Travel register: ‘Deported back’ and four other errors you should avoid

The ongoing abrupt end of the sojourn of many Nigerians in South Africa has made the word ‘repatriate’ a constant currency. At the same time, it has exposed an error that usually romances it. This happens when some write or say ‘repatriate back’, as the Federal Government brings back our people who have been suffering xenophobic adversity in SA.

On its own, ‘repatriate’ means to send or bring a person, money, or an item back to their own or its original country, according to Cambridge Dictionary. This means that it does not need ‘back’ to make complete sense. When combined, the statement becomes tautological:

The Federal Government has repatriated more Nigerians back from South Africa. (Wrong)

The Federal Government has repatriated more Nigerians from South Africa. (Correct)

We have treated tautology/redundancy on a number of occasions in this class, but below are four other such inappropriate expressions associated with travelling.

Deport back

When someone is deported from another country, they are sent back to their own land. Collins Dictionary puts it thus: to force a person who is not a citizen to leave a country by official government order. This means that you still don’t need ‘back’ with the word. To say the fellow is deported back amounts to tautology:

The man was deported back to Ghana in 2023. (Wrong)

The man was deported to Ghana in 2023. (Correct)

Using ‘to’ with ‘abroad’

Primarily, ‘abroad’ functions as an adverb. In this context, it does not require the preposition ‘to’ because its meaning encompasses it. So, when you are going to Canada or the Republic of Benin, you are simply going abroad, not to abroad:

Sherry travelled to abroad last year. (Wrong)

Sherry travelled abroad last year. (Correct)

Similarly, we don’t use ‘in’ with the adverb:

They met in abroad. (Wrong)

They met abroad. (Correct)

Interestingly, there is a preposition that collocates with ‘abroad’: from. They work together when the word (abroad) is used as a noun. Here is an example from Cambridge:

A large sum of money was sent from abroad.

Travelling to overseas?

‘Overseas’, when used as an adverb meaning done in another country, is prone to two grammatical blunders. These are using ‘to’ with it and dropping the ‘s’ that ends it (its spelling). Like ‘abroad’, it is also primarily an adverb:

Dom will travel to overseas. (Wrong)

Dom is taking his money to oversea? (Wrong)

Dom is taking his money in overseas? (Wrong)

Dom keeps his money at overseas. (Wrong)

Dom will travel overseas. (Correct)

Dom keeps his money overseas. (Correct)

Note, however, that ‘overseas’ can also work as an adjective, qualifying a noun:

The overseas trips are questionable.

The company wants to expand to overseas markets. (From Cambridge)

Meanwhile, what are the two nouns that ‘overseas’ qualifies in the two clauses? Trips and markets.