Asandlikeare prepositions or conjunctions. The prepositionsasandlikehavedifferent meanings.As+ noun means ‘in the role of’,like+ noun means ‘similar to’ or ‘in the same way as’.
| The speaker is the listener’s father. |
| The speaker is not the father but wishes to act in a similar way to the father. |
We uselike(but notas) to compare two things:
She’s got a headachelikeme.
Not:She’s got a headache as me.
Likethe other students, he finds it a bit difficult to get to lectures early in the morning.
Not:As the other students, he finds it…
When we compare appearance or behaviour, we uselike, notas:
That house lookslikea castle.
Not:That house looks as a castle.
Asis commonly used to talk about jobs:
He worked for a long timeasa teacher in Africa.
Not: …like a teacher in Africa.
The conjunctionsasandlikehave the same meaning when used in comparisons.Likeis a little more informal.
Nobody understands himasI do.
Nobody understands himlikeI do.
See also:
As
Conjunctions
Like