"helps making", "helps make", "helps to make" - what is the difference?

Question

For the three sentences below:

Good horizontal spacing helps make individual statements more readable.

Good horizontal spacing helps to make individual statements more readable.

Good horizontal spacing helps making individual statements more readable.

Is one of them preferable to the others? If so, please justify. Are any of them incorrect?

Maulik V · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-17 09:33:38Z

3

According to this source:

'help' can also be followed by the infinitive without 'to' with no difference in meaning: 'I helped to carry it' = 'I helped carry it

It further says that 'help + 'ing'' is possible but then the pattern is 'can't help'.

Example follows

He can't help talking so loudly.

answered Sep 17, 2015 at 5:35

Maulik V

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+1, but I want to note that can't help is an idiom with a special meaning: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/can%27t_help
– user230
Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 10:52

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rogermue · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-17 09:50:59Z

1

The verb construction was to help to do. Nowadays to help + infinitive is felt something similar to a modal verb and to help is usually followed by a bare infinitive. http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/help_1?q=help

answered Sep 17, 2015 at 8:04

rogermue

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