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Navitasan Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Like/unlike
1) I will defeat you like John.
As far as I can see, this could mean:
a) I will defeat you as I defeated John.
and
b) I will defeat you as John defeated you.
But::
2) I will defeat you unlike John.
seems meaningless to me, unless there is a comma before 'unlike'.
"2" cannot mean
c) I will defeat you but not in the manner I defeated John.
or:
d) I will defeat you but not in the manner John defeated you.
Am I correct?
Gratefully,
Navi.
As far as I can see, this could mean:
a) I will defeat you as I defeated John.
and
b) I will defeat you as John defeated you.
But::
2) I will defeat you unlike John.
seems meaningless to me, unless there is a comma before 'unlike'.
"2" cannot mean
c) I will defeat you but not in the manner I defeated John.
or:
d) I will defeat you but not in the manner John defeated you.
Am I correct?
Gratefully,
Navi.
Top answer
navitasan 1) I will defeat you like John. I agree that this is ambiguous in written form, due to the brevity. I seldom use ‘like’ in the sense of similar.
- navitasan 1) I will defeat you like John.
- I agree that this is ambiguous in written form, due to the brevity.
- I seldom use ‘like’ in the sense of similar.
- navitasan 2) I will defeat you unlike John.
- I agree that it is not correctly written, leaving room for various interpretations.
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1 Answers
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navitasan1) I will defeat you like John.I agree that this is ambiguous in written form, due to the brevity. I seldom use ‘like’ in the sense of similar.
navitasan2) I will defeat you unlike John.I agree that it is not correctly written, leaving room for various interpretations.
Whereas in spoken English, we can s
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