By 3 PM at the earliest and by 5 PM at the latest

[tufguy]

John: When will you come back home from work?
Carter: By 3 PM at the earliest and by 5 PM at the latest. It won't take me later than 5 PM to reach home.

 

[Tdol]

The second sentence is both wrong and unnecessary.

 

[emsr2d2]

John: [STRIKE]When[/STRIKE] What time will you [STRIKE]come back[/STRIKE] get home from work?
Carter: [STRIKE]By 3 PM at the earliest and by 5 PM at the latest. It won't take me later than 5 PM to reach home.[/STRIKE] Between 3pm and 5pm.

See above.

 

[tufguy]

Given that 'by' implies 'no later than, at or before',By 3 PM at the earliest is not a natural thing to say.

Is it incorrect to say "By 5 PM at the latest"?

What is the proper way of saying this "It won't take me later than 5 PM to reach home"?

 

[Tdol]

Piscean was talking about by 3 pm.

I will be home by 5 pm at the latest.

 

[GoesStation]

Is it incorrect to say "By 5 PM at the latest"? No, that's OK.

What is the proper way of saying this? "It won't take me later than 5 PM to reach home"?

You can say It won't take me longer than an hour, for example. "It won't take me" does not work with "later". Tdol's suggestion in post #6 is good. In conversational American English you might say ​I'll be home by five at the latest.