diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 2987dcfe..71208430 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
                 continue
 
             # if no category is set, use the name of the path as a category
-            if 'category' not in metadata.keys():
+            if 'category' not in metadata:
 
                 if os.path.dirname(f) == self.path:
                     category = self.settings['DEFAULT_CATEGORY']
@@ -238,8 +238,7 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
                 if category != '':
                     metadata['category'] = Category(category, self.settings)
 
-            if 'date' not in metadata.keys()\
-                and self.settings['FALLBACK_ON_FS_DATE']:
+            if 'date' not in metadata and self.settings['FALLBACK_ON_FS_DATE']:
                     metadata['date'] = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(
                                         os.stat(f).st_ctime)
 
diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index 632c72b9..d4e13b4d 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ def read_file(filename, fmt=None, settings=None):
     if not fmt:
         fmt = filename.split('.')[-1]
 
-    if fmt not in _EXTENSIONS.keys():
+    if fmt not in _EXTENSIONS:
         raise TypeError('Pelican does not know how to parse %s' % filename)
 
     reader = _EXTENSIONS[fmt](settings)