Hi Little Parrot,
Below a very clear explanation I founded out on the website "wordreference".
The author is Il fuoco, senior member.
Quote :
'To help' can be followed with another verb (in the infinitive) which is the action that the subject is 'helping' to do, i.e.:
He is helping me to (optional) move.
Someone needs to help me finish this cake!
'To help [qqn] out' cannot do this; it merely means to help without this specificity of how the subject is helping, so you can say:
He helped me out of a mess back there.
We decided to help him out.
But not
He helped me out to move
Someone needs to help me out finish this cake
However, you can say:
She helped me out by driving me to the airport when my car broke down.
End quote
Posts: 54
21 April 2015