assist (in/with) sth | WordReference Forums

That suggests that they are reluctant witnesses. Your original "We need more people to assist the investigation" would work in the same way - we ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. assist(in/with)sth Threadstarter newname Startdate Jul6,2018 N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Hi, Weneedmorepeopletoassisttheinvestigation. Iwonderifitiscorrecttosay, WeneedmorepeopletoassistWITH/INtheinvestigation. Andifitis,isthereanydifferenceinmeaning? Thankyou.   elroy Imperfectmod Chicago,IL USEnglish,PalestinianArabicbilingual Both“with”and“in”areokay,andmeanthesamething. Theversionwithoutaprepositionisincorrect.   N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Thankyou.ButIfoundthisexamplefrommacmillandictionary.com:Theyfinallyagreedtoassisttheinvestigation.Perhapsit’saBE/AEdifference?   Andygc SeniorMember Devon BritishEnglish Iseenothingwrongwith"Theyfinallyagreedtoassisttheinvestigation".Thatsuggeststhattheyarereluctantwitnesses.Youroriginal"Weneedmorepeopletoassisttheinvestigation"wouldworkinthesameway-weneedmorewitnesses.Your"Weneedmorepeopletoassistintheinvestigation"suggeststhatyouneedmoreinvestigators. Usageisinfluencedbycontext.   N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Thankyouverymuch.Howaboutthis: HeadmotionneedstocoordinatewitheyemovementtoassistINbalance. Headmotionneedstocoordinatewitheyemovementtoassistbalance.   Andygc SeniorMember Devon BritishEnglish Thefirstone-headmotionandeyemovementworktogetherasmechanismsassistingotherfunctionsthatmaintainbalance. Awalkingstickassistsbalance.   N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Thankyou.Still,Ican'tseethedifferencebetweenassistsomethingandassistwith/insomething.ImustconfessIcan'tseetheNuanceinyourexampleandexplanation.   PaulQ SeniorMember UK English-England InEnglish,contextisabsolutelyessentialtounderstanding. Theverb“toinvestigate”givesrisetothreesubstantives: 1.Thegerund–investigating 2.Theverbalnoun“theinvestigating[ofsomething]” 3.Thedeverbalednoun“investigation”. Allthreecanbeusedtoindicateeitherthegeneralideaof“seekingasolutiontosomething”or“aspecificpoliceoperationinvolvingonlypoliceofficers.” “In”canmean“within”or“during”or“inthecourseof” “With”canmean“attachedto[something/anorganisation]”or“inconjunctionwith,butindependentof[anaction]” Thisgivesatheoretical12or18meaningstothesentence,someofwhichoverlap,andthisisbeforeweomit“in”/”with”.Whenthisisdone“theinvestigation"canbeeitheranobjectoracomplement. Thedifferencesliesin 1whether“people”in“Weneedmorepeopletoassist[WITH/IN]theinvestigation”means“membersofthepublic”or“policeofficers”. 2.whether“toassist[WITH/IN]theinvestigation”means“toassistthepolice/us][WITH/IN]theinvestigation”ornot And 3.whatlevelofassistanceisimpliedby“assist”–anactiveorapassiveinvolvement.   N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Thankyou. IjustlookeditupinmyphysicalCambridgeadvancedlearner'sdictionary.Theuseis"assist(somebody)in/withsomething/doingsomething. Clearly,in/withispartoftheverbassistasin"lookat".Atdoesn'tmeananythinghere. Backtoassist.Asyoucansee,iftheobjectisathing,assistrequiresin/with.SoifIgobymydictionary,Imustwrite,awalkingstickassistswithbalance. SomeonlinedictionariesandAndywrite,assistbalance.I'mconfused.   Andygc SeniorMember Devon BritishEnglish Moreinvestigatorsdoinvestigating.Theyareactors.Witnessesanswerquestions.Theyarenotdoingtheinvestigating.Headmotionandeyemovementworkingtogetherplayanactivepartinmaintainingbalance.Awalkingstickofitselfdoesnothing.Itisthehandthatusesthestickthatplaysanactivepartinmaintainingbalance.Awalkingstickcanassistbalance.Usingawalkingstickassistsinorwithbalance. Youcansay"Awalkingstickassistswithbalance".Ifyoudothesentenceimpliesthatyoumean"Usingawalkingstick...".Iwasansweringyourquestionabouthow"assists"canbeusedwithoutapreposition. newnamesaid: Theyfinallyagreedtoassisttheinvestigation. Clicktoexpand... If"They"arewitnessesit'sperfectlygoodEnglish.If"They"aredetectivesorforensicscientistsit'snot.   PaulQ SeniorMember UK English-England Toassisttakestwoobjects: Itassistsmewithbalance.Theobjectis"me";balanceisanuncountablenoun-agenerality;withbalanceisanadverbialphrasequalifying"assists". Itassistsbalance=Itassiststheactionofbalancing.   lingobingo SeniorMember London English-England Somewordscanbeadirectobjectofassist,butotherscan’t.Theseareallvalidexamples: Allowingprisonersfamilyaccessisintendedtoassisttheprocessofrehabilitation. Thiswillassistattemptstoestablishthecauseoftheproblem. Apatientinrespiratorydistresswillalsousepositioningtoassistbreathing.​   N newname SeniorMember Vietnamese Thankyouall,andmyspecialthankstoAndygc. Ialwaysthoughtassistcouldtakeadirectorindirectobjectwithoutchangeinmeaning.IthinkI'vegotit. 1.WhenSubjectassistsobject,Subjectdoesn'tplaythemainpart. 2.WhenSubjectassistsin/withobject,Subjectdoesplaythemainpart. Insomecontextsbothassistwith/inobjectandassistobjectmakegoodsense,butwithdifferentmeanings.Inothers,onlyoneoptioncanbechosen. 3.Awalkingstickassistswithbalance.(wrong).Itdoesn'tdothebalancing.Ithelpsthehandtodothebalancing.Soitassistsbalance.(right) 4.Allowingprisonersfamilyaccessisintendedtoassisttheprocessofrehabilitation.=Theactionofallowingprovidessomehelp/makesiteasyforpeopletorehabilitate. 5.AllowingprisonersfamilyaccessisintendedtoassistINtheprocessofrehabilitation.=Allowingprisonerstoseetheirfamilieswillrehabilitatebadpeople.Someotherfactorscanhelp. Whatdoyouthinkofmy#4and#5explanations?   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top