answer

Hello, Monica

Here is another suggestion. The structure of the sentence is different, though:

"The only primary function of the printing process is putting ink on paper."

Your original sentence, however, is not redundant.

Miriam

MountainHiker · Answer

<<"The only primary function of the printing process is putting the ink on paper." >>

This sentence, however, does contain redundant parts.

Primary as used here is an adjective.

Primary is defined as follows:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=primary

adj.

1. First or highest in rank, quality, or importance; principal.
2. Being or standing first in a list, series, or sequence.
3. Occurring first in time or sequence; earliest.
4. Being or existing as the first or earliest of a kind; primitive.

Thus, "only primary" doesn't make sense or is redundant.

You could rewrite this as the following:

The primary function of the printing process is putting the ink on paper.

Or perhaps even better,

The primary function of the printing process is to put ink on paper.

Miriam · Answer

I don't think there was ever a doubt about "primary" being an adjective or about its meaning.
The sentence is not redundant.
I thought this would be quite obvious, but I will have to explain things in a simpler way in the future.

There may be one or more primary functions. In this case, it is stressed that there is only one. It is not superfluous information.

I thank you for the effort you make in your contributions to the forums. I'd ask you, however (not as a moderator but simply as a user of the forums), to please review and revise your analyses of the topics posted before you submit an answer that might confuse the people who post the questions.

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

Miriam

Migo · Answer

Primary doesn't imply uniqueness; so stating "only primary" isn't necessary if you're just talking about primary functions, it is if you want to make it clear that there is only one primary function.

MountainHiker · Answer

Migo,

Which would you say is the better solution?

A) The only primary function of the printing process is putting the ink on paper. (Miriam's sol'n)

B) The primary function of the printing process is putting the ink on paper.

C) The only primary function of the printing process is putting ink on paper.

D) The only primary function of the printing process is to put the ink on paper.

E) The only primary function of the printing process is to put ink on paper.

F) The primary function of the printing process is to put ink on paper.

G) Any solution you deem better.

I look forward to your response.

Migo · Answer

It depends on how much the audience knows about printers actually. I'd say they were all good solutions depending on what the person you're talking to knows. In my case for example, I'm not entirely sure if the printer just has one primary function or if it perhaps has two (maybe collating, as that's a feature I find to be important). It's entirely possible to have a single primary function, single secondary function, a couple tertiary functions etc, but it's also possible to have multiple primary functions, multiple secondary functions, a single tertiary function and multiple quaternary functions (not necessarily with printers, just anything).

For me, A and B would be best if ink was referred to previously (I would infer from reading the ink that it's specific ink being talked about), C through F would be best otherwise if your goal is to shorten the sentence as much as possible. If the audience knows that a printer only has one primary function, but just doesn't know what it is, then B and F would be best. If they don't really know anything about printers then A, C through E would be best. I know there is a difference between to put and putting (something to do with continuity and state), but I can't think of anything conceptually to differentiate the two, so unless you're conversing with or writing to someone who knows the difference between gerunds and verbs beyond naming them I don't think it matters.

Check redundancy in the sentence

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