Learn English – “For both X and Y” or “both for X and Y” or …

determinersgrammaticalityprepositionsword-order

Which of these forms is correct?

  • X will be used both for Y and Z
  • X will be used for both Y and Z
  • X will be used both for Y and for Z
  • Other…

Best Answer

As NOAD say: "When both is used in construction with and, the structures following 'both' and 'and' should be symmetrical in well-formed English."

In the first example, the symmetry or parallelism of 'for Y' and 'for Z' has been lost.

The second and the third example are well-formed English.

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