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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Forms of verb after "help"

Hello everyone,

I came across these few example sentances:



  1. Can you clean the room?



  2. Can you help clean the room?



  3. Can you help to clean the room?



  4. Can you help cleaning the room?



  5. I want you (to) clean the room.

  6. I want you (to) help clean the room.



  7. I want you (to) help to clean the room.



  8. I want you (to) help cleaning the room.
Which of these are correct and among 1-4 and 5-8, which of these have subtle difference in meaning?

I had these question because I though "help to (verb)" is equivalent to "help (verb)" (i.e. 3, 4, 7, 8 are correct).

But I was also told by a teacher that the verb after help must be in present tense, hence "help (verb)" is correct (only 2, 5 are correct), not the others

Please help, thank you very much!
  

Top answer

Hi, Both help to + v and help + v are correct! But help + v is more often used.

— 0915reg

  • Hi, Both help to + v and help + v are correct!
  • But help + v is more often used.
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4 Answers
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Hi,

Both help to + v and help + v are correct!

But help + v is more often used.
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Help and want are catenative verbs. You can read about them in the LINK
#1 is correct. You are asking someone to clean the room.

Help can be followed by the bare infinitive (it's not the present tense, because it does not change in 3rd person singular) or the infinitive.
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    1. Can you clean the room?

    2. Can you help clean the room?

    3. Can you help to clean the room?

    4. Can you help cleaning the room?

    5. I want you (to) to clean the room.
    6. I want you (to) to help clean the room.

    7. I want you (to) to help to clean the room.
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    Thank you very much guys/gals!

    I am really grateful for your helps

    Especially the link to wiki, where I can learn much more from there.
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