Help yourself means 'please take some, don't wait to be served'. A host says it to a guest about food or things: Help yourself to the fruit. To several guests: help yourselves. But in a story about someone, it often carries blame: He helped himself to the last biscuit — he took it without asking anyone.
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Help yourself; help yourself to something; help yourselves
- Please help yourself to the fruit on the table.
- There are spare pens by the door; help yourselves.
- He helped himself to the last biscuit without asking.
What changed
First versionPlease help yourself with some bread.
RevisionPlease help yourself to some bread.
Help usually comes with with: help me with the bags. But when you offer food or things, the preposition is to: help yourself to some bread. With to instead of with, the sentence becomes an invitation, not talk about assistance.
Help someone with something means assist with a task: Can you help me with the bags? Help yourself to something means take some for yourself: Help yourself to the snacks. The preposition decides everything: with is assistance, to is an offer.
Your turn
Complete the invitation to take food: Help yourself ___ the sandwiches.
Show the answer
to — What you offer is introduced with to: help yourself to the sandwiches. With would be about helping with a task, not about taking something.
Guests have come over. Invite them to take drinks from the fridge in one sentence with help yourself.
There are drinks in the fridge, so help yourselves.
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