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RandomGuy Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Stop something verb + ing
Hi there,
I came across the following sentence in a book.
Thaile clasped her hands to stop them trembling.
I had to re-read it a few times to make sure that I hadn’t missed something, namely the word from, which, in my variety of English, is essential to the grammar of the sentence.
Normally, I would dismiss such a construction as ungrammatical and possibly non-native, but it was written by an exceptional fantasy author. What do you think? Could it be correct but maybe unusual or old-fashioned? Any input is welcome, of course. Thanks for reading.
I came across the following sentence in a book.
Thaile clasped her hands to stop them trembling.
I had to re-read it a few times to make sure that I hadn’t missed something, namely the word from, which, in my variety of English, is essential to the grammar of the sentence.
Normally, I would dismiss such a construction as ungrammatical and possibly non-native, but it was written by an exceptional fantasy author. What do you think? Could it be correct but maybe unusual or old-fashioned? Any input is welcome, of course. Thanks for reading.
Top answer
Oxford has its example : " several attempts were made to stop him giving evidence" And Google books has as much as the examples. content=stop+them+trembling%2C+stop+them+from+trembling&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share =
- Oxford has its example : " several attempts were made to stop him giving evidence" And Google books has as much as the examples.
- content=stop+them+trembling%2C+stop+them+from+trembling&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share =
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38 Answers
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Oxford has its example : "several attempts were made to stop him giving evidence"
And Google books has as much as the examples.
And Google books has as much as the examples.
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Thanks for your reply, eipjoo.
It looks like it is in fact used. However, besides that sentence from the book, I haven’t encountered the construction even once. I wonder if it’s British English.
It looks like it is in fact used. However, besides that sentence from the book, I haven’t encountered the construction even once. I wonder if it’s British English.
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Why don't you look up this MacMillan Dictionary?
stop someone (from) doing something:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/stop#stop_5
stop someone (from) doing something:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/stop#stop_5
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I am well aware that from is correct there. I’ve heard it used all my life!
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fivejedjonThere are 290 citations in the British National Corpus.Thanks, Jed. I should really start making use of that site.
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Aspara Gus I should really start making use of that site.Since I started using BNC and COCA regularly, I have made far fewer erroneous claims than I used to - and I now have to use the
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fivejedjonI have made far fewer erroneous claims than I used to - and I now have to use theemoti
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Anonymoushow to spell in english $900410Nine hundred thousand, four hundred and ten dollars.
Please don't tag questions onto threads which have no relation to your subject.
Start a new thread.
Thanks.
- A.
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