Deter Someone From Doing vs. Deter Someone To Do

Key details

Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction

Rule Familypreposition and verb-complement pattern

TermsDeter Someone From Doing, Deter Someone To Do

Choose the right form

Decision table for Deter Someone From Doing vs. Deter Someone To Do
Meaning / situation	Form / construction	Decision
something discourages or prevents a person from an action	deter someone from doing something	Use from + -ing.
the discouraged thing is a noun activity or course of action	deter someone from + noun	The same “from” pattern can introduce a noun.
object + to-infinitive is proposed as the parallel complement	do not substitute it	The reviewed prevent/discourage pattern is “from,” not direct “to do.”

Quick tests

Meaning / construction test

Are you naming the action that someone is discouraged or prevented from taking?

If yes: Use “deter someone from doing …”.

If no: Use “from + noun” when a noun names the discouraged activity; do not use direct “deter someone to do” as the parallel pattern.

Caveat: Choose by the documented meaning or construction; a different pattern may be valid in a different sentence structure or variety.

Examples

Example

Clear warnings may deter users from sharing passwords.

The discouraged action follows from + -ing.

Example

The fee deterred some applicants from the optional service.

A noun can follow the same “from” complement.

Example

The extra step did not deter her from submitting the form.

The negative sentence keeps the same complement pattern.

Further guidance

Boundary

Deter can also take a direct noun object in some contexts, but that does not create a person + to-infinitive complement.

Construction

The affected person is followed by from + -ing: deter + person + from + action.

Decision

Use “deter someone from doing something.” “Deter someone to do” is not the parallel complement for the prevent/discourage sense.

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.

deter — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Deter + person + from + -ing complement pattern

Related guides

English Usage

Accuse Someone Of Doing vs. Accuse Someone To Do

Cambridge records “accuse someone of something” and specifically “accuse someone of doing something.” That supports of + -ing when the action is the alleged wrongdoing.

English Usage

Accustomed To Doing vs. Accustomed To Do

Cambridge records accustomed to something and gives -ing examples such as being accustomed to working or being treated in a particular way. Do not interpret the “to” after accustomed as an infinitive marker in this construction.

English Usage

Adapt To Doing vs. Adapt To Do

Cambridge distinguishes adapt to a situation or activity from transitive patterns such as adapting plans to fit new circumstances. The surface sequence “adapt … to + verb” therefore needs its grammatical structure identified before choosing an -ing form or infinitive.

English Usage

Apologize For Doing vs. Apologize To Do

Cambridge distinguishes “apologize to someone” from “apologize for something/doing something.” You can combine the two roles, as in “apologize to someone for doing something”; “to” marks the recipient while “for” marks the reason.

English Usage

Approve Of Doing vs. Approve To Do

Cambridge distinguishes intransitive “approve of” for a favorable opinion from transitive “approve something” for official acceptance or authorization. The official-authorization sense uses transitive “approve” with an object; do not collapse that separate sense into the “approve of doing” judgment pattern.

English Usage

Ban Someone From Doing vs. Ban Someone To Do

Oxford documents the person-action pattern as be banned + from + -ing and separately documents direct-object uses of ban. The cited evidence does not support person + to-infinitive as the equivalent prohibition construction.

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