Keep Someone From Doing vs. Keep Someone To Do
Cambridge documents keep + person/thing + from + -ing for prevention. “Keep someone to do” is not the parallel prevention pattern and needs a different structure or meaning.
Use “keep someone from doing something” when you mean prevent that person from doing it. Do not use “keep someone to do something” as a direct substitute for the prevention construction.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| prevent a person from an action | keep + person + from + -ing | Use “keep someone from doing.” |
| attempted to-infinitive substitute for prevention | keep + person + to do | Do not use this as a direct substitute. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Are you saying something prevents a person from performing an action?
If yes: Use “keep + person + from + -ing.”
If no: Use a different construction if the person is being retained for a task rather than prevented from one.
Caveat: The prevention pattern is distinct from other meanings of “keep,” including retaining someone or assigning a purpose.
Examples
The locked gate kept visitors from entering early.
“From + -ing” names the prevented action.
Nothing should keep you from asking for clarification.
The person is prevented from the -ing action.
The weather kept the team from travelling that evening.
The prevention relationship is explicit.
Further guidance
Boundary
Do not confuse this object-prevention pattern with “keep doing,” where keep means continue or repeatedly perform an activity.
Construction
Keep someone/something from something takes an -ing complement when the prevented event is an action.
Decision
For prevention, use from + -ing. If keep means retain, continue, or cause a state, choose the complement required by that separate sense rather than forcing the same comparison.
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.
- keep someone/something from something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Keep someone or something from + -ing for prevention