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Pleonasm

I removed the phrase "not limited to" from "The external chess box is typically rectangular but can be done in a variety a shapes including, but not limited to, a coffer top or sliding drawers." because it is redundant. The word "including" does not in any way suggest a comprehensive list. Lawyers include it in the wording of legal contracts, but it is unnecessary and wrong in every day writing. If we write Wikipedia like legal contracts are written, people will stop reading it.

My edit was reverted with the comment "rv - to avoid confusion for new comers to the game". This is not about people not understanding chess. It is about whether readers will understand the English word "including". If you use a word that is potentially confusing or may not be understood by many readers, you can hyperlink that word to its definition at Wiktionary. It would be better to re-write the passage to avoid using the word and use plain English instead. I do not think that "including" is such a word. We can assume that Wikipedia readers will have a sufficient grasp of the English language to understand what "including" means, and not require tedious redundancy (see pleonasm) to clarify its meaning. Ground Zero | t 13:19, 18 November 2015 (UTC) reply

Hi, as you have objected so intensely I will not revert; however, I believe the pre-revert version was fine both in grammar and Wikipedia writing standards. Take care. IQ125 ( talk) 18:47, 18 November 2015 (UTC) reply
Ground Zero was completely right. Bever ( talk) 20:43, 27 March 2020 (UTC) reply