Hi Friends,
Kindly peruse the following sentences:
- She began to dance like a professional dancer dances on the stage.
- She began to dance as a professional dancer dances on the stage.
Which one of the above sentences is correct? Why?
Souba73
As and like are used in a number of different ways and can be different parts of speech.
‘as’ and ‘like’ - prepositions
As refers to something or someone’s appearance or function. Consider the following examples:
• ‘Before I became a teacher I worked as a waiter.’
• ‘I’m going to the fancy dress party as Superman.’
• ‘The sea can be used as a source of energy.’
The expression ‘I’ve been working as a dog’ sounds unusual because it suggests that you were doing the work of a dog!
Like has the meaning 'similar to' and is used when comparing things. Look at these examples:
• ‘I’ve been working like a dog.’
• ‘She looks a bit like her brother.’
• ‘Just like you, I’m always a bit wary of large dogs.’
The expression ‘I’ve been working like a dog’ is idiomatic and means that you have been working very hard.
bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn … tv63.shtml
Dear Eugene2114,
thank you very much for your reply.
I think you did not carefully peruse my above post. However, as you may know, ‘as’ and ‘like’ bear almost the same meaning when they are used as conjunction. But I strongly believe that there must be a subtle difference in meaning when they are used in this way. I would request to clarify the subtle difference.
You might not believe it, but I did note that you were trying to use ‘like\as’ as a conjunction in your sentence.
The problem though, I can’t see the idea behind your sentence. If you meant to say “She began to dance like (=in the same way that) a professional dancer does on the stage”, then the wording of the original seems rather odd.
Look at the examples with ‘like’ meaning ‘in the same way that’: “To dance like she does requires great discipline. She doesn’t dance like you do. It happened like you said it would. Many shoppers study the food ads like brokers study market reports. No one does it like he does.”
I’m struggling to use ‘as’ (= ‘in the same manner or way that’ ) in your sentence, and why?
Trying to squeeze a conjunction in it doesn’t look a good idea to me.
Forget the conjunction. “She began to dance as [= function] a professional dancer (on the stage).”
OR: “She began to dance like [= similar to] a professional dancer.” –much more natural. Agree?
I think the questioner is able to discern the marked difference between the following two sentences:
We work like a family in this institution.
We work as a family in this institution.
Again I want to remind all that the sentence in question may be written in many ways. That is not the problem. The problem lies with the use of ‘like’ & ‘as’ as conjunction.
There is no confusion about their prepositional use except Anglophile’s ones, which need to be explained. But, what is the wrong with the following sentence (However odd it may sound)? Would anyone kindly explain me?
She began to dance as (=in the way in which) a professional dancer dances on the stage. (as defined in OALD)
She began to dance as a professional dancer does on the stage.
To me, this would denote that She began to dance as a professional dancer meaning she is now a professional dancer. (The use of ‘as’ is a conjunction here)
She began to dance like a professional dancer does on the stage.
This, to me, would mean that she dances very much like a professional dancer; she can choose to be a professional dancer but she has not become a professional dancer yet. (The use of ‘like’ is a conjunction here)
Now coming to my examples, I have this to say:
We work like a family in this institution. (We are not family members but the way we work will make us look that we may be family members - less true and less emphatic - use of simile)
We work as a family in this institution. (We are not family members, yet the way we work makes others believe that we are family members - more true and emphatic - use of metaphor)
(AS suggests the figurative meaning as true as it seems. I hope I’ve made myself clearer now)
This time I think I got your idea correct.
Consult this thefreedictionary.com/ like (conjunctional usages)
Look closer at:
“Usage note
…the usage today has a somewhat informal or conversational flavor.
Like is acceptable at all levels as a conjunction when used with verbs such as feel, look, seem, sound and taste.”
Also, thefreedictionary.com/ as
“5. used in comparisons
In writing, as is sometimes used to compare one action to another:
He looked over his shoulder as Jack had done.
She pushed him, as she had pushed her son.
Like and the way are used in a similar way.”
–Referring to your original sentences, I’d never use ‘to dance… dancer dances’ in a short sentence. To me, English is much richer [edited] than that.
If I replace ‘as’ by ‘in the way in which’ the sentence looks like the following:
She began to dance in the way in which a professional dancer dances on the stage.
Does the above sentence, in any way, implies that ‘she’ herself is a professional dancer?
Sorry, I cannot give preference to www.thefreeonlinedirectionary.com over OALD, CALD etc.
No. ‘In the way’ here, denotes the manner of doing sth that is, very close to…. To imply she is a professional dancer, the sentence would have ‘as’ in its prepositional meaning, and the whole sentence should be rephrased. (See above.)