Help vs Aid
Aid, help, grant, assistance all refer to acts of pitching in to lessen the burden of someone else selflessly. Human beings have this tendency to be philanthropic and cannot see other fellow human beings in distress which is why they always come forward to sort out the problems faced by others. The two words help and aid are very confusing for some people as they roughly have same meaning. However, there is a lot of difference in the contexts they are used and also their usage. This article will remove all doubts from the minds of readers regarding their meaning and usage.
Aid is normally a noun and very rarely used as a verb. On the other hand, help is mostly used as a verb. This means that you can use the word help to describe an act of assistance but reserve aid for terms such as legal aid, humanitarian aid, financial aid etc. Look at the following examples.
Tony helped Helen in her studies
She cried for help when the mishap took place
The international community helped Japan with humanitarian and financial aid after tsunami struck the island nation
Many universities offer financial aid to students to pursue higher studies
It is clear from the first two examples that while Tony assisted Helen in her studies (verb), and she asked for help (verb) to rescue her when she was in distress, Countries came forward with food, money and other material (aid) to provide help to Japan. Similarly, universities lessen the burden by providing financial assistance (aid) to help poor and needy students to continue their studies.
To aid someone means to help someone else. Aid, in any form (food, material, money etc) is meant to lessen the burden of someone in distress. Aid, when it is monetary, refers to free money and is different from easy loans that carry some interest with them. Help is also any form of assistance but you help someone when you provide aid but the two words cannot be used in each other’s place.
Charity organizations come forward to help the victims of a natural disaster. Help is actual act of assistance whereas aid is a noun that refers to the assistance being provided.
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In brief: Difference Between Help and Aid • Help is mostly used as a verb whereas aid is mostly used as a noun • Help is an action word which describes the act of assistance whereas aid can take any form including humanitarian, legal, monetary depending upon circumstances.
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