ScottD643 Wrote:Greetings Whit,
I hate to be “one of those.”
However, is it not the case that the GMAT prefers the construction:
“forbid (noun) TO DO (something)”
ex: “The law forbids citizens to drive without a license”
Hi Scott! I'm also "one of those," so happy to continue the conversation! I'm not sure if maybe you misread what I put above, or that I'm misreading what you put when you indicated that the "GMAT prefers the constructions forbid TO DO." So let me just make sure it I say it a little more clearly:
The construction forbid TO DO ____ is definitely NOT preferred, in fact, it is WRONG.
Corrected: The law forbids citizens from driving without a license.
You can forbid someone FROM doing something, but you never forbid someone TO do something. I also should note that I am not saying that the only correct idiom for "forbid" in any context is "from," just that in the context of this question, you would have to have used the preposition FROM. In fact, we can 100% use the verb "forbid" without a from at all - your following example shows it perfectly:
ScottD643 Wrote:However, if the object is just the thing forbidden and the sentence is not written to forbid anyone in particular:
ex: “The college forbids parking on the grass.”
This sentence is fine for the exact reason you state - I can think of "parking on the grass" as the entire thing we are forbidding. I could have written this same sentence (admittedly in a more wordy fashion) and include a "you from": The college forbids you from parking on the grass / The college forbids students from parking on the grass / The college forbids anyone from parking on the grass.
Note that your earlier example could also be shortened to remove the from, but we do have to be a bit careful of meaning:
“The law forbids citizens from driving without a license” (correct - now that the idiom is "from")
"The law forbids driving without a license" (correct, there isn't a specific group we're forbidding from doing the thing anymore, it is everyone)
"The law forbids citizens driving without a license" (suspect - we don't "forbid the citizens" we forbid the driving, but this example makes driving a noun modifier for citizens which implies that if we look around and see "citizens driving without a license" we forbid THEM (the actual citizens rather than the behavior), which is weird).
Think of the following constructions as being appropriate:
X forbids Y from Z-ing. (The law forbids kids from smoking)
X forbids Z-ing. (The law forbids smoking)
Note that we need to check meaning - does the law forbid Z-ing for everyone or do we need to be explicit about who or what is explicitly forbidden from Z-ing?
Hope this clears up the confusion!
