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The following question is taken from First for Schools Trainer 2 with Answers published by Cambridge English and Cambridge University Press.

The task below is copied verbatim

Test 4 Reading and Use of English • Part 4

For questions 25-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given.

25 Without all your help, I wouldn't have been able to skate.
      HELPED
      I wouldn't have been able to skate if............... so much

My answer was

I wouldn't have been able to skate if YOU HADN'T HELPED ME so much.

The correct answer at the back of the book was

YOU HADN'T / HAD NOT HELPED

I believe my answer, and that of the student whom I was helping to prepare, is correct. Even though the verb help can be transitive or intransitive, I retain that it is absolutely necessary to include the object pronoun “me".

  1. Is the book's answer also correct?

  2. Can someone please provide a detailed answer as to why the pronoun “me" can or must not be ellipsed?

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    In this case it's optional. Certainly including it is not a mistake, but neither is leaving it out.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Jul 25, 2022 at 18:47
  • @JohnLawler Oh! It's optional. I would have sworn "me" had to be included.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jul 25, 2022 at 18:52
  • 3
    Help is one of those verbs that is often used intransitively, to mean in this case 'give assistance', without specifying what assistance or where it was given. Often it's taken to mean 'helps me', in context -- My sister helps a lot when she gets back from school.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Jul 25, 2022 at 18:55
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jul 25, 2022 at 19:22

1 Answer 1

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It is not necessary to include "me". I'd give a slight edge to the version without "me" since in the original it's not clear who received the help. Because the instructions say the new sentence needs to have a "similar meaning" I'm not sure we can say that "you hadn't helped me" is wrong, however.

Because the help led to the speaker being able to skate, it's a fair assumption to think that the speaker was helped. But maybe the helper made sure the only local ice rink was able to stay open despite a close call with bankruptcy, and the helper doesn't even know the speaker. In that contrived scenario, the speaker can't say "if you hadn't helped me" because they didn't directly receive any help.

Here's a similar example from a book:

She says, “If you hadn't helped, I'm sure that at least one officer would have died. Why don't you want the credit for saving everyone?”
— Innocence Ends in the Forest

This doesn't have an object, like the correct answer given in your book. It's also an interesting example because it really isn't clear who received the help: The speaker? The officers? "Everyone" who would have died? Any one of those would make sense (without seeing the rest of the context). I'm sure whoever's being addressed knows.

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    It never occurred to me that the speaker wasn't personally thanking a person who had "taught" her/him/them how to skate. I think that is the simplest interpretation. The ambiguity lies in "without all your help", it could refer to a single individual or a team of people but the only person receiving the help is the speaker.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jul 25, 2022 at 20:11
  • I strongly disagree with your initial assessment: I'd give a slight edge to the version without "me" since in the original it's not clear who received the help if the person helped wasn't the speaker then who was? Which is why I have decided to cast a downvote.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jul 26, 2022 at 7:08

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