Grammar Patrol: Forbidden Fruit

[ellenkushner]

What is with this forbade from? Isn't it forbade to?

I hear/see it all the time now - on NPR, in a recent (excellent) story in the NYTimes, even on Neil Gaiman's blog! It's (mis?)used most often in the past tense: "They forbade them from landing on the beach." Isn't it "They they forbade them to land..."? Move it to the imperative and it becomes clearer: surely it's "I forbid you to open that door!" - not "I forbid you from opening that door!"

Is this a language elision, a regionalism, or what?

Comments

[calimac.livejournal.com]

Anyone who insists on "log in to" over "log into" must be in conniptions over the word "blog", and is probably not too happy about nicknames like "Ned" (or the word "nickname" itself, for that matter).

[erink.livejournal.com]

Nah, 'blog is cute. I don't really get your point. They're not the same thing at all.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

Well, "log in" is an established phrase, even sometimes spelled "login", so to take the "in" and attach it to the "to" to make "log into" is rather like taking "web log" and attaching the "b" to "log" to make "blog".