Notice, however, that we can't say that Florida (also a peninsula) is
surrounded on three sides by ONE body of water! We might say
1. "Florida is a peninsula bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico."
2. "Florida is bounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of
Mexico."
3. PROBABLY NOT: "Florida is a peninsula bounded on three sides by the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico."
One wonders if students would be tempted to write number 3 as a way of
"displaying" their knowledge of geographical terms. In fact, in earth
science or social studies, they may have learned the definition of
peninsula as "a body of land bounded by water on three sides."
As others have pointed out, the issue in the original sentence may be one
of redundancy, not an unforgivable sort of redundancy. If I wanted
students to reduce wordiness or display economy of
language, this is not
the sort of problem I would first turn my attention to. The example,
however, does pose a critical thinking exercise that raises some awareness
of economy: why use 4 words when 1 will do?
R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University
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