Like or As
Making Comparisons in English
Objectives of today’s lesson:
In this lesson, Learn English with Julia presents to you “Like or As”, in order to to be able to answer the following questions:
- What is the difference between like and such as?
- What is like grammatically?
- What uses like or as?
- How to use like or as.
Video Script:
Hello and welcome to this video dedicated LIKE and AS
They are often confused as they are both used to draw comparisons, to say things are similar. But in reality when we use them it’s very different.
So LIKE is the same as AS IF / AS THOUGH. We use like when making comparisons.
We can modify its meaning through the use of adverbs So we can say:
she looks like her / she looks a bit like her /
she looks just like her / she looks more like her /
she looks very much like her / she does not look at all like her.
This is like having a real class.
She sounds like a teacher.
So those are examples of LIKE.
Let’s look at AS.
AS is similar to IN THE FORM OF / IN A WAY THAT
We use AS when we’re talking about appearance, function, a job.
And we use AS as a conjunction.
LIKE is only used as a conjunction in informal English.
For example: She did as she was told.
She did like she was told.*
This is very informal.
AS is a conjunction.
The rest of the time they’re prepositions here and here.
So let’s read the examples:
It is used AS a recipient.
She works AS a teacher.
She ran AS fast AS she could.
Now when we use the comparative we need AS… AS
It’s just like with “THE SAME..”. It has to be followed by AS.
The same as me.
This is an interesting one
It’s based on a common mistake.
She works like a driver. *
The person here is trying to say: “She works as a driver”
They’re trying to give us the profession of that person and that is why these two examples are interesting.
When you say to someone: She works as a teacher. That means it’s her job.
She works as a teacher. (job)
However if you say to someone: You sound like a teacher. That means the person is behaving in a certain way that reminds you of a teacher. Maybe they’re over explaining something to you or maybe they’re bossy. They remind you of a teacher you’ve had in the past. So she sounds like a teacher. This doesn’t mean that that person is a teacher. It’s just the way they behave or speak that reminds you of a teacher.
So don’t get too confused, don’t overthink it. Some grammar books say that LIKE is followed by pronouns, gerunds, and nouns. But then if you look here, you have nouns, verbs, sentences. So there’s not really an easy way of remembering these.
I recommend you get plenty of practice.
Come back to this video and practise again.
Thank you!
Grammar Quiz:
Keywords listed in English:
- like or as
- as if, as though
- in the form of, in the way that
- comparisons
- adverbs
- modifiable by adverbs
- conjunctions
