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This aircraft can take off from and land on both land and water.

This aircraft can take off and land on both water and land.

Are both these sentences grammatically correct? If yes, then which one would be more common in idiomatic English? And if one is wrong then please explain why?

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  • Shorter - this aircraft can use both land and water for taking off and landing. Shorter still, this aircraft is amphibious (or an amphibian). Sep 16, 2021 at 15:24

2 Answers 2

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You could say that a plane 'takes off from land', or that it 'takes off on land'. This ngram shows both are used, although 'from' is used a little more.

This aircraft can take off and land on both water and land.

(although some might suggest 'either' instead of 'both')

As you can use either preposition in connection with the takeoff, using two makes the sentence unnecessarily clumsy.

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The whole sentence sounds a awkward because there's a lot of repetition. You use "land" as a noun and a verb, and you also repeat "and" (which sounds like "land"). If you use "or" instead of "and" in one place, it might help:

This aircraft can take off and land on water or land.

This aircraft can take off or land on water and land.

You definitely don't want to add "from" because it would make it even more awkward.

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