"Redundant" involves repetition. In the following example, there are two examples of redundancy: "This blue, azure shirt is torn and ripped." Blue and azure are redundant, and torn and ripped are redundant. Note that these redundancy pairs do not include words that are exactly synonymous, but which are close enough in meaning that one would usually consider them redundant. Two points here: 1. Neither word in such a pair is necessarily the redundant one; either one can be considered redundant, depending on which one you consider to be the more important, useful, or accurate one in the given context. Commonly, the second word is considered the redundant one, but that is merely because the first word got a chance to establish itself before the second one came along; if you were revising the text, you might choose to keep the second, not the first. 2. The same word repeated ("this blue blue shirt") is an example of redundancy, but this is usually done for emphasis, or for poetic effect, and so is seldom saddled with the accusation of redundancy. Thus, "redundant" does tend to carry the implication of an unnecessary repetition.
A tip: To help you remember this, note that "redundant" begins with "re," as in "repetition." That piece of these words means "again."
"Superfluous," on the other hand, refers to something that is more than what is necessary. Think of water running over the rim of a glass when you continue to pour water into it beyond its capacity. The water over- (super) flows (fluous). Often something superfluous is so because it is needlessly repetitive, and this confuses the picture a bit. But in my opinion, "superfluous" is better used when the element is not repetitive, but is genuinely not needed, as in this example: "After George embedded the fence post in thirty pounds of concrete buried underground, the brick he balanced atop the post to hold it down was superfluous."
No, I never heard anyone say that ever. How many times have I heard "how much ever"? Never. Never ever have I heard "how much ever". Some singers say "whatever".
"How much do you prepare?" sounds more natural to me. Additionally, it is not all that matters. The idiom also isn't all that matters yet it is "all that matters", and my source for this one is Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGnKpE4NCI
Best Answer
Pervasive describes things that spread through a place to become established everywhere.
Ubiquitous describes things that are everywhere in a place because it is the nature of that place to have those ubiquitous things.
The two words have slightly different origins -- Pervasive comes from pervade (to diffuse throughout) while Ubiquitous comes fro ubiquity (be everywhere).