grammar · academic
prevent + somebody + from + V-ing
to stop someone or something from doing something; to make something not happen
Examples
“Strict rules can prevent companies from dumping toxic waste.”
“Vaccination programmes prevent children from contracting serious diseases.”
“Good planning prevents small problems from becoming big crises.”
Band 8 sentence
“Effective public campaigns can prevent adolescents from taking up smoking by changing social attitudes.”
Collocations
- prevent someone from doing something
- prevent + noun (e.g. prevent crime)
Word family
Common mistakes
prevent somebody to do something→prevent somebody from V-ing
prevent somebody do something→prevent somebody from V-ing
Say it for a higher band
5stop→6stop + somebody + from + V-ing→7+prevent + somebody + from + V-ing
Synonyms
stop
hinder
Easily confused
stop + somebody + from + V-ing
“The guard stopped the fans from entering the pitch.”
Related words
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In Gerunds & infinitives
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