@English_lang_learners Help vs Help Out 1) I think we can | English language learners
@English_lang_learners
Help vs Help Out
1) I think we can make a start by saying that only people can help out. A dictionary can help but it can't help out.
2) 'Help' can be followed by an infinitive. 'Help out' can't. 'He helped us mend the car'.
3) 'Help out' is more likely to be used on it's own. 'They were holding a church service and they asked me if I could help out.'
4) 'Help out' is perhaps vaguer and more colloquial than 'help'.
5) 'Help out' tends to have the idea of a group of people carrying out a large task which requires a degree of organisation. I'm helping the_poet now. (Or at least I hope I am.) But I'm not helping out.
6) You can probably always replace 'help out' with 'help' - but not the other way round.
