I still can't wrap my head around this one.
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.
From what I understand aid could have 2 meanings here:
1) help
In which case it would have been better to write:
either asking 'for' the goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.
Also from the later part of the sentence (for such help) it seems clear to me that aid should mean 'help' here.
In which case,
- you ask for someone's help/aid
- you don't ask someone's aid (here aid would mean a person or an entity who would help)
2) If aid means a person or a thing then
I believe it should be:
either asking the goddess Bona Dea's aid to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help.
Because
You ask someone (who happens to be aid here) to do something
You ask someone in something (this seems wrong to me)
I would appreciate if someone could shed some light over this.
daagh GMATNinja generisPosted from my mobile device