“Assist someone do” vs. “assist someone to do (or ”in/with“ doing)”To “to” or Not To “to”“to help other people to choose” vs. “to help other people choose” - is the former correct?Is it “to play a game on someone” or “play games with someone”?When to choose “with doing this” or “by doing this”?“A food is fed (to) someone or something” vs. “Someone or something is fed on (or with) a food”“Associate with [someone]” for “socialize with [someone]” in colloquial AEWhy “like doing something” or “like to do something” but only “dislike doing something”?Remember myself doing somethingIs it correct to say “We will provide you with the best consultation and assist you filling out…”Hit someone with both *BARRELS"Term for being unable to see glaring errors after working for some time on a task?Link sentence with “By doing”

If Earth is tilted, why is Polaris always above the same spot?

What is the limiting factor for a CAN bus to exceed 1Mbps bandwidth?

Applying a function to a nested list

I’ve officially counted to infinity!

Does the Darkness spell dispel the Color Spray and Flaming Sphere spells?

Is it always OK to ask for a copy of the lecturer's slides?

Packet sniffer for MacOS Mojave and above

What happens if I start too many background jobs?

A Warm Riley Riddle

Floor tile layout process?

Stark VS Thanos

Why is the SNP putting so much emphasis on currency plans?

If Melisandre foresaw another character closing blue eyes, why did she follow Stannis?

Why do money exchangers give different rates to different bills

Accidentally deleted the "/usr/share" folder

Is Cola "probably the best-known" Latin word in the world? If not, which might it be?

My ID is expired, can I fly to the Bahamas with my passport

Junior developer struggles: how to communicate with management?

When and why did journal article titles become descriptive, rather than creatively allusive?

Hang 20lb projector screen on Hardieplank

How did Arya manage to disguise herself?

How did Arya get back her dagger from Sansa?

How to assert on pagereference where the endpoint of pagereference is predefined

Visa for volunteering in England



“Assist someone do” vs. “assist someone to do (or ”in/with“ doing)”


To “to” or Not To “to”“to help other people to choose” vs. “to help other people choose” - is the former correct?Is it “to play a game on someone” or “play games with someone”?When to choose “with doing this” or “by doing this”?“A food is fed (to) someone or something” vs. “Someone or something is fed on (or with) a food”“Associate with [someone]” for “socialize with [someone]” in colloquial AEWhy “like doing something” or “like to do something” but only “dislike doing something”?Remember myself doing somethingIs it correct to say “We will provide you with the best consultation and assist you filling out…”Hit someone with both *BARRELS"Term for being unable to see glaring errors after working for some time on a task?Link sentence with “By doing”






.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;








1















I just recently came across "assist someone do" searching Google for examples to my previous question, and would like to check with you whether it is an acceptable option to "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)", or a snapshot of language in transition -- analogous with "help someone do" -- that I caught here.



Please consider the following examples for this:




NAFDAC is to assist you do your business right.source



Our company will assist you do your assignments...source



(Go down to bottom of page and look up "Transtec Inc.,
Robert Rasmussen PE") We are a specialty engineering company with award-winning expertise in pavements and pavement materials. We can assist you do your job better.source











share|improve this question



















  • 1





    Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

    – John Lawler
    Mar 4 '14 at 20:33


















1















I just recently came across "assist someone do" searching Google for examples to my previous question, and would like to check with you whether it is an acceptable option to "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)", or a snapshot of language in transition -- analogous with "help someone do" -- that I caught here.



Please consider the following examples for this:




NAFDAC is to assist you do your business right.source



Our company will assist you do your assignments...source



(Go down to bottom of page and look up "Transtec Inc.,
Robert Rasmussen PE") We are a specialty engineering company with award-winning expertise in pavements and pavement materials. We can assist you do your job better.source











share|improve this question



















  • 1





    Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

    – John Lawler
    Mar 4 '14 at 20:33














1












1








1


2






I just recently came across "assist someone do" searching Google for examples to my previous question, and would like to check with you whether it is an acceptable option to "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)", or a snapshot of language in transition -- analogous with "help someone do" -- that I caught here.



Please consider the following examples for this:




NAFDAC is to assist you do your business right.source



Our company will assist you do your assignments...source



(Go down to bottom of page and look up "Transtec Inc.,
Robert Rasmussen PE") We are a specialty engineering company with award-winning expertise in pavements and pavement materials. We can assist you do your job better.source











share|improve this question
















I just recently came across "assist someone do" searching Google for examples to my previous question, and would like to check with you whether it is an acceptable option to "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)", or a snapshot of language in transition -- analogous with "help someone do" -- that I caught here.



Please consider the following examples for this:




NAFDAC is to assist you do your business right.source



Our company will assist you do your assignments...source



(Go down to bottom of page and look up "Transtec Inc.,
Robert Rasmussen PE") We are a specialty engineering company with award-winning expertise in pavements and pavement materials. We can assist you do your job better.source








grammar idioms usage malapropism






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 4 '14 at 20:57







Elian

















asked Mar 4 '14 at 20:16









ElianElian

38.9k21106217




38.9k21106217







  • 1





    Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

    – John Lawler
    Mar 4 '14 at 20:33













  • 1





    Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

    – John Lawler
    Mar 4 '14 at 20:33








1




1





Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

– John Lawler
Mar 4 '14 at 20:33






Normally assist takes an infinitive with to in the B configuration; omitting it is not correct. This may be an analogy with help, which does allow optional to-deletion in the B configuration. This came up in a recent question.

– John Lawler
Mar 4 '14 at 20:33











2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















2














The correct form, as you point out, is 'to assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"'.



Quote 1 is from an ESL source, and could be interpreted as 'here to insist you do' or 'here to help you [to] do'.



Quote 2 is ungrammatical. It should be 'assist you in/with doing'.



I couldn't locate quote 3, but comment is as per quote 2.



(Amended and updated based on comment below)






share|improve this answer
































    3














    According to Longman dictionary, we should not use "assist sb to do sth" or "assist to". Instead we can use assist SB in doing sth/assist sb with doing sth.






    share|improve this answer























    • Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

      – MB Editing
      Apr 24 at 9:53












    • Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

      – Peter Shor
      Apr 24 at 12:53












    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function()
    var channelOptions =
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "97"
    ;
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
    createEditor();
    );

    else
    createEditor();

    );

    function createEditor()
    StackExchange.prepareEditor(
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader:
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    ,
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    );



    );













    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function ()
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f155436%2fassist-someone-do-vs-assist-someone-to-do-or-in-with-doing%23new-answer', 'question_page');

    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    2














    The correct form, as you point out, is 'to assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"'.



    Quote 1 is from an ESL source, and could be interpreted as 'here to insist you do' or 'here to help you [to] do'.



    Quote 2 is ungrammatical. It should be 'assist you in/with doing'.



    I couldn't locate quote 3, but comment is as per quote 2.



    (Amended and updated based on comment below)






    share|improve this answer





























      2














      The correct form, as you point out, is 'to assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"'.



      Quote 1 is from an ESL source, and could be interpreted as 'here to insist you do' or 'here to help you [to] do'.



      Quote 2 is ungrammatical. It should be 'assist you in/with doing'.



      I couldn't locate quote 3, but comment is as per quote 2.



      (Amended and updated based on comment below)






      share|improve this answer



























        2












        2








        2







        The correct form, as you point out, is 'to assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"'.



        Quote 1 is from an ESL source, and could be interpreted as 'here to insist you do' or 'here to help you [to] do'.



        Quote 2 is ungrammatical. It should be 'assist you in/with doing'.



        I couldn't locate quote 3, but comment is as per quote 2.



        (Amended and updated based on comment below)






        share|improve this answer















        The correct form, as you point out, is 'to assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"'.



        Quote 1 is from an ESL source, and could be interpreted as 'here to insist you do' or 'here to help you [to] do'.



        Quote 2 is ungrammatical. It should be 'assist you in/with doing'.



        I couldn't locate quote 3, but comment is as per quote 2.



        (Amended and updated based on comment below)







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Mar 28 at 12:04

























        answered Mar 4 '14 at 20:36









        Leon ConradLeon Conrad

        3,40121124




        3,40121124























            3














            According to Longman dictionary, we should not use "assist sb to do sth" or "assist to". Instead we can use assist SB in doing sth/assist sb with doing sth.






            share|improve this answer























            • Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

              – MB Editing
              Apr 24 at 9:53












            • Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

              – Peter Shor
              Apr 24 at 12:53
















            3














            According to Longman dictionary, we should not use "assist sb to do sth" or "assist to". Instead we can use assist SB in doing sth/assist sb with doing sth.






            share|improve this answer























            • Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

              – MB Editing
              Apr 24 at 9:53












            • Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

              – Peter Shor
              Apr 24 at 12:53














            3












            3








            3







            According to Longman dictionary, we should not use "assist sb to do sth" or "assist to". Instead we can use assist SB in doing sth/assist sb with doing sth.






            share|improve this answer













            According to Longman dictionary, we should not use "assist sb to do sth" or "assist to". Instead we can use assist SB in doing sth/assist sb with doing sth.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered Oct 15 '14 at 7:42









            ZahraZahra

            392




            392












            • Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

              – MB Editing
              Apr 24 at 9:53












            • Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

              – Peter Shor
              Apr 24 at 12:53


















            • Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

              – MB Editing
              Apr 24 at 9:53












            • Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

              – Peter Shor
              Apr 24 at 12:53

















            Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

            – MB Editing
            Apr 24 at 9:53






            Actually, Longman says you can use both: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/assist "1 [intransitive, transitive] to help someone to do something assist (somebody) with/in something You will be employed to assist in the development of new equipment. assist somebody to do something We want to assist people to stay in their own homes." Having said that, for US English, [Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989)](books.google.co.ke/…

            – MB Editing
            Apr 24 at 9:53














            Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

            – Peter Shor
            Apr 24 at 12:53






            Actually, today Longman says assist somebody in/with doing and assist somebody to do are both fine. I suspect they changed their definition after you posted your answer.

            – Peter Shor
            Apr 24 at 12:53


















            draft saved

            draft discarded
















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid …


            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f155436%2fassist-someone-do-vs-assist-someone-to-do-or-in-with-doing%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Bruad Bilen | Luke uk diar | NawigatsjuunCommonskategorii: BruadCommonskategorii: RunstükenWikiquote: Bruad

            Modern approach to radio buttons

            A word for worn pool table felt