Is "like" a preposition?

Question

Someone like me would agree.Someone like I would disagree.T.

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[nq:1]Someone like me would agree.[/nq]
Standard English.
[nq:1]Someone like I would disagree.[/nq]
Non-standard, though sometimes encountered. Anita Loos wrote a book titled "A Girl Like I." It was intended there as an example of hypercorrection. Or maybe your example is an elision of the equally bad "Someone like I am would disagree," which uses "like" as a conjunction. If, on the other hand, you consider "like" a preposition in "Someone like I would disagree," then "I" is in the wrong case. Prepositions are supposed to be followed by the objective (accusative) case "me."
So "like" is ordinarily a preposition. Its use as a conjunction can be seen in the two non-standard sentences with "like I" in them, above. Although traditionalists inveigh against the conjunctional use, it sometimes passes in informal spoken English, but I'd avoid it if at all possible.

Bob Lieblich
Dedicated to the preposition

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[nq:1]So "like" is ordinarily a preposition. Its use as a conjunction can be seen in the two non-standard sentences with ... inveigh against the conjunctional use, it sometimes passes in informal spoken English, but I'd avoid it if at all possible.[/nq]
It may help separate "like" from "as" to consider that it is only things (nouns/pronouns) that are "like" one another. When a true verb is involved, there is no "thingness" (I say a true verb to avoid confusion with gerunds, such as "running").
"Someone like me would say so." "Someone" and "me" are (grammatically) things; we compare their likeness with "like" (or we could use "unlike" when contrasting).
"Few speak as he does." There, "few speak" and "he does" are not any sorts of "things", so we cannot assert that they are "like" one another: "Few speak like he does" would thus be comically inept.

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How about when Elvis sang:
Now and then
there's a fool
such as I.
I guess this is ungrammatical - it should be
Now and then
there's a fool
such as me?

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[nq:1]How about when Elvis sang: Now and then there's a fool such as I. I guess this is ungrammatical - it should be Now and then there's a fool such as me?[/nq]
If you take your grammar from popular songs, your speech will eventually become incomprehensible.
You can try to justify such things as "a fool such as I" as an ellipsis of "such as I am," but that's almost always an after-the-fact rationalization, enabled by the flexibility of "such as," which can be either preposition or conjunction. But you can't do even that with "like," whose use as a conjunction, as Eric Walker (currently posting as "owlcroft") has pointed out, will soon land you in grammatical trouble.
I don't remember the song all that well, but I'll bet that "I" was used to salvage the rhyme.

Bob Lieblich
Do you know the Queen's English?

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[nq:2]How about when Elvis sang: Now and then there's a ... be Now and then there's a fool such as me?[/nq]
[nq:1]If you take your grammar from popular songs, your speech will eventually become incomprehensible. You can try to justify such ... trouble. I don't remember the song all that well, but I'll bet that "I" was used to salvage the rhyme.[/nq]
That may be. But I find it the correct comparative (with the elliptical "am"). In addition, as I recall, there is a longer line: "Now and then there's a fool such as I am over you." I think the shorter line is just a "broken foot".
(Words & music by Trader)
(Now and then there's a fool such as I)
Pardon me, if I'm sentimental
When we say goodbye
Don't be angry with me should I cry
When you're gone, yet I'll dream
A little dream as years go by
Now and then there's a fool such as I
Now and then there's a fool such as I am over you
You taught me how to love
And now you say that we are through
and:

Written by Bill Trader
Recorded by Hank Snow
Pardon me if I'm sentimental when we say goodbye
Don't be angry with me should I cry
When you're gone yet I'll dream a little dreams as years go by Now and then there's a fool such as I
Now and then there's a fool such as I am over you
You taught me how to love and now you say that we are through I'm a fool but I'll love you dear until the day I die Now and then there's a fool such as I
(Now and then there's a fool...

Oh, Lordy. I didn't know this was a Hank Snow song. Frevensake! CHORUS
I'll give you a daisy a day dear
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
I think I brought this up 7 or 8 years ago. I don't recall Hank singing it. I think someone said Jud Strump, or someone with a name like that.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]How about when Elvis sang: Now and then there's a ... be Now and then there's a fool such as me?[/nq]
[nq:1]If you take your grammar from popular songs, your speech will eventually become incomprehensible. You can try to justify such ... trouble. I don't remember the song all that well, but I'll bet that "I" was used to salvage the rhyme.[/nq]
Oh, yes. I know the "there's a fool" indicates that "me" should be the form.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2] If you take your grammar from popular ... I'll bet that "I" was used to salvage the rhyme.[/nq]
[nq:1]That may be. But I find it the correct comparative (with the elliptical "am"). In addition, as I recall, there ... ago. I don't recall Hank singing it. I think someone said Jud Strump, or someone with a name like that.[/nq]
You're right about the ellipsis, I just googled the complete lyrics, which I had forgotten - or never knew, I'm not quite that old .

Is "like" a preposition?

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