Fill in the blank in the sentence given below by choosing the correct option…

Concept:

English builds a small family of phrasal verbs on the frame help + someone + on/off + with + a garment. The verb help supplies the idea of assistance, while the particle carries the direction in which the garment moves: on for putting a garment on and off for taking it off. Inside this family it is therefore the particle, not the verb, that decides the meaning — and the same particles attached to a different verb such as put form entirely separate idioms with meanings of their own.

Applying it here:

1. The frame in the sentence is “Let me ______ with your coat”, so the missing item must be a phrasal verb that can be followed by “with” plus a garment.

2. The clue “It is quite warm” tells us the coat should come off rather than go on, because warmth is a reason to remove a coat.

3. Assistance combined with the direction “off” gives “help you off with your coat”, that is, let me assist you in taking your coat off.

Contrast with the other phrases:

• help you out — general assistance with a task, a difficulty or money, as in “She helped me out with the packing”. The particle “out” names the helper stepping in and carries no clothing direction. It does take “with”, but what follows is the work being shared, so “help you out with your coat” would mean sharing some task involving the coat rather than taking it off you.

• put you off — discourage someone, make them lose interest, or postpone an arrangement with them, as in “The smell put me off my food”.

• put you up — give someone lodging for a short while, as in “My cousin put me up for two nights”.

Cross-check:

Reverse the weather and the same frame still works with the opposite particle: on a cold morning one would say “Let me help you on with your coat.” That on/off pair exists only with help, which confirms that this sentence belongs to the help family and that the warmth in the stem selects “off”.

Completed sentence: It is quite warm. Let me help you off with your coat.