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I found a sentence in a translation that looks something like this:

He accepted his father's wisdom both in times of affliction and joy.

My problem is the use of the structure both in times of affliction and joy. Is it correct? Should it not be:

both in times of affliction and of joy

or

in times of both affliction and joy?

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    As it happens, there is a single written instance of in times of affliction and joy, but none at all for your alternative versions (repeating the word of, and moving the word both). All of them are perfectly valid, but personally I'd much prefer your final version (times of both affliction and joy). HOWEVER - I would point out that a far more common collocation for this context is times of both sorrow and joy.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 18:52
  • I wouldn't worry too much about a single close-vote. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. My opinion is that this question is of course not opinion based.
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Dec 25, 2020 at 2:22
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    @QuackE.Duck: I think if you wanted to unambiguously differentiate the two referents #1 : multiple times of affliction AND multiple times of joy, as opposed to #2 : multiple times, each of which includes both affliction and joy, you'd probably need to do a bit more than simply include or delete the second instance of of.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 19:28
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    @FumbleFingers I guess there's no avoiding the full repetition of the prepositional phrase then: "both in times of affliction and in times of joy." The ambiguous versions are starting to look better in comparison...
    – Quack E. Duck
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 22:45
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    @QuackE.Duck I like your conclusion, it sounds very good for the sentence I had in mind.
    – fev
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 6:39

3 Answers 3

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I think it would be more precise to write

"He accepted his father's wisdom both in times of affliction and of joy."

But I would expect nearly all native speakers to read the original version the same way - as referring to some times of affliction and some different times of joy.

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It means "in times of affliction and in times of joy"

Times of affliction are difficult times when things are bad.

Times of joy are good times when things are well.

You refer to an "affliction of joy on somebody" since "afflict" means to apply something harmful. (Unless you mean to imply that joy can be harmful)

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Yes, you are right. It should be "...both affliction and joy..."

It could also be used like this:

...both in times of affliction and joy, and in everyday moments.

The problem with the original structure is that it combines "times of affliction" and "joy" in a coordination with "and".

"Both A and B" requires that A and B be similar things.

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