English UsageGrammar guide
Abstain From: Standard Pattern
Abstain From: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps the guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Cambridge documents “abstain from” when someone chooses not to do, consume, or take part in something.
Key details
Confusion Familyusage-construction
Rule Familyverb-preposition construction
Termsabstain from
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “abstain from” for choosing not to do, consume, or take part in something.
Style Boundary
The intransitive voting sense can occur without a from-complement, so the page does not claim that every use of “abstain” requires “from.”
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- abstain from something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge dictionary evidence for the verb construction abstain from something.