I continue to be astounded by the assumed interchangeability of the words prevent and avoid.

They are not. Each of these verbs have special circumstances.

Simply put, you can avoid something already in place. For example, I want to avoid the N3 on the way home because of the accident blocking the highway.

To prevent having an accident, I have my car serviced every 15 000 km and hope that most drivers obey the rules of the road (can neither prevent or avoid this one) .

See the difference? You can prevent circumstances that have not yet happened. You can only avoid circumstances that are out of your control.

I am amazed by the number of news readers who get this wrong time and again. I cannot prevent listening to the news, but I can avoid tuning in to channels that fail to deliver news of a standard to my liking.

I am a self-confessed grammar nerd, and my fellow grammatists can surely tell that this one really gets up my nose.

Get the grammar right folks.

Apprise or appraise: use the right word

Ferment and foment confuse the best of us: word usage

The quality of English writing is going down hill: proofreading for excellence