| 词组 | prevent |
| 释义 | prevent Prevent is used in several constructions that have received comment. The first of these is prevent + a noun or pronoun + from + an -ing form of a verb. This construction is prescribed as correct by both American and British usage books and is in fact the most common American construction represented in our files. • It can't help you win, but it might prevent you from losing —Arthur Ashe, quoted in Playboy, May 1980 • ... to prevent the President from establishing a military dictatorship —Francis D. Wormuth, "The Vietnam War: The President versus the Constitution," 1968 • ... a slight defect in his spine prevented him from pursuing this ambition —Current Biography, July 1965 Then we have prevent + possessive pronoun or noun + -ing. This construction is also prescribed by the handbooks, but it is much less common in our files. • ... never quite served to prevent your colliding with them —Jack Hulbert, London Calling, 9 Dec. 1954 • ... ill health prevented his resuming his duties — Dictionary of American Biography, 1936 And we have prevent + noun or objective pronoun + -ing. Evans 1957 finds this a standard construction, but several other commentators disapprove it, for example, Shaw 1975, 1987, who calls it substandard. It is nothing more than a specific instance of what H. W. Fowler called the "fused participle." For a general discussion of this problem, see possessive with gerund. Our files show the construction to be fairly uncommon in American English, but quite common in recent British usage: • ... the edges of sharp instruments should be masked to prevent them injuring the staff —Punch, 17 Oct. 1973 • ... to insulate the ice-cream and prevent it melting — Weekend, 4 June 1968 • ... order his porters to prevent the speaker entering the building —Peter Wilby, The Observer, 19 May 1974 Prevent + an -ing form with no noun or pronoun turns up now and then: • ... obliged to cling, to prevent being washed away —Captain Frederick Marryat, Peter Simple, 1834 • To prevent being misled —Melissa Ludtke, Sports Illustrated, 10 Apr. 1978 Barzun 1985 catches himself starting to use prevent + object + to + infinitive and then decides that it is an impossible construction. It is perhaps not possible for most writers, but we do find it once in a great while: • ... providing an excuse for preventing "foreign" blacks to settle in urban areas —Times Literary Supp., 14 July 1966 • There is nothing to prevent what Congress has done today to be undone tomorrow —Arthur Markewich, quoted in Springfield (Mass.) Union, 30 Mar. 1967 All of these constructions can be found in standard sources. The last two are the rarest and the last one the most awkward-sounding. |
| 随便看 |
|
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。