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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Grammar question
Grammar question
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Yolandaprieto
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Grammar question
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When I was a student at university (a long time ago) my teachers told me that this sentence was not correct: "I want you to do it like I told you". Instead of like we should use "as" because a sentence followed the link, but I hear lots of songs or films where sentences like the one I gave as an example are very common. Are they correct?
Thanks in advance for your help
Yolanda
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11 Jan 2012
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David Lisgo
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I think "I want you to do it just like I told you." feels more natural. But someone else can make a judgement on the correctness of the original.
David
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11 Jan 2012
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yanogator
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According to the "rules", it should be "as". There was a television ad years ago for Winston cigarettes that said "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". People wasted a lot of time discussing the fact that it should be "as" instead of "like".
Languages evolve, and this is one point of English grammar that has definitely moved on. It is most common to hear "like" in this situation, and generally only curmudgeons with too much time on their hands use "as". As David said, it feels more natural with "like", because that is the way you are most likely to hear it these days.
Bruce |
11 Jan 2012
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pilarmham
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As far as I know, as is the correct form in British English, but you normally hear like in the U.S.A. |
11 Jan 2012
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ueslteacher
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See the usage note on like/as here (you have to scroll down)
Sophia
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11 Jan 2012
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Jayho
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Hi Yolanda
The informal use of �like � is is so common these days that hardly anyone know that it is actually grammatically incorrect. I agree with Bruce and David that using �as � sounds unnatural.
I imagine that in a native speaking country only the native speaking sticklers for grammar would teach it as incorrect.
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12 Jan 2012
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almaz
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Oddly enough, Jayho, even when it functions as a conjunction, it �s perfectly acceptable grammatically - just as it is when it functions as a preposition. This is from Merriam-Webster �s Dictionary of English Usage:
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12 Jan 2012
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