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Here is my sentence. English obviously not being my first language, I am unsure about this construction.

Written shortly after the publication of the second edition, the text seamlessly dovetails both argumentatively and terminologically with the completely reworked chapter...

Many thanks in advance.

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  • 5
    Is dovetailing always seamless?
    – Mitch
    Commented Jul 9, 2019 at 19:13
  • 2
    Not redundant: lumberjocks.com/Mosquito/blog/30142
    – Jim
    Commented Jul 9, 2019 at 19:23
  • 5
    Isn't "redundant pleonasm" a redundant pleonasm? ^_^
    – Robusto
    Commented Jul 9, 2019 at 20:31
  • @Robusto Yes, I was jestingly making a little joke there ;)
    – 10012511
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 7:28

4 Answers 4

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A subjective answer:

Ultimately, the utility of language is to communicate, sometimes that includes emotional qualia which sometimes depend on apparently faulty phrasing. E.g. "I can't even."

In your case, it is clear that you are trying to be formal and rigorous. If your goal is to conform to certain editorial standards of language usages (e.g. writing for English class), than avoiding redundancy probably helps. However, if you are writing to actually communicate with the readers with the goal of facilitating understanding, using both adjective and verb will be more helpful especially considering most people's unfamiliarity with "dovetail", denotation and connotation alike.

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  • Am I alone in finding that answer so dependent on technical terms as to be incomprehensible to a reader ot versed in those terms?
    – JeremyC
    Commented Jul 9, 2019 at 22:07
  • @JeremyC Perhaps, languages are also meant for those who understand them
    – user289661
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 3:24
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Use of English: It appears you are seeking to emphasise the writer's skill in (completely) reworking a chapter without disturbing the flow of the work. The problem is that while '...seamlessly dovetails' uses woodworking jargon to celebrate general skill, it assumes prior knowledge, and could therefore create a disjoint in your readers' experience.

That may be your intention, but for simplicity I would use '...the revised chapter merges seamlessly with the text...'

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This looks pretty seamless to me:

enter image description here

(My point is that the OP doesn't see how a dovetail can be "seamless". But "dovetail", in the sense of "the text seamlessly dovetails", is a metaphor for tightly interlocking dissimilar things, and "seamlessly", in this (also metaphorical) sense, implies a construction such that there is no "visible" seam between parts.)

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To someone who has ever constructed real dovetails in wood, as I have, they cannot be seamless, because on one side of the joint, the grain runs one way and on the other side it runs another way. Dovetails are just not seamless! We are dealing here with a mixed metaphor or more probably a dead metaphor. Replace "seamlessly dovetails" with 'fits exactly'.

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  • For some reason seamlessly biscuit joins both ... just doesn't do it. Maybe seamlessly camlocks both ...
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 0:11
  • @KannE. I am looking now at a dovetail joint I cut myself. There is a sharp contrast between end grain on one piece and face grain on the other.
    – JeremyC
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 21:22

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