Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: *time period.

*time period. “Time period” is a common redundancy. The word “period” is almost always sufficient — e.g.: o “And the average low drops from 70 to 62 for the same time period [read ‘period’].” Bill Bair, “September a Wet Month, but It Wasn’t a Soggy One,” Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), 1 Oct. 1996, at B3. o “That is why Barlow said his company requires that the right of easement be good for a certain time period [read ‘period’], such as 10 years.” Judy Harriman, “Clearing the Path for Condo Sale,” St. Petersburg Times, 1 Nov. 1996, at D2. *Invariably inferior form.
Quotation of the Day: “The greatest letter writer among Americans, in my view, is easily Justice Holmes. . . . Holmes is the one American model of the good life; activist and intellectual both, he was a man of wide interests and absolutely no superficiality. Joseph Epstein, The Middle of My Tether 33 (1983).
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