prevent
part of speech
verb (prevent, prevents, prevented, preventing)
meaning for a pupil
1) To prevent something means to stop it from happening. tree →
2) To prevent someone from doing something means to stop them doing it. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety and health lessons, prevention is the main idea: wash hands to prevent germs spreading; wear sun cream to prevent sunburn; brush teeth to prevent tooth decay; use a smoke alarm to prevent deaths in fires; wear a helmet to prevent head injuries. In science, dams prevent floods and insulation prevents heat loss. Phrases: «prevent from», «help prevent», «prevent accidents», «prevention is better than cure».
examples
- Washing your hands helps prevent the spread of germs. tree →
- Sun cream can prevent sunburn. tree →
- Brushing your teeth prevents tooth decay. tree →
- The rain prevented us from playing outside. tree →
- Fences prevent children from falling into the pool. tree →
- Smoke alarms help prevent deaths in fires. tree →
- The goalkeeper prevented a goal. tree →
- What could we do to prevent accidents in the playground? tree →
note
Use «prevent someone/something from doing»: «The rain prevented us from going», not «prevented us to go». Noun: «prevention»; adjective «preventable». «Prevent» is before something happens; «cure» or «fix» is after.
In the corpora
- Checking the rating on a box, a poster or a streaming page before pressing play prevents many accidents.
- Broken wrists are the most common injury for skaters, and wrist guards help prevent them.
- Bats can carry rabies, a disease that is deadly once symptoms start but can be prevented with injections given soon after a bite.
- Drinking water before and during sport on hot days helps prevent heat exhaustion.
- A clear family rule about buying, such as one purchase a month, prevents most arguments.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «prevent» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.