Word Confusion: Nope, It’s Not As You Like It!

Plural for the noun: as

Plural for the noun: likes ²
Gerund: liking

Third person present verb: likes
Past tense or past participle: liked
Present participle: liking

• [Of a portrait or other image] Having a faithful resemblance to the original

The school found it practical to group children of like ability together.

She was this way on this and like occasions.

“Who painted the dog’s picture? It’s very like.”

• as
• as if
• as though

[Informal] Used to convey a person’s reported attitude or feelings in the form of direct speech (whether or not representing an actual quotation)

[Archaic; like as, like to; used as an intensifier of action] In the manner of

• As if

[Informal] Probably

• Likely

Nearly

• Approximately

[Nonstandard] Used to provide emphasis or to focus attention on something

The hailstones were as big as tennis balls.

As many as twenty-two rare species may be at risk.

It tasted like grape juice but not as sweet.

She kissed him goodbye, as usual.

So she comes into the room and she’s like “Where is everybody?”

It was like as a ship with a dreadful storm long tossed.

They worked like hell.

He ran like crazy.

Like as not she’ll change her mind.

The price is more like 1,000 dollars.

Let’s like talk about this for a minute.

It’s like so crowded you can’t move.

• Characteristic of

It had an interesting grasslike texture.

They were a small group of like-minded friends.

There is something child-like about Marianne. She always seems so innocent.

Used to indicate by comparison the way that something happens or is done

• Used to add or interject a comment relating to the statement of a fact

Even though

As though

• As if

Nobody understands him as I do.

It’s as if my cousin thinks he is Batman.

My neighbor yelled as though he had seen a banshee.

My brother can’t play the piano as he did before the accident.

Frank watched him as he ambled through the crowd.

As she grew older, she kept more to herself.

They can do as they wish.

Dress as you would if you were having guests.

As in the past, a collection is to be taken.

As you can see, I didn’t go after all.

He has, as you know, called for a referendum.

I must stop now as I have to go out.

Sweet as he is, he doesn’t pay his bills.

Try as he might, he failed to pull it off.

Nobody understands him like I do.

My cousin looks like Batman.

My neighbor yelled like a banshee.

My brother can’t play the piano like he did before the accident.

What about those people who change countries like they change clothes?

I felt like I’d been kicked by a camel.

To dance like she does requires great discipline.

It looks like we’ll finish on time.

The music was, like, really great.

• [the like] A thing or things of the same kind (often used to express surprise or for emphasis)

The things one likes or prefers ²

• [In the context of social media] An indication of approval of or support for someone or something, expressed by means of a particular icon or link

The speaker is the listener’s father.

I worked as a waiter when I was a student. Most of us did.

The Daily Telegraph appointed Trevor Grove as its Sunday editor.

The speaker is not the father but wishes to act in a similar way to the father.

The quotations could be arranged to put like with like.

I know him — him and his like.

Did you ever hear the like?

A church interior the like of which he had never seen before.

She has a wide variety of likes, dislikes, tastes, and income levels.

Pages that rank well are likely to receive high numbers of likes because they are highly visible in the search engines.

During the time of being (the thing specified)

• Similar to
• In the manner of
• In the same way or to the same degree as
• In a way appropriate to
• Such as one might expect from
• Characteristic of
• Used in questions to ask about the characteristics or nature of someone or something

Used to draw attention to the nature of an action or event

Such as

• For example

He got a job as a cook.

They were treated as foreigners.

As a dairy producer, you should evaluate and analyze your farm from many viewpoints.

He had often been sick as a child.

As a student, my nickname was Space.

Over the summer she worked as a waitress.

I can only speak as a married man without children.

They were like brothers.

She looked nothing like Audrey Hepburn.

You must run like the wind.

Students were angry at being treated like children.

Just like you to put a damper on people’s enjoyment.

What is it like to be a tuna fisherman?

What’s she like?

I apologize for coming over unannounced like this.

Why are you talking about me like that?

We should pay attention to the cautionary vision of works like Animal Farm and 1984.

We worked like slaves.

[Chiefly dialect] After a substantive not modified by same or such

A fact that

“. . . tears such as angels weep . . .” – John Milton

“. . . that kind of fruit as maids call medlars . . .” – William Shakespeare

He is a foreigner, as is evident from his accent.

Verb, intransitive:
Wish for ²

• Want

To have an inclination or a preference

Verb, transitive:
Find agreeable, enjoyable, or satisfactory ²

• [In the context of social media] Indicate one’s approval of or support for (someone or something) by means of a particular icon or link

Wish for

• Want
• [Would like to do something] Used as a polite formula
• [Not like doing/to do something] Feel reluctant to do something
• Choose to have (something)
• Prefer
• [In questions] Feel about or regard (something)

[Archaic] To be pleasing to

It seemed as how nobody had thought about measurin’ the width of the bridge’s openin’, and we like to didn’t make it through.

We liked to have drowned.

Verb, intransitive:
Would you like a cup of coffee?

We would like for you to work for us.

If you like, we can meet you there.

“Till all it likit that he sad” (Barbour, 387).

Verb, transitive:
People who don’t like reading books are suspect.

I like to be the center of attention.

I like all Angela Carter’s stories.

More than 15,000 Facebook users had liked his page by Monday morning.

Would you like a cup of coffee?

I’d like to rent a car.

I’d like you to stay.

We would like to apologize for the late running of this service.

I don’t like leaving her on her own too long.

How do you like your coffee?

How would you like it if it happened to you?

“Likit him than to leif the fecht . . . I trow he micht” (Ritchie).

1. Old English lic, partly shortened from ylike, in the same sense, and partly from the Old Norse líkr.
2. Old English līcian meaning be pleasing is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch lijken.