what abt "prevent" and "deter"?

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Anonymous

#352709 Thu, 19 Apr 07 03:23 AM

what's the difference b/t the two words,"prevent" and "deter"?

what if they turn out together?e.g. overseas compliance officers work to prevent and deter immigration malpractice overseas.

By the way, there are 2 questions abt the sentence above.

1) work to do sth. means devote to ?

2)how to explain "malpractice"?

thanks guys.

Anonymous

Grammar Geek

#352716 Thu, 19 Apr 07 03:40 AM

Prevent means to keep something from happening. Deter can mean the same thing, but it has the sense of persuading someone not to do something - the person decides not to do something.

A locked steel door prevents entry. A locked screen door deters entry, but you can still cut the screen and go inside anyway.

Malpractice is an odd choice for this sentence, in my opinion. It seems more like "illegal practices" or "illegal acts."

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,595)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Vincent Ding

#353357 Fri, 20 Apr 07 11:07 AM

By the way, I note you said "screen door". Actually I just used the expression "glass door". Does this sound unnatural?

Thanks

Vincent Ding

Joined on Fri, Apr 29 2005

Full Member (180)

Expressions

Marius Hancu

#353377 Fri, 20 Apr 07 12:28 PM

To a large extent, but not always, IMO:

prevent: stop it in advance
stop: stop it at the time of happening

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Anonymous

#353435 Fri, 20 Apr 07 03:05 PM

Prevent: to stop from happening

Deter: to influence the prevention of

Anonymous