106. Among the objects found in the excavated temple were small terra-cotta effigies left by supplicants who were either asking the goddess Bona Dea’s aid in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.
(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help
(B) in healing physical and mental ills and to thank her for helping
(C) in healing physical and mental ills, and thanking her for helping
(D) to heal physical and mental ills or to thank her for such help
(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

I was confused between A and E. How to decide whether to use the infinitive form or -ing form in this case. Also please let me know if a noun can be followed by an infinitive form of Verb. I always face issues between the infinitive and -ing usage.

Thanks,
Amit

A is correct.

b/c in E, the idiom is "aid in X" not "aid to X"

The other choices are either not parallel to the "either/or" or "healing/thanking"

A good question. Aid in, though correct in this case, is not necessarily the correct structure in all cases. For example, it is grammatically correct to say The United States provides aid to many developing nations or The United States provides aid to assist developing nations.

I'm not aware of a universal principle for this idiom; instead, I believe the construction depends on a case-by-case analysis. If anyone knows differently, please feel free to add to the conversation!

-dan

When "aid" is used as a noun meaning help with performing some activity, the idiomatic rule dictates that

(1) the activity must be designated with a noun (e.g. "childbirth") or noun phrase (e.g. "giving birth to a child'), rather than with an infinitive (e.g. "to give birth to a child")
(2) the noun or noun phrase designating the activity must be immediately preceded by the word "in"

The following sentences illustrate this rule:

"The midwife provided aid in childbirth."
"Germany received America's aid in rebuilding Hamburg after the war."

The sentence "The United States provides aid to many developing nations" does not violate this rule, because "aid" is not used to mean help with performing some activity.

-Jad