Friday, November 21, 2014

fellow classmate/classmate: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, November 21–23, 2014

fellow classmate/classmate
Some redundancies are so common that few people notice them, but it’s worthwhile to be aware of them. A good example is “fellow classmate.” “Fellow” and “-mate” perform the same function. It’s better to say simply “classmate.”

The same is true of the equally redundant “fellow shipmate,” “ fellow roommate,” “fellow co-worker,” “fellow comrade,” and “fellow colleague.”

Even worse is “fellow peer.” Your fellows are your peers: same thing. The only people who should speak of fellow peers are members of the British peerage referring to others of their social class.

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Learning to spell with Obamacare: Are policies being canceled, or are they being cancelled?" (November 19, 2013).

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