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Taka Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Like

It's a typical assignment?like write an assay on the importance of mutual understanding.

Is it safe to say that the underlined part is a sort of ellipsis of "like to write..."?

Or grammatically is it something else?
  

Top answer

I don't see it quite like that. I see "write an e ssay on the importance of mutual understanding" as an example of a typical assignment instruction, and "like" means that this assignment is similar to that. The phrasing seems casual.

— GPY

  • I don't see it quite like that.
  • I see "write an e ssay on the importance of mutual understanding" as an example of a typical assignment instruction, and "like" means that this assignment is similar to that.
  • The phrasing seems casual.
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9 Answers
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I don't see it quite like that. I see "write an essay on the importance of mutual understanding" as an example of a typical assignment instruction, and "like" means that this assignment is similar to that. The phrasing seems casual.
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It is grammatically defective. Perhaps this is a remedy:

Writing an assay on the importance of mutual understanding is a typical assignment.
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GPYI don't see it quite like that. I see "write an essay on the importance of mutual understanding" as an example of a typical assignment instruction, and "like" means that this assignment is similar to that. The phrasing seems casual.
Strictly from a grammatical point of view, I thought that kind of "like+do" was grammatically wrong, as AS pointed out, becaus
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TakaStrictly from a grammatical point of view, I thought it was grammatically wrong, as AS pointed out, because that "like" is prepositional.But at the same time, personally I've heard people use such phrasing in daily conversations.So is it that it's grammatically wrong but a widely accepted colloquial expression?
"like" is prepositional, and the object is "w
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GPY "like" is prepositional, and the object is "write an essay on the importance of mutual understanding", which is understood as a title or instruction. Arguably the phrase "write an essay..." should strictly be in quotes, but that may be too fussy for the author's purpose.
Then what about this one?

We did normal things, like go to school and
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TakaWe did normal things, like go to school and do chores.
It is a symptom of the modern infatuation with the word "like."
If the source were not Facebook, it still may have been a major contributor.
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TakaThen what about this one?We did normal things, like go to school and do chores.The underlined part isn't a title nor instruction, is it?
No, that's different (at least the way I read it). This kind of usage is pretty common (more common than the rather special case of the original sentence) and is widely accepted (in my experience). It is not clear to me t
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I am probably the exception: not liking like like friends who liked me, like recently.
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I see. Thank you, GPY and AS!
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