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Like e as - Regole ed esercizi per livello intermedio

Giovedì, 13 Ottobre 2016
She walks like a cat. She walks like a cat. This image by Andrew Nolan from pexels.com is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license

In inglese le parole ‘as’ e ‘like’ sono la prova che le parole più corte sono quelle più difficili da imparare. Sapere esattamente quando usare ‘as’ e ‘like’ è qualcosa che anche gli inglesi madrelingua hanno difficoltà ad usare. Capire l'uso di ‘like’ and ‘as’ con questa spiegazione a livello intermedio vi aiuterà non solo a parlare inglese correttamente ma anche a scrivere bene.

Like and as

In the next sections we are looking at ‘like’ and ‘as’ as prepositions (i.e. followed by a noun or pronoun) and as conjunctions (i.e. followed by a subject + verb).

Like: form and uses

We use ‘like’ when we want to say that something (a noun) is similar to something else (another noun).

Examples of ‘like’ as a preposition include ‘he lives like a vagrant’ or ‘she walks like a cat’.

'Like' can also be used as a conjunction and is then mostly found in informal spoken English or written dialogue in place of 'as'. Examples of 'like' as a conjunction include "Nobody can talk like I do". However, "Nobody can talk as I do" has the same meaning.

As: form and uses

We use ‘as’ when we want to say that something or someone has the role or appearance of something.

Examples of ‘as’ as a preposition include, ‘he worked as a nurse’. This has quite a different meaning to ‘he worked like a nurse’, which implies he worked as hard as a nurse might, rather than the first sentence which explains that he had an actual job as a nurse.

Further examples of ‘as’ as preposition include, ‘I’m dressing up as a devil’ or ‘she’s speaking as the director’.

When 'as' is used as a conjunction it is the more formal and grammatically correct choice over 'like'. An example of 'as' as a conjunction include, "This burger tastes as a burger should". This sounds more formal than "This burger tastes like a burger should".

“Like” and “as”, be careful!

In some idioms where one is expressing similarity ‘as’ may be used instead of ‘like’. When comparing to a specific characteristic of a person or thing, the structure ‘as + adjective + as’ is often used i.e. 'he is as rich as Midas'.

'As' and 'Like' can also give completely different meanings to a sentence when they are used as prepositions, like in the following examples:

As Shaun Lloyd is the owner of the zoo, as the owner, he has overall responsibility for the animals. (‘As the owner’= in his position as the owner)
Like Shaun's daughter, Gemma helps him and will eventually inherit the zoo. Like the owner (Shaun Lloyd), she also has a duty of care to the animals. (‘Like the owner’ = similar to the owner)"
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published in Preposizioni
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Ultima modifica il Domenica, 05 Febbraio 2017 22:56

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