Prevent...from vs keep...from

[Strawberry girl]

Hi,Alan
Could you explain the difference between them?
Especially in this sentence:" The reason for this is that the Fiesta is preventing our delivery lorry from leaving the premises".
Both of them have the meaning of stop doing sth,right?
By the way,maybe you thought I was always working till the wee hours.Let me explain that ,it is because we are not in the same time zone.So while I hand in my question to your website in about 10 o'clock in the morning ,you will see it in 3 o'clock in the morning.I think this is very interesting!

[Alan]

Hi,

Prevent from means stop from. Keep from means delay from. Some examples:

The broken down lorry in the middle of the road is preventing other cars from going down the road.

The long telephone call kept me from leaving home any sooner.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Cool Expressions