Learn English – Is it “abstain from” or “abstain to”

prepositionsword-choice

I found a following sentence in this link:

"Does the Reaction of Abstaining Smokers to the Smell of Other People's Cigarettes Predict Relapse?"

Shouldn't it be "abstaining from" instead of "abstaining to", which means "to keep oneself from doing, engaging in, or partaking of something; refrain"? Thank you!

Best Answer

In this instance, "abstaining" is an adjective - someone who currently abstains (specifically, from smoking).

We can rewrite the sentence like this:

Does the reaction of [people abstaining from smoking] to [the smell of other people's cigarettes] predict relapse?

So [people abstaining from smoking] react to [the smell of other people's cigarettes]

You "abstain" from something, but you "react" to something.

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