With his help, her cow gave birth to a cute baby.

[ELF77]

1. With his help, her cow gave birth to a cute baby.
2. Because of his help, her cow gave birth to a cute baby.
3. He helped her cow give birth to a cute baby.

[Does #1 mean #2 and #3? Are they the same in meaning? There are a lot of definitions of 'with' in the dictionary. What is the meaning of 'with' in sentence 1?]

 

[Language Hound]

Welcome to the Forum, Elf77!
Please always provide the source of your sentences.
Where did you find these strange sentences?

Please note that cows give birth to calves. A baby cow is called a calf.
I assume that sentence #1 ("With his help, her cow...") means is supposed to mean that the man helped to deliver the calf.
However, the way it is worded ("With his help, her cow gave birth to a cute baby"), it sounds like he had sex with the cow and the cow delivered a (human) baby!

 

[dojibear]

I assume ELF77 wrote these sentences. Welcome to the forum, ELF77!

Sentence #1 just says that he helped the cow. That is all "with his help" means.

#2 implies his help was needed. #1 does not say that. So they are not the same.

Note: as #2 says, you should write "baby cow" or "calf", not "baby" (which means a baby human).

 

[velisarius]

I think sentences like (1) are a little ambiguous. The context will tell you whether the help was decisive for the outcome.

With your help, I was able to lift this heavy rock. - It sounds as though that help was indispensible.