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Question

When you want to say “ This is the house in which he lived in his childhood. ” , can you also say that “ This is the house which he lived in in his childhood. ” ?

A chain of “ in ” in this sentence makes me feel strange.

I am Japanese and have started to study English recently. Please tell me whether the former sentence is available to say.

Lakshwadeep · Accepted Answer

Writing "in in" is awkward, and the more common preposition with "childhood" would be "during":

This is the house which he lived in during his childhood.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01/

Emilky · Answer

Thank you for answring my question.

You mean that there is a mistake in that sentence in the first place, right? You don't say “ the house which he lived in in his childhood ” but “ the house which he lived in during his childhood”, do you?

CalifJim · Answer

emilkyA chain of “ in ” in this sentence makes me feel strange.

Well, it is strange, but it's not wrong. That sort of thing happens from time to time in English, and writers usually try to avoid it by thinking of a different way to express their ideas, but it's not wrong.

That's the man I waited for for four hours.
That's the car I rode in in 2010.
That's the store I went to to buy a coat.

CJ

Emilky · Answer

Thank you for teaching me. I understand that sometimes we can see a chain of prepositions in a sentence. I got it!

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