Recently, I've seen a few examples of people writing either "I took the TOEIC test" or "I took the TOEFL test". They tend to be ESL students, so I don't want to be a grammar Nazi about it, but for my own curiosity, I wonder if the redundancy (e.g. the Test of English for International Communication test) is considered grammatically incorrect. Google has not yielded any satisfactory results, so I'm curious if anyone here has some insight.
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OMG!! Redundancy in English! I've never, ever heard of such a thing! – Hot Licks Jan 07 '20 at 14:01
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Does this answer your question? "PIN Number" — why do we say it?. There's even a question asking about the name of this sort of redundancy. It all eventually boils down to what people choose to say. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 07 '20 at 14:09
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Hot Licks - I wasn't really asking whether you or anyone else had heard of such a thing. I was asking whether it's considered grammatically correct. But thanks for the sarcasm. – TFlo83 Jan 07 '20 at 14:16
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1It is possible that a non-ESL speaker would not know what IELTS or TOEIC were. And even many native speakers are unaware of these formal tests, adding a term such as "exam" or "test" helps clarify meaning. I would not consider it to be grammatically wrong. – Mari-Lou A Jan 07 '20 at 14:17
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@TFlo83 - Redundancy is not "grammatically incorrect". Sometimes it's discouraged for stylistic reasons, but it has nothing to do with grammar. – Hot Licks Jan 07 '20 at 14:50