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idiom - prohibit vs forbid

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confuse mind: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 462; Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:08 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 10 times

by confuse mind » Mon May 23, 2011 11:37 am

Can someone please explain me the difference in the usage of forbid and prohibit

Thanks,
Confused

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon May 23, 2011 11:37 am

sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Mon May 23, 2011 4:36 pm

confuse mind wrote:Can someone please explain me the difference in the usage of forbid and prohibit

Thanks,
Confused

One always uses from with prohibit
Eg: Visitors were prohibited from entering the sealed area.

However, with forbid we tend to use infinitive.
Eg: I forbid you to call me late at night.

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confuse mind: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 462; Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:08 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 10 times

by confuse mind » Mon May 23, 2011 6:25 pm

Thanks Sameer.

Seeing some examples, I observed a pattern that 'forbid' is followed by the 'noun' which is forbidden and 'prohibit' is action is followed by the action which is prohibited. Can someone please confirm whether I am right?

Basically,

Visitors were prohibited from entering the museum. //right

is the following a valid construction?

The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum. // right or wrong

or do i need to write the following

The new law forbids visitors to enter the museum // right or wrong

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sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Mon May 23, 2011 6:30 pm

confuse mind wrote:Thanks Sameer.

Seeing some examples, I observed a pattern that 'forbid' is followed by the 'noun' which is forbidden and 'prohibit' is action is followed by the action which is prohibited. Can someone please confirm whether I am right?

Basically,

Visitors were prohibited from entering the museum. //right

is the following a valid construction?

The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum. // right or wrong

or do i need to write the following

The new law forbids visitors to enter the museum // right or wrong

Both
The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum.
And
The new law forbids visitors to enter the museum

seem right to me.

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Tue May 24, 2011 5:01 am

correct idiom is "prohibit x from y" and "forbid x to do y"

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confuse mind: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 462; Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:08 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 10 times

by confuse mind » Sun May 29, 2011 10:55 pm

sameerballani wrote:
confuse mind wrote:Thanks Sameer.

Seeing some examples, I observed a pattern that 'forbid' is followed by the 'noun' which is forbidden and 'prohibit' is action is followed by the action which is prohibited. Can someone please confirm whether I am right?

Basically,

Visitors were prohibited from entering the museum. //right

is the following a valid construction?

The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum. // right or wrong

or do i need to write the following

The new law forbids visitors to enter the museum // right or wrong
Both
The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum.
And
The new law forbids visitors to enter the museum

seem right to me.

Thanks Sameer.
The confusion crops up again since I don't see an example of following anywhere.

The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum.

So again I will ask, is it correct to use or not?

or we can only write

Visitors were prohibited from entering the museum by the new law.

or is it dependent on whether we want to emphasize the action or the doer.

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sameerballani: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 45 times

by sameerballani » Sun May 29, 2011 11:06 pm

The new law prohibited visitors from entering the museum.
This seems right to me !!

Visitors were prohibited from entering the museum by the new law.
Although i don't see any issue with prohibited from but the part entering the museum by the new law seems awkward to me. It seems as entering the museum is done through/by the law.

And dude, This biggest thing about idiom is this only that you really have no way to be certain why an idiom is correct. It is generally accepted usage..

I hope this helps. Else we can request for expert comments.

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