In human hearing, subtle differences

[nonameee]

Could some of our experts comment on this: help to do smth VS help do smth?

Help to do something would be someone giving you all the tools to complete a task but not working with you to complete it; while help doing something is a person working with you to complete a task hope this helped.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 845AAkO09E

Can this be applied to our case?

[RonPurewal]

Can this be applied to our case?

haha, yahoo answers -- possibly the least authoritative source on the entire internet.

if you try to apply this "rule" here, then you'll eliminate the correct answer (because the differences in sound "provide the necessary tools", but clearly don't actually do the job of hearing). so, no.

i don't think there's a meaningful distinction between "help PERSON VERB" and "help PERSON to VERB"; i think they're pretty much identical.
the latter one, though, could be helpful in longer sentences -- which may be unreadable without the extra "to".
here's an example:
last night i helped my daughter, who had stayed up until 3am for the previous four nights, to finish her science project.
try writing this sentence without the "to" -- it basically becomes unreadable.
in shorter sentences, on the other hand, the shorter version (the one without the extra "to") is more elegant.

[nonameee]

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[sontungdt7]

Hi,

I just want to add a point that "help X in determining" is wrong idiom, so that we can eliminate B,D,&E. Is it correct?

Thank you.

[jlucero]

Hi,

I just want to add a point that "help X in determining" is wrong idiom, so that we can eliminate B,D,&E. Is it correct?

Thank you.

In this case, yes, but there are times when using "in" would be acceptable:

We need to help him in math.

Personally, I hate looking for idioms as a first or even second issue in SC, because we all end up spending way too long thinking about instances when phrases work vs when they won't work. But a squiggle next to B,D,&E, to show you don't like them, but look for other, more important issues first.

[Crisc419]

Stacey, I am not sure how two ears is one thing? the difference between two twins is the height. --Is this wrong?

or do we say --Difference in two twins is their height.?

I am kind of confused please suggest.

re: your question above: you would say 'the difference between the two twins', because the two twins are two different people (as stacey points out above). more to the point, if you were actually differentiating between the ears themselves, you would indeed say: 'the difference between the two ears is...'

however, in this problem, you are not talking about the difference between the two ears; you're talking about the differences in one action - the same action - that's being performed by each of the two ears. therefore, you say 'the difference in the way the two ears perform this function.'

more illustrations:
the differences between the two twins are displayed in stark relief when they argue with each other.
the differences in the way the two twins play the violin are displayed in stark relief when they play duets together.

make sense?

God, this post is so old. I am so sorry to bump it up.

I could not get the point that "how the two ears hear a given sound" is the same thing.

the differences between :

how the left ear hear a given sound
how the right ear hear a given sound

In my mind, these are two things, although i know i am wrong.

confused so much. need your help.

Many thanks.

Cris

[RonPurewal]

there's no need to over-think this.

the word "between" has to be followed by two things—either "X and Y" or a PLURAL noun. anything else is clearly an incorrect (nonsense) usage.
that's enough to kill the last 2 choices.

choice C has a subject and verb that don't agree, and choice B mistakenly suggests that there's a difference in ears (instead of a difference in perception).

__

remember—you should NEVER have to think about subtleties in SC. if you are considering subtle aspects of something, you are almost certainly missing something else that's far more black-and-white.

[Crisc419]

there's no need to over-think this.

the word "between" has to be followed by two things—either "X and Y" or a PLURAL noun. anything else is clearly an incorrect (nonsense) usage.
that's enough to kill the last 2 choices.

choice C has a subject and verb that don't agree, and choice B mistakenly suggests that there's a difference in ears (instead of a difference in perception).

__

remember—you should NEVER have to think about subtleties in SC. if you are considering subtle aspects of something, you are almost certainly missing something else that's far more black-and-white.

I can remember this usage. Thanks for your patience.

[RonPurewal]

no problem.

[AnkurA374]

Stacey, I am not sure how two ears is one thing? the difference between two twins is the height. --Is this wrong?

or do we say --Difference in two twins is their height.?

I am kind of confused please suggest.

re: your question above: you would say 'the difference between the two twins', because the two twins are two different people (as stacey points out above). more to the point, if you were actually differentiating between the ears themselves, you would indeed say: 'the difference between the two ears is...'

however, in this problem, you are not talking about the difference between the two ears; you're talking about the differences in one action - the same action - that's being performed by each of the two ears. therefore, you say 'the difference in the way the two ears perform this function.'

more illustrations:
the differences between the two twins are displayed in stark relief when they argue with each other.
the differences in the way the two twins play the violin are displayed in stark relief when they play duets together.

make sense?

Ron, you are GOD!

[RonPurewal]

...hm?