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Volunteer on vacation? Thank someone for, prevent someone from + -ing

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches prevent someone from doing and other verb + object + preposition patterns through Mālama Hawaiʻi, which invites visitors to give back to the islands.

Grammar
Thank or reward someone for, prevent, stop, discourage or protect someone from, congratulate someone on and warn someone against, then an -ing form or a noun.
Topic
Volunteering in Hawaii since 2020, from tree planting and beach cleanups to the free hotel nights of 2020 and 2021, with words such as restore, invasive and outweigh.
Activities
An explainer to read, a beach cleanup argument and a reader's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a sign-up chat and a question wheel.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: a vacation with a purpose

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: travel that gives backVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a trip that gives back?

    • Look at the photo: ready to be plantedPictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: a free night for a full bag?

    • Listen to Isaiah and NoreenListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Abner's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: thank them for helping

    • Study the scheme: thank them for helpingGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: a preposition + the -ing form of the verb in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Noreen's welcome talkDrag and dropTry it
    • Fill in the table: what they said and what they didFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: sign me up

    • Choose the right replies: sign up to volunteerChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and answer: does volunteering on vacation help?Spin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: a preposition + the -ing form of the verb in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Noreen's thank-you emailChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Isaiah answers AbnerDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Travel vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • give back
  • restore
  • stewardship
  • invasive
  • reforestation
  • shoreline
  • incentive
  • outweigh
  • voluntourism

Grammar: verb + object + preposition + -ing

Some verbs take an object and then a fixed preposition: Noreen thanked us for coming. A volunteer morning is full of thanks, warnings and harm to prevent, so learners meet the pattern at every turn. They learn each verb together with its preposition, put the object between them and follow the preposition with an -ing form or a noun.

Thank them for helping. Stop them from littering.

Some verbs take an object, then their own preposition, then an -ing form or a noun.

One verb, one preposition

Thank and reward take for; prevent, stop, discourage and protect take from; congratulate takes on; warn takes against. Reward has two: with the prize, for the reason: rewarded guests with a free night for volunteering.

PrepositionVerbsExample
forthank, reward (and praise)Noreen thanked us for coming.
with the prize, for the reasonrewardSome hotels rewarded guests with a free night for volunteering.
fromprevent, stop, discourage, protectPicking up plastic prevents it from reaching the reef.
oncongratulateWe congratulated every group on finishing.
againstwarnLeona warned Isaiah against taking his laptop.

The object comes before the preposition

The object sits between the verb and the preposition: Noreen thanked us for helping. Pronouns take their object form: me, him, her, us, them. The scheme's table shows thanked … for helping with every person, and protects it from the goats for it.

PersonObjectExample
ImeNoreen thanked me for helping.
youyouNoreen thanked you for helping.
hehimNoreen thanked him for helping.
sheherNoreen thanked her for helping.
ititThe young tree is small, so a fence protects it from the goats.
weusNoreen thanked us for helping.
theythemNoreen thanked them for helping.

An -ing form or a noun, never to

After the preposition comes an -ing form or a noun: for helping or for their help. Never to + base form after the preposition: compare encourage someone to volunteer with discourage someone from volunteering. Warned us against climbing can also be warned us not to climb.

An -ing form or a noun

preposition + -ing

  • thank them for helping
  • congratulate her on winning
  • protect the reef from getting damaged

preposition + noun

  • thank them for their help
  • congratulate her on her win
  • protect the reef from damage

After the preposition: -ing, never to

A preposition is followed by an -ing form or a noun: thank them for helping (not: thank them to help, for to help). Compare verb + object + to: encourage someone to volunteer, but discourage someone from volunteering. Warn has two right patterns: She warned us against climbing = She warned us not to climb.

The passive and not

In the passive, the preposition stays after the verb: The volunteers were thanked for helping. The goats are prevented from reaching the trees. For a negative, not goes right before the -ing form: Thank you for not touching the turtles.

The passive and not

In the passive, the preposition stays: The volunteers were thanked for helping. The goats are prevented from reaching the trees. For a negative, put not before the -ing form: Thank you for not touching the turtles.

Common mistakes

They thanked us to help, prevent your hands to get cut, stop him of collecting and rewarded its guests with helping all miss the verb's own preposition. The fix is that preposition + an -ing form: for helping, from getting cut, from collecting.

  • They thanked us to help.

    They thanked us for helping.

    thank someone for + -ing

  • Gloves prevent your hands to get cut.

    Gloves prevent your hands from getting cut.

    prevent someone or something from + -ing

  • Nothing can stop him of collecting odd objects.

    Nothing can stop him from collecting odd objects.

    stop someone from + -ing

  • The hotel rewarded its guests with helping.

    The hotel rewarded its guests for helping.

    reward someone for the reason, with the prize

On the beach and in the forest

  • In 2020, some hotels rewarded guests for volunteering with a free extra night.
  • Invasive plants prevent native plants from growing.
  • Volunteers protect native plants from being shaded out.
  • Noreen discourages volunteers from picking up anything sharp.
  • She congratulates every group on finishing.
  • Leona warned Isaiah against taking his laptop onto the sand.

More lessons on this grammar: Prepositions lessons and exercises · Gerunds and infinitives lessons and exercises

Try the verb + object + preposition exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

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What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • thank or reward someone for something: In 2020, some hotels rewarded guests for volunteering with a free extra night.
  • say what stops an action with prevent, stop, discourage or protect + object + from: Invasive plants prevent native plants from growing.
  • congratulate and warn people: We congratulated every group on finishing. Leona warned Isaiah against taking his laptop onto the sand.
  • put an -ing form or a noun after the preposition, never to: They thanked us for helping, not They thanked us to help
  • sign up to volunteer in a chat and thank the organizer: Thank you for letting us help, Nicolette.

Lesson 20 closes Travel that gives back, unit 5 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. It builds on B2.1 lesson 14, where warn and persuade took an object and to, and B2.1 lesson 15, where credit someone with and praise someone for took an -ing form. Lesson 21 opens Sport and society with verb + noun collocations. Volunteering means thanking, warning and preventing harm, so the pattern turns up everywhere.

Students open boxes of questions about vacations, rewards and giving back, then learn twelve words, from prevent and congratulate to stewardship and voluntourism, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's explainer on Mālama Hawaiʻi and what nobody has measured yet, then hear him and Noreen, a cleanup coordinator, disagree about the free hotel nights of 2020, and Abner, who has lived in Hawaii all his life, argue for fewer, longer trips; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a table that turns what people said into this pattern. In the speaking chapter, students sign up to plant trees in a chat with Nicolette, then spin a wheel of questions about volunteering on vacation.

The ten homework tasks all check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then prepositions to choose and -ing forms to write in new sentences, word order, a quiz on the correct sentence, Noreen's thank-you email with options and Isaiah's answer to Abner with words to drag in.

Grammar:
verb + object + preposition + -ing · thank someone for · prevent / stop / discourage someone from · congratulate someone on · warn someone against
Topic:
Mālama Hawaiʻi · Hawaii · voluntourism · volunteering on vacation · beach cleanups · native plants and invasive species · travel that gives back · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Teach each verb with its preposition as a pair: thank … for, prevent … from, congratulate … on, warn … against. In pairs, one student says a verb, and the other adds the preposition and an example.
  • Debate the free hotel night first: was it a smart incentive or the wrong message? Students take sides, then listen for Isaiah's and Noreen's arguments and say whether either one changed their mind.
  • Turn quotes into reports, as the grammar chapter's table does: “Don't climb on the wet rocks!” becomes The lifeguard warned us against climbing on the wet rocks. Students write three quotes for a partner to report.
  • End with a thank-you note: each student thanks someone who helped their school or town and congratulates them on one thing: Thank you for organizing the book sale.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6A paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8Why is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14Bat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18A lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20 · you're hereVolunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24The comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

How do you use “prevent from”?
Use prevent + object + from + -ing: the object is the person or thing that doesn't do the action. Invasive plants prevent native plants from growing. Gloves prevent your hands from getting cut. In the passive, from stays: The goats are prevented from reaching the trees. Never say prevent them to. The B2 lesson Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai teaches it with stop, discourage and protect, which also take from.
Which verbs take an object, a preposition and an -ing form?
Common ones are thank and reward + for; prevent, stop, discourage and protect + from; congratulate + on; and warn + against. Each verb keeps its own preposition: Noreen thanked us for coming. We congratulated every group on finishing. Credit someone with and praise someone for work the same way; on edio.ai they come in B2.1 lesson 15, before Volunteer on vacation?
Why is it “encourage someone to” but “discourage someone from”?
The two verbs take different patterns: encourage takes an object + to + base form, but discourage takes an object + from + -ing. Our teacher encouraged us to volunteer. Signs discourage visitors from feeding the birds. Opposite meanings don't share a pattern here, so learn each verb with its own. The scheme of Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai sets the two side by side in a tip.
Is it “thank you for helping” or “thank you to help”?
It's thank you for helping: thank takes for, and an -ing form follows. The same goes for thanked us for coming, not thanked us to come, and a noun works too: thank you for your help. For a negative, put not first: Thank you for not touching the turtles. The wrong replies in the chat of Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai include Thank you to answer and Thanks for tell me.
What is voluntourism?
Voluntourism is travel that includes unpaid work to help a place, such as planting trees or cleaning beaches on vacation. In Hawaii, supporters say it connects visitors with nonprofits that want volunteers and is often a highlight of a trip. Researchers who study volunteer tourism around the world warn that projects can ignore what local people want and slow the work down. Isaiah's explainer in Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai weighs both sides.
What is Mālama Hawaiʻi?
Mālama Hawaiʻi is a program that invites visitors to care for the islands. The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau announced it on November 16, 2020, in partnership with the Hawaii Tourism Authority; mālama means “to take care of.” Activities in 2020 included planting trees, beach cleanups, protecting reefs and making Hawaiian quilts for elders, and some hotels gave volunteers a free extra night, mostly through 2021. Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai tells the story.
How do I teach verb + object + preposition to B2 students?
Start from real thank-yous and warnings that students hear at school or work, then show which preposition each verb keeps and that an -ing form follows. Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai moves from Isaiah's explainer and his beach cleanup with Noreen to the scheme, a drag-and-drop of Noreen's welcome talk and four more drills, then a sign-up chat.
What's a good game for practicing prevent from and thank for?
Play “Who did what?”: each student writes a true sentence about a classmate with the verb and its preposition missing, such as Ana ___ me ___ lending me a pen. The class fills in thanked … for, then guesses who wrote it. For speaking, the wheel in Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai asks questions like Which three rules would prevent tourists from harming a place you love?
What's good homework for verb + object + preposition?
Good homework gives the verb and asks for the rest: We thanked our neighbors ___ (water) our plants needs for watering. All ten homework tasks in Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai check themselves, ending with Noreen's thank-you email to her volunteers and Isaiah's answer to Abner.
How do you practice this pattern one-to-one?
Talk about real volunteering or teamwork: the teacher asks What did they thank you for? and What would you warn a new volunteer against?, and the student answers with the full pattern. The chat in Volunteer on vacation? on edio.ai works alone: Nicolette signs the student up for a tree-planting morning, and most right replies use the pattern.
Are there interactive exercises for verb + object + preposition?
Yes. With no account, this page plays three parts of Volunteer on vacation?, a B2 lesson on edio.ai: Isaiah's beach cleanup argument with Noreen, her welcome talk with phrases to drag in and a chat that signs you up to volunteer. Other parts open with an account.
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