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I graduated high school.

I graduated from high school.

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

Sven Yargs
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StrategicAdvisor3
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2 Answers2

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Graduated from seems much more correct to this native American English speaker, but I don't think anyone will call you out for omitting the "from."

WBT
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  • I agree. But I've had the impression that more Americans are saying graduated this-or-that recently. However, this ngram suggests that my impression was wrong. – Drew Jun 03 '15 at 01:40
  • Here's the one for college. – WBT Jun 03 '15 at 01:41
  • @Drew - I would tend to regard the sans-from version to be more of a Britishism. – Hot Licks Jun 03 '15 at 02:14
  • @HotLicks: being British, I would use a preposition, either at or from and name the university. High schools (or better secondary schools) do not produce graduates here. – Henry Jun 03 '15 at 08:08
  • Do British students finishing secondary school matriculate [from] secondary school? – Brian Hitchcock Jun 03 '15 at 08:32
  • @Hot Licks: The sans-from version strikes my American ears as a bit "affected". But maybe it's just regional. One can't tell from the ngrams. But "graduated university" is not found at all in the BrE corpus. – Brian Hitchcock Jun 03 '15 at 08:35
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According to the high school English that I learned 70 years ago, “I graduated high school” is unacceptable. It indicates that it was the school that graduated rather than the subject “I.”

Robert Dale
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    Welcome to the site, Robert. We are looking for thorough answers supported by references or usage examples from reputable sources. Your answer would be perfectly fine as a comment, but it does't pass muster as an answer. You will be able to post comments when you have earned a few reputation points. Please take the [tour] – Phil Sweet Jan 03 '18 at 06:24