word choice - "Help rule out" vs. "help to rule out"




Duplicate of:
What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb “help”: with or without “to”?
“Could help avoid” vs. “could help to avoid”
“Helping you do something” or “Helping you to do something”?
Infinitive without “to”?
Is it correct to say “John helps you talk with people”?



My sentence fragment possibilities are




  • ... can help rule out false alarms

  • ... can help to rule out false alarms



I feel like both are technically correct, and that the latter sounds somewhat more formal while the former may be a little more clear. I often come upon the general issue of when to use "to [verb]" or just "[verb]" — is there a general rule? Is only one of them actually correct?


(Even if someone can explain how to describe the difference between these cases would be appreciated, i.e. "infinitive vs. ____" )



Answer



Either an unmarked infinitive (an infinitive without a to complementizer), or a marked infinitive with to will work. Here. Since the matrix verb is help.


But that's only true with help.


Every English verb is has its own rules for what kinds of Object Complement clauses it permits, requires, or forbids. See here for Subject and here for Object Complement examples.


As I used to tell my grammar classes, verbs have more fun.


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