Identify the sentence that is not redundant in standard usage.

Identify the sentence that is not redundant in standard usage.

• A. We made an unexpected surprise appearance.
• B. We made a surprise appearance.
• C. We made an appearance.
• D. We made an unexpected appearance.

Answer: (B)

Redundancy happens when two words repeat the same idea. Here, “surprise” already signals that the appearance wasn’t expected, so pairing it with “unexpected” duplicates meaning. The natural, standard way to describe someone showing up in a way that emphasizes the surprise is the phrase make a surprise appearance. It’s a common collocation and sounds fluent in everyday usage.

The other options either pile on the same idea (unnecessarily adding “unexpected” with “surprise”), or soften the sense of surprise too much, or are more bare without the vivid nuance. That clean, conventional phrasing is why this choice fits best.