Accessibility options

Dictionary of English - prevent

prevent

Prevent is followed by from or by a possessive: They prevented me from going or they prevented my going. The former is more common, and is often preferable when the verb is followed by a noun: We prevented the baby from falling rather than we prevented the baby's falling (a listener could not tell whether there was one baby or more). Constructions such as They prevented me going; we prevented the baby falling are best avoided in formal writing, as some people consider them incorrect. They are very common in speech, and there is no reason not to say them.

Find a word

Find a difficult word here. Click on a letter to find the word:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
© RM 2010. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends


Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends

Dictionary search

 
 

Czech Republic Flag

Czech Republic Flag
Red and white are the colours of Bohemia, dating back to the 13th century. Blue represents Moravia. Unlike that of the Slovak Republic, the Czech flag is not based on the pan-Slav colours. Effective date: 1 January 1993.

Health Search

 
 
Search all Diseases Medicines

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends

Page Footer


Access keys


You will need to use different key combinations in order to use access keys depending on your internet browser, find out which on our accessibility page.
  • (0) Navigate to Accessibility page.
  • (1) Navigate to Home page.
  • (2) Navigate to My email.
  • (3) Navigate to My Account.
  • (4) Navigate to Site Map page.
  • (5) Navigate to Contact us page.
  • (6) Navigate to Members channel.
  • (7) Navigate to Services channel.
  • (8) Navigate to News & Info channel.
  • (9) Navigate to Entertainment channel.
  • ([) Skip down to the Primary navigation block.
  • (]) Skip down to the more links within this section block.
  • (=) Bypass all navigation and jump to the content.
  • (x) Text only version of this page.