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Do these two sound the same in meaning? Or are they a bit different from each other?
He helped her with her homework
He helped with her homework.
Top answer
I believe a reader would understand them to mean very nearly the same thing. Here are two thoughts, however: The first sentence, " He helped her with her homework", puts more emphasis on the interaction between the "he" and the "her" in the sentence, where the second sentence is less about the interaction of two people and more about the task that "he" does. Also, while this is a stretch, the second sentence could describe a scenario where the "her" in the sentence isn't involved in the homework at all.
- I believe a reader would understand them to mean very nearly the same thing.
- Here are two thoughts, however: The first sentence, " He helped her with her homework", puts more emphasis on the interaction between the "he" and the "her" in the sentence, where the second sentence is less about the interaction of two people and more about the task that "he" does.
- Also, while this is a stretch, the second sentence could describe a scenario where the "her" in the sentence isn't involved in the homework at all.
- She asks someone for help, goes outside, and then "he" joins in, helping this someone with her homework while not really helping her.
- ) Admittedly, this scenario is kind of a stretch, but it's a way I could think of a functional difference between the two sentences.
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I believe a reader would understand them to mean very nearly the same thing. Here are two thoughts, however:
The first sentence, "He helped her with her homework", puts more emphasis on the interaction between the "he" and the "her" in the sentence, where the second sentence is less about the interaction of two people and more about the task that "he" does.
Also, while
0To comment further on this, the first sentence means he helped her do her homework. The second sentence is unusual and would not often be heard in US English. The implication here is that his help was inappropriate because she was supposed to do the assignment on her own with no outside help.
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