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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007Is there 'to' after the word 'help'?
Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For example, I make him do something and I help him do something. These days, I see people frequently use 'to' after the word 'help' in 'I help my friends to do something'. The persons who use 'to' after the word 'help' have ph.d degrees in English. I would like to be enlightened. Tks > Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the > word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Tks My own feeling is that "help me do something" is perhaps slightly more 'relaxed' or informal than "help me *to* do something', and therefore more often used in conversation. People who have Ph.D degrees in English tend to use more formal constructions. They can't help it. fyfpoon@gmail.com filted: >Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the >word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >I would like to be enlightened. Both are acceptable, but there are slightly different shades of meaning: "I will help you to spend your money" = "I will offer advice on how you can get the best bargains" vs "I will help you spend your money" = "I will get you to buy things for me where you might otherwise have bought things for yourself" ....r  Signature"Keep your eye on the Bishop. I want to know when he makes his move", said the Inspector, obliquely. > Both are acceptable, but there are slightly different shades of meaning: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > "I will get you to buy things for me where you might otherwise have bought > things for yourself" Are you sure about this? Aren't they interchangeable? "Big Jack helped me get the wardrobe upstairs" "Big Jack helped me to get the wardrobe upstairs" I'd interpret these like your first example. "My uncle made a fortune in the wet fish business, and a 23 year old Ukrainian girl helped him to spend it" "My uncle made a fortune in the wet fish business, and a 23 year old Ukrainian girl helped him spend it" I would interpret these like your second example. > Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the > word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Tks Both are widely used, although the form without "to" is more common. I would consider both of them perfectly correct, and neither better than the other. I doubt that this has anything to do with the educational level of the speaker. If anything, the form with "to" seems to be used more often by British writers than by American writers, although the form without "to" is more common in both varieties. The rule you learned sounds a lot like one of those "rules" that language learners are taught so that they use the more common usage. It does not mean that the other alternative is wrong. I have to disagree with "R H Draney" about there being a difference in meaning. I certainly don't feel any difference in meaning, nor have I ever noticed anyone making that sort of distinction in the past. I'm not convinced that many native speakers would. Dominic Bojarski Dominic Bojarski ha escrito: > > Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the > > word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Dominic Bojarski Help. Assist. Help seldom gets "to." Assist often gets "to." The only difference I see: help is Germanic, assist is Romantic. Can anyone think of other pairs like this? Cece > Dominic Bojarski ha escrito: > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > Cece Sorry, Cece, you're way off here. Help quite often gets "to". It is not at all an uncommon usage, nor is it in any way substandard. Assist has nothing to do with it. Dominic Bojarski > Dominic Bojarski ha escrito: > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Help. Assist. Help seldom gets "to." In my unresearched opinion, "help" quite commonly gets "to". But I'd say "to" is dropped more often than not, particularly in informal speech. > Assist often gets "to" In the construction discussed here, "assist" always gets "to", as with most verbs. Note that I'm only talking about this particular construction, not alternatives like "assist him in V-ing". SignaturePosted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com > Years ago when i was studying English in a English high school, the > word 'help' is like the word 'make' and is not followed by 'to'. For [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > I would like to be enlightened. As far as I know, "help" is unique among verbs in that a following "to" is optional if a verb follows it. In other words, "help V" and "help to V" are both acceptable. I'd love to know whether there are other such verbs. SignaturePosted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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