Thank you! I shall now use these words like they should be!

I shall now use these words like they should be!

Or better yet, use these words as they should be.



tanstaafl.

Thank you, Bitt. I think that clarifies it for me. Now I hope it'll sink in.

Who says the police are never around when you need them?

Um Bitt... lets get them all done in the same thread;

'as' and 'like'

I shall use these words like they are intended.

I shall use these words as they are/were intended.

Which is correct (if any), and when is one word used over the other?

'as' and 'like'

The issue is whether or not ``like'' can be used as a conjunction.

The grammar nazi will claim that ``like'' is to be used as a preposition and ``as'' is to be used as a conjunction. Thus:

``Spanish is like Portuguese.''
but

``Spanish is as Portuguese is.''

The difference being that in the second sentence, ``as'' is being used as a conjunction combining the indewpendent clauses ``Spanish is'' and ``Portuguese is''. In the first sentence, ``like'' is used as a preposition, the same construct as ``Spanish is near Portuguese,'' or ``Spanish is around Portuguese.'' (Note that even though those examples are gramatically correct, they don't make a lot of sense. Cf. ``Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.'')

I think that this is an arbitrary rule that someone came up with a couple of hundred years ago and it got passed on for no good reason. Supposedly, their use has been documented both ways as far back as the 14th century, which is easily at the beginning of modern English. Use whichever sounds better. I doubt you'll find any dictionary that doesn't claim that both are both prepositions and conjunctions.

'as' and 'like'

Strunk & White have the following to say:

Like governs nouns and pronouns; before phrases and clauses the equivalent word is as.

So, the correct answer is: "I shall use these words as they are/were intended."

Oddly enough, the same thing I said (well, about the technical point, anyway), only much, much, more succinct. E.B. White a better writer than me? Never!

Oddly enough, the same thing I said

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing -- you beat me to the reply. It's just that I had a copy of Strunk and White sitting here next to the PC (who doesn't? ), so I thought I'd check what they had to say.

Really, I just meant to point out White's amazing clarity with language -- one that I could never hope to emulate.

Words and Expressions Commonly Misused by Insipid Brothers-in-law: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2003/11/10diclaudio.html/