Random thoughts on assist in or assist with?

A questioner at the language forum 'Pain in the English' asked, which is correct?

• Assists attorney in drafting documentation.
• Assists attorney with drafting documentation.

The few people that commented seemed to agree that the first was correct, and there was one suggestion that 'assist in' is followed by a verb, whereas 'assist with' is followed by a noun.

Both in and with are prepositions, so the only verb form that can follow either of them is a gerund, which is in fact a verbal noun, and there doesn't seem to be any grammatical reason that I can think of why a gerund can't follow 'assist with', nor any reason why a standard noun can't follow 'assist in'. But perhaps there's an idiomatic one.

Is it a preposition? Is it a conjunction? Or is it an adverb?

Exploring grammar - telling the difference between prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs by looking at them in context.

We all know that in, on and from are prepositions.

Most of us know that and, but and because are conjunctions.

And I'm sure you all know that well, carefully and unfortunately are adverbs.

But what about words like after, since and until? Do these exercises to find out.

Is 'it' a preposition?

Quite a lot of people are finding this page by googling, "Is 'it' a preposition?". For them, ' it' is a pronoun, so we won't be dealing with it in this post but you can read all about ' it' here.

Song exercise - Don't you want me - Human League

After the exercises there are some notes on the distinguishing features of prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs. I also take a look at phrasal verbs and their particles.

Confusing words - care for, care about, take care of

Students of English can get a little confused with expressions based on the word care such as:
care for, care about and take care of.

Do these exercises / quizzes to help you sort out the differences. (If you get really stuck the answers are at the end.)

Compare with or compare to

In a recent post, I said I was surprised '... that somebody would want to compare language to maths.' Looking back at that sentence later, I thought, 'Hang on. Don't we usually compare something with something, not to something?' But then I remembered Shakespeare's 'Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?' and the Sinead O'Connor hit 'Nothing compares 2 U' (to you); so I reckoned I was in good company. But what exactly are the rules as to when to use 'with' and when to use 'to'?

Basic rules and a quiz

Full verb - compare with

We use compare with when we examine two things to see what their similarities or differences are:

• The police compared the signature on the stolen credit card with that of the original owner.
• So, let's compare Sinead O'Connor's version with Prince's. How do they stack up?

We also use compare with when we might use a comparative structure:

• Her last album doesn't compare with her previous one. (It's not as good as)
• When we compare our new house with our old one, this one has much more space. (It's bigger)

Full verb - compare to

We use compare to when we find a similarity between two things, even though they might really be quite different from each other. This is often metaphorical:

• The critics compared his work to that of Martin Amis.
  (Oxford)
• Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer.
  (American Heritage Dictionary)

We could often use the word like in these circumstances. To paraphrase Shakespeare and O'Connor:

• Shall I say you are like a Summer's day?
• There is nothing (else) like you.

In gerund and present participle clauses

The same distinction would seem to apply as with full verbs, as these two examples from The Guardian show:

• Why do critics insist on comparing one artist with another?
  = making a comparison between one artist and another
• Wild claims comparing YouTube to TV misunderstand what TV is and the reasons why people watch it
  = saying YouTube is like TV

In past participle clauses - usually interchangeable

Compared with and compared to are often interchangeable, for example when we are making a general comparison, especially in participle clauses:

• This road is quite busy compared with/to yours
  (Cambridge Online Dictionary)
• Standards in health care have improved enormously compared with/to 40 years ago
  (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
• Compared with/to our old house, this one has more space.

Summary

As a general rule then, it's probably safer to use compare with, except where you are pointing out the similarity of something to something else, where you could use a construction with like instead of compare. Then use compare to.

Quiz - In each group of three sentences, one definitely takes 'to', one definitely takes 'with', and the third can take either (in my judgement). Use the selectors to choose which takes what.

1a.	Your garden is so beautiful compared withtoto/with mine.
1b.	There are far more flowers in it, and it's much better designed, when you compare it withtoto/with mine.
1c.	I hear the local newspaper has compared it withtoto/with the famous garden at Sissinghurst.
2a.	Some people have compared the 2008 crisis withtoto/with the Great Depression of the thirties.
2b.	But if we compare now withtoto/with then, unemployment and inflation have been much lower.
2c.	And the world economic system is very different, compared withtoto/with then.
3a.	The snow has come early this year, compared withtoto/with last year.
3b.	The newspapers are already comparing it withtoto/with that really cold winter of 2005.
3c.	But we don't have enough statistics to compare it withtoto/with 2005 yet. It's only November.
4a.	Jenny is very successful, compared withtoto/with her brother.
4b.	Yes. Compared withtoto/with him, she has a lot more money and a much better job.
4c.	Mum compares her withtoto/with her aunt Susan, you know, the one who started her own business and became a millionaire.

Answers

References

• Common Errors Prof Paul Bryans at WSU
• Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
• Cambridge Online
• Free Dictionary with quotation from American Heritage Dictionary
• Gmat Grammar blog