"like" or "as if"?

Question

I'd like an opinion. On another thread I found this sentence:

I would have enjoyed the party... it's like you were invited to a party but you didn't go.

Throughout my schooldays (in GB, I'm now 57) I would have scandalised my English teachers with a sentence like this. They would have insisted on: It's as if you had been invited to a party...

Again, not
(a) He looked at me like he'd seen a ghost, but
(b) He looked at me as if he'd seen a ghost.

They always insisted that like is not a conjunction and I've also found this explanation in text-books.
However, I see that it's a losing battle. I'd like an opinion from both AmE and BrE speakers about how correct sentence (a) sounds and how old-fashioned (b) sounds. I may be old-fashioned myself and tend to avoid this use of "like", but try not to criticise it in others because it's now so common and it's difficult to say it's incorrect. Of course, "like" has many other unquestionably correct functions, but I'm looking for replies specifically on this kind of construction.

thanks
Lewis

Milky · Accepted Answer

<I would have enjoyed the party... it's like you were invited to a party but you didn't go.

Throughout my schooldays (in GB, I'm now 57) I would have scandalised my English teachers with a sentence like this. They would have insisted on: It's as if you had been invited to a party...>

Times and language use change. Thank goodenss. You have to go with the flow or stick with what you know.

J Lewis · Answer

I'm not protesting, Milky! I'm just curious to know what point the process has reached on both sides of the Atlantic on a formal and informal level. What's your opinion?

Marius Hancu · Answer

J. Lewis, you're right:
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In traditional usage, like is a preposition that governs nouns and noun phrases, not a conjunction that governs verbs or clauses.

Frequently, then, like needs to be replaced by the proper conjunction as (or as if):

It looks like [correct/read as if] the sales clerks are ahead of the hitters so far.

This relatively simple precept is generally observed in writing, but has been increasingly flouted in American speech.

Although this use of like can no longer be considered an outright solecism, as it once was, it hasn't moved far from the borderline of acceptance. It is acceptable casual English; it isn't yet in the category of unimpeachable English.

Garner, Modern American Usage, p. 497
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Milky · Answer

J LewisI'm not protesting, Milky! I'm just curious to know what point the process has reached on both sides of the Atlantic on a formal and informal level. What's your opinion?

I like like in such uses.

Take a look at these:

http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~nunberg/like.html

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/18/ltm.16.html

http://www.thevarsity.ca/media/storage/paper285/news/2005/09/06/News/Girl-Talk-979457.shtml?norewrite200610061225&sourcedomain=www.thevarsity.ca

Pastsimple · Answer

Marius HancuJ. Lewis, you're right:
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Frequently, then, like needs to be replaced by the proper conjunction as (or as if):

It looks like [correct/read as if] the sales clerks are ahead of the hitters so far.

Is It looks as if the sales clerks are ahead of the hitters so far. correct? I'd say "were".

How is it with tenses and like/as if?

(e.g. like there's no tomorrow / as if there were no tomorrow) Why?

Marius Hancu · Answer

Pastsimple
Marius HancuJ. Lewis, you're right:
------

Frequently, then, like needs to be replaced by the proper conjunction as (or as if):

It looks like [correct/read as if] the sales clerks are ahead of the hitters so far.

Is It looks as if the sales clerks are ahead of the hitters so far. correct? I'd say "were".

How is it with tenses and like/as if?

(e.g. like there's no tomorrow / as if there were no tomorrow) Why?

It is correct.
It looks like=it seems like
are usually followed by "are" not by "were," at they, IMO, introduce enough uncertainty by themselves.

BarbaraPA · Answer

I know, you all already think that Americans have killed the language and we are a nation of barbarians, so I may as well add to that.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with:

He looks like he's just seen a ghost

He looks as though he's just seen a ghost.

He looks as if he's just seen a ghost. (This seems the most "stilted" to me.)

You look like you could use a drink.

You look as though you could use a drink

Davidrock65 · Answer

J Lewis

I have a question here

you said, "I'm just curious to know what point the process has reached on both sides of the Atlantic on a formal and informal level."

Would it be fine if I use "at" instead of "on"?

If not, what's the difference?

Thanks for answering my question

J Lewis · Answer

I know, you all already think that Americans have killed the language and we are a nation of barbarians, so I may as well add to that.

I don't think the Americans are a nation of barbarians, except when they do barbaric things around the world together with my own equally barbarian nation! But I know you're joking...

Thanks for your opinions about the sentence. I don't think the word "wrong" should be used. I prefer words like stilted, colloquial, formal, informal etc.

Lewis

BarbaraPA · Answer

I don't think the Americans are a nation of barbarians

It has to do with the fact that we generally prefer coffee to tea. And ketchup on our "chips."

"like" or "as if"?

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