Avoiding repetition: Wonderful, isn’t it?

Speech is more tolerant of repetition than formal writing (see here), but even in spoken exchanges people often prefer to avoid repeating each other’s words without a good reason. There is a common kind of exchange where one speaker gives his/her opinion of something, and the other agrees by saying the same thing in other words which are at least as emphatic. Repetition is carefully avoided.

• ‘Glorious day.’ ‘Wonderful, isn’t it?’ (not usually Glorious, isn’t it?)
• ‘Terrible weather.’ ‘Dreadful.’
• ‘United didn’t play very well, then.’ ‘Absolute rubbish.’

Speakers can of course repeat vocabulary and structures deliberately. This can be done for emphasis.

• I’m very very angry.
• You’ll eat every mouthful. Every single mouthful.

Repeating somebody else’s words can show surprise or disbelief.

• ‘I’m getting married.’ ‘You’re getting married? Who to?’

note

For more about ‘echo questions’ of this kind, (see here).