Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Criminal Sentence 294: Double Prepositions

Overheard on TV:

"That's the code in which I live by."

This is spectacularly bad. It uses two prepositions when only one is needed, and it uses two distinct ones, too. Here's what it should say:

"That's the code by which I live."

or

"That's the code I live by."

A similar error crops up in a Beatles song:

"the world in which we live in"

1 comment:

  1. That's actually a Paul McCartney song. But yes, it always bothered me until I decided to pretend that he's actually singing, "the world in which we're livin'." I don't believe it for a second, but I can pretend.

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