Common Mistakes : Aid

Aid – Verb

I

BAD: We must begin to aid ourselves and not wait for other countries

GOOD: We must begin to help ourselves and not wait for other countries

BAD: Education can aid us to understand our world

GOOD: Education can help us to understand our world

Aid is mainly used as a noun: ‘Many countries survive on foreign aid from richer neighbours.’ It is government policy to provide aid to the homeless or the unemployed

As a verb, aid is used in formal styles and usually means ‘help something recover, develop, grow, etc’: ‘The country’s economic recovery has been aided by the recent peace agreement

II

Aid – Noun

BAD: They can learn faster by the aid of computers

GOOD: They can learn faster with the aid of computers

with the aid of sth (NOT by ): These bacteria cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope