Learn English – stop (from) doing

gerundsgrammar

There's a fence to stop people (from) walking on the grass.

The Murphy's grammar says that from is optional in the structure "stop somebody (from) doing." But for me this particular sentence without from sounds fishy. What about you?

Other sentences sound fine without from:

You can't stop me doing what I want.

Best Answer

I think the reason that the sentence without from sounds fishy in

There's a fence to stop people walking on the grass,

is that this sentence is ambiguous. It could mean

There's a fence to stop people from walking on the grass,

or

There's a fence to stop people who are walking on the grass.

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