Hi,
I know some words (stop-trouble) with which prepositons are optional. Please see below:
1- He stopped me b[/b] going there.
2- He had trouble b[/b] answering the question.
3- I faced difficulty b[/b] explaining the situation to
her.
Could you please tell me a few more?
A lot of thanks
Tom
Hi Tom
Sometimes the prepostion is “optional” because there is a difference between British English and American English.
For example, I would see your first sentence as simply a difference between BE + AmE. (AmE would use the prepostion.)
I believe the same is true of “prevent (from)”. i.e., AmE uses the preposition: He prevented me from doing it.
Your second two sentences seem “unrestrictedly” optional to me, although I’d tend to omit the preposition in those two examples.
I’m sure there are more, but I don’t have a list handy…
Amy