What Does It Mean?
The phrase prevent someone from doing something means to stop or hinder a person from carrying out an action.
It is a common structure in English and follows a specific grammatical pattern.
✅ Correct: The rain prevented us from going hiking.
❌ Incorrect: The rain prevented us to go hiking.
❌ Incorrect: The rain prevented us to go hiking.
Grammar Rule
After the verb "prevent", we always use the preposition "from" followed by a gerund (verb + -ing).
prevent + [person/thing] + from + [verb-ing]- Never use the infinitive (
to + verb) after "prevent".
Examples:
- Seatbelts help prevent drivers from getting seriously injured.
- His fear prevented him from speaking in public.
- Firewalls prevent hackers from accessing private data.
Common Mistakes
Many English learners mistakenly say:
- "prevent someone to do something" → ❌
Remember: it’s always "from + -ing".
Quick Quiz
Which sentence is correct?