Idiom - AID - The Beat The GMAT Forum - Expert GMAT Help & MBA Admissions Advice

Idiom - AID

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Uva@90: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 490; Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:30 amFollowed by: 5 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 83 times

by Uva@90 » Sat Apr 12, 2014 7:27 pm

Hi All,
What is the difference between these two sentences,

Her AID IN WALKING the dog was appreciated.
vs
HER AID TO WALK the dog was appreciated.

why is the later one wrong ?

Source: MGMAT SC 5th Edn.

Thanks in advance
Regards,
Uva

Known is a drop Unknown is an Ocean

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Apr 12, 2014 7:27 pm

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KevinRocci: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 166; Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 3:17 pmFollowed by: 21 members; Location: Berkeley, Ca; Thanked: 30 times

by KevinRocci » Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:17 am

Happy to help!

Uva@90 wrote:Hi All,
What is the difference between these two sentences,

Her AID IN WALKING the dog was appreciated.
vs
HER AID TO WALK the dog was appreciated.

why is the later one wrong ?

Source: MGMAT SC 5th Edn.

Thanks in advance
Regards,
Uva

As with most idioms, there is not hard, fast answer for why one way is better than the other. That's just the way it is!

So with the verb "aid" we always want to use "in." The most common format is:

"x aid y in something"

or

"x aid y in doing something"

For the sentence that you are looking at it follows the second format, but with a little twist since the sentence is written in the passive voice:

Her aid in walking the dog was appreciated.

In this sentence, "her" is the y. Whoever was helping out is x. But this is left out because of the passive construction of the sentence. Finally. the "doing something" is "walking the dog."

Does that make sense?

You can learn more about how to use "aid" correctly here.

I hope that helps!

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chetan86: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 72; Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:14 am; Thanked: 2 times

by chetan86 » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:31 pm

KevinRocci wrote:Happy to help!

As with most idioms, there is not hard, fast answer for why one way is better than the other. That's just the way it is!

So with the verb "aid" we always want to use "in." The most common format is:

"x aid y in something"

or

"x aid y in doing something"

For the sentence that you are looking at it follows the second format, but with a little twist since the sentence is written in the passive voice:

Her aid in walking the dog was appreciated.

In this sentence, "her" is the y. Whoever was helping out is x. But this is left out because of the passive construction of the sentence. Finally. the "doing something" is "walking the dog."

Does that make sense?

You can learn more about how to use "aid" correctly here.

I hope that helps!

Hi Kevin,

Is there any rule in GMAT SC that use of 'aid to' will always be wrong?
Please confirm.

Regards,
Chetan

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chetan86: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 72; Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:14 am; Thanked: 2 times

by chetan86 » Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:40 pm

chetan86 wrote:
Hi Kevin,

Is there any rule in GMAT SC that use of 'aid to' will always be wrong?
Please confirm.

Regards,
Chetan

Hello Experts,

Can you please put your thoughts on my above question?

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ilyana: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 77; Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:32 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Location: Orange, TX; Thanked: 66 times; GMAT Score:760

by ilyana » Thu May 01, 2014 1:42 am

Hello!

"AID TO" is not an idiom.
The idiom with the word "aid" I usually use is:
To aid somebody/something [in/with (doing) something]

I found this idiom in Longman Dictionary and it came in handy in problem 28 (OG VR2) "Eating saltwater fish may significantly reduce".

Links to dictionary entries:
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/aid_1
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/aid_2

However, I believe it is possible to write a sentence in which "aid" comes right before "to", both as parts of different constructions:

Residents aided the police [in gathering information -- omitted] to prevent further crimes.

But I don't think such sentences will be present on the GMAT.

Please click on "Thank" button if you think my post is helpful.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyana-anderson-481846127/

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