According to United States Air Force officials,

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According to United States Air Force officials, a cannon shooting dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful to demonstrate what kind of damage can result when 3jets fly into a flock of large birds

(A) shooting dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful to demonstrate
(B) shooting dead chickens at airplanes has proved itself helpful as a demonstration of
(C) shooting dead chickens at airplanes proves itself helpful as demonstrating
(D) that shoots dead chickens at airplanes proves itself helpful to demonstrate
(E) that shoots dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful in demonstrating

I didn't find any error in A. Please help explain what is wrong with A. A says Shooting dead chickens( the act it self not the cannon itself has proved ...to demonstrate....) it think OA should be A ...

OA is E
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by kevincanspain » Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:05 am
The correct idiom is helpful in doing something
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by prachich1987 » Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:56 am
kevincanspain wrote:The correct idiom is helpful in doing something

Does it mean that using "helpful to" is wrong.
Is the below statement wrong?
"I was helpful to me."
I just now checked on the internet & found many references making use of "helpful to.."

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by EducationAisle » Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:53 pm
prachich1987 wrote:
Does it mean that using "helpful to" is wrong.
Is the below statement wrong?
"I was helpful to me."
I just now checked on the internet & found many references making use of "helpful to.."
Hi Prachi, the rule is that a structure of Adjective (helpful) + Preposition (in) must be followed with Gerund (demonstrating).

Example:

Sachin is proud to play for India - Not correct.

Sachin is proud of playing for India - Correct.
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by prachich1987 » Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:32 am
EducationAisle wrote:
prachich1987 wrote:
Does it mean that using "helpful to" is wrong.
Is the below statement wrong?
"I was helpful to me."
I just now checked on the internet & found many references making use of "helpful to.."
Hi Prachi, the rule is that a structure of Adjective (helpful) + Preposition (in) must be followed with Gerund (demonstrating).

Example:

Sachin is proud to play for India - Not correct.

Sachin is proud of playing for India - Correct.
Thanks Ashish
But is it wrong to say "It was helpful to me"

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by EducationAisle » Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:59 am
prachich1987 wrote: Thanks Ashish
But is it wrong to say "It was helpful to me"
Hi Prachi, I think you might be mixing two things. Your statement:

It was helpful to me

is similar to

Sachin is proud of India.

Both of the above sentences are correct.

However, the sentence under consideration is using a verb-form (demonstrate) after the adjective (helpful). The rule I mentioned above is in line with this structure.

p.s. Gerunds, by the way, are noun forms and so, your sentence that uses me (a pronoun) conforms to this rule as well.
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by tomada » Wed Dec 29, 2010 1:21 pm
I also think that "a cannon shooting..." differs in meaning from "a cannon that shoots...", but I can't explain how or why.
Maybe there's no difference in meaning, though, and I'm just wrong about it. :)
I'm really old, but I'll never be too old to become more educated.

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