Treat someone as something or treat someone like a child

Question

Is it "to treat someone as something" or "to treat someone like something"?

If both are possible. do they mean the same thing?

If not, when should I use each of them?

Would you please give me a few examples?

Thank you

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

There are two patterns you should know.

treat (someone) like a ...
treat (someone) as if he/she/etc. were ...

She treats him like a dog.
She treats him as if he were a dog.

He has come to live with my wife and me, and we treat him like a son.
He has ..., and we treat him as if he were our son.

You should break up with him. He treats you like dirt.
You should .... He treats you as if you were dirt.

I hesitate to make up statistics, but I believe that most people prefer the first pattern unless something more complicated must be expressed:

They treat us as if we had some awful contagious disease.

CJ

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