[Grammar] Doees 'help' take an gerund as an object?

[wotcha22]

I know that help can be followed either to or bare infinitive.

What I'm wondering now is that whether it can take an gerund as an object.

1) I hope to succeed.

2) I hope succeed.

3) I hope succeeding.

Is sentence 2 grammatical? I actually saw an example of help taking and gerund object
like the below. I also want to know if 4 is grammatical.

4) It helped being able to talk about it.

And what about

5) It helped to be able to talk about it. ?


Thank you.

 

[Tdol]

2 & 3 don't work for me. I'd reverse the order of 4- Being able to talk about it helped. 5 is fine.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello, wotcha.:-D

In #4 and #5, the pronoun 'it' is a preparatory subject. (Please see definition #5 here.)
The real subjects of these sentences are 'being able to talk about it' and 'to be able to talk about it':

4)= Being able to talk about it helped.
5)= To be able to talk about it helped.

Please note that they are not the objects of the verb 'helped'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"Being able to talk about it helped solving the problem."
"Solving the problem" is the object of "helped", correct?

 

[Raymott]

Your first lot of sentences are wrong.
But we do say things like, "It helped talking about it" whether they are grammatical or not. "It really helped just talking about it".
That's not an object; it's an explanation of what "It" is. It means what all of the above answers say. But in reality we don't change the word order in speech. It's a bit like "She's a nice girl, Mary" instead of "Mary is a nice girl".
I wouldn't write anything like that in exams.

 

[tzfujimino]

"Being able to talk about it helped solving the problem."
"Solving the problem" is the object of "helped", correct?

Hello, Matthew.:-D

I think your sentence should be:

"Being able to talk about it helped to solve the problem."

The '-ing form' ('solving...') doesn't work, in my opinion.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Do you mean "something helps + -ing form something" doesn't work?

 

[tzfujimino]

Do you mean "something helps + -ing form something" doesn't work?

Hello, Matthew.:-D

Well, not really.
I think it depends on the meaning of the verb 'help' whether it's followed by a to-infinitive (bare infinitive) or a gerund.
As far as I know, the verb "help" takes a gerund (as an object) when it is used in the sense of 'preventing/avoiding something', as in:

I can't help falling in love with you. (Not I can't help [STRIKE]to fall[/STRIKE] in love with you.)

For your reference: http://www.englishforums.com/English/HelpGerund/zwnzc/post.htm

I hope my response will be of some help to you.:-D

 

[wotcha22]

Do you mean "something helps + -ing form something" doesn't work?

Yes!

 

[Matthew Wai]

the verb "help" takes a gerund (as an object) when it is used in the sense of 'preventing/avoiding something'

If it is correct to say "helps preventing/avoiding something", why is it incorrect to say "helped solving the problem"?

 

[Raymott]

If it is correct to say "helps preventing/avoiding something", why is it incorrect to say "helped solving the problem"?

I can't help thinking you should read that post again. Tzfujimino didn't say "help preventing/avoiding". He said 'help' in the sense of 'preventing/ avoiding' - as in "I can't avoid (or prevent myself from) thinking that you should read the post again."

 

[MikeNewYork]

I can't help thinking that Raymott is correct.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Many "helps preventing"s can be found by Google, are they wrong?

 

[emsr2d2]

Millions of things found on Google are wrong.

 

[Raymott]

Many "helps preventing"s can be found by Google, are they wrong?

I guess you realise that every time you write "helps preventing", Google archives that, and presents it back again if you look for it?
Every time someone writes, "I know 'helps preventing' is wrong, but ...", Google adds another 'helps preventing'.
This post alone will have added four more examples for Google, and it doesn't get any more correct with repetition.

PS: Did you check any of those examples; Several on the first page are from Hong Kong, some from India, one in an academic paper by
Astrid Spjeldnæs and Bjørn Blomberg (non-native English users, no doubt)... This isn't standard English.
The only page that looks like it was written by an educated native speaker reads: "When Medicine Hurts Instead of Helps: Preventing Medication Problems in Older Persons"

 

[MikeNewYork]

"Helps in preventing" is more natural and more common.