You can force a class to be strictly an inheritable class by using the "abstract" keyword. When you define a class with abstract, any attempt to instantiate a separate instance of it will result in a fatal error. This is useful for situations like a base class where it would be inherited by multiple child classes yet you want to restrict the ability to instantiate it by itself.
Example........
<?php
abstract class Cheese
{
//can ONLY be inherited by another class
}
class Cheddar extends Cheese
{
}
$dinner = new Cheese; //fatal error
$lunch = new Cheddar; //works!
?>