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Kooyeen Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

A dog like your mom

Hi, Emotion: smile

Can I do this? (Not using a verb after like)

  • No one can do that like I do. -------> No one can do that like me.

  • I finally wrote a novel like you did. ------> I finally wrote a novel like you.

  • My mom bought a dog like your mom did. --------> My mom bought a dog like your mom. (Although this sentence could be funny, if the above are possible, at least in casual English, this one should be ok too)
Thank you.
  

Top answer

Kooyeen, if you see the potential for misunderstanding in the third sentence, your English is REALLY getting there. I'd say it's truly not a good idea to use #3, because "like me" doesn't have any other meaning, and I can't really be like a novel - but you can compare a person to a dog, and this is usually considered quite insulting. Perhaps because we are used to the construction of "friends like those" and others that are similar that we expect the friends and the those to be the same "things" (people) so we see "dog like your mom" and we think you are saying that dog is the same as mom.

— BarbaraPA

  • Kooyeen, if you see the potential for misunderstanding in the third sentence, your English is REALLY getting there.
  • I'd say it's truly not a good idea to use #3, because "like me" doesn't have any other meaning, and I can't really be like a novel - but you can compare a person to a dog, and this is usually considered quite insulting.
  • Perhaps because we are used to the construction of "friends like those" and others that are similar that we expect the friends and the those to be the same "things" (people) so we see "dog like your mom" and we think you are saying that dog is the same as mom.
  • Bad idea to convey.
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7 Answers
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Kooyeen, if you see the potential for misunderstanding in the third sentence, your English is REALLY getting there.

I'd say it's truly not a good idea to use #3, because "like me" doesn't have any other meaning, and I can't really be like a novel - but you can compare a person to a dog, and this is usually considered quite insulting.

Perhaps because we are used to the co
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Thank you very much GG.

So it seems it is possible to leave out the verb. If #1 and #2 are possible, I think #3 is possible as well. Yes, that sentence is definitely ambiguous, ok, but I invented that way on purpose. In speech, I think, the meaning is clear. Of course you can see it like a kind of joke, but that happens because I wrote it. In speech I think people don't pay attention to t
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I don't know how to answer you except to write everything I already did. People will hear that it sounds funny.
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Perhaps "same as your mom" would be less dangerous?
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Ah, very interesting. Maybe the way I wrote that doesn't reflect the way I would say it. So, what if I say:

  • Yes, my mom bought a dog, like your mom. (meaning: like your mom did)
This should take into account that there is a little pause where I used the comma. Is this still not possible, still funny and awkward?

Thank you.
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Oh, if it's something you're going to say, then yes, it's possible! Emotion: smile
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