Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Using "like" to talk about similarity in English

We can use both "like" and "as" to say how things are similar in English.

Remember: the grammar of these two words is different. "Like" is followed by a noun or pronoun, while "as" is followed by a subject and verb, or a preposition.

Example: "You're just like your mother!"
"I think the same as you do."

For more information on how to use like / as, see this grammar page.

We can use "like" in other ways to talk about similarity.

to resemble
look like: "She looks like her mother."

to describe
to be like: "What's he like?
"What is it like?"
It's a bit like …."

With sense verbs
feel like: "This feels like plastic to me."

taste like: "This cake is fabulous – it tastes like a cross between mousse and ice-cream."

smell like: "It smells like something has gone off in the fridge."

sounds like: "It sounds like we won't be able to go on holiday after all."

looks like / looks as if: "It looks like it's going to rain" / "It looks as if it's going to rain."


Examples:

Fill in the blanks with a type of holiday.

1. I like going on package holidays, because I don't have to worry about booking hotels or flights.

2. Next weekend is a bank holiday weekend. We've got three days to do something interesting.

3. When we were in Paris, we decided to pay for a sightseeing tour. It was worth it, as we got to see all the sights.

4. They've taken Friday and Monday off work, so they've got a long weekend.

5. Let's get up early tomorrow and go off somewhere on a day trip.

6. In the UK, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are public holidays.

7. The travel agent is advertising city breaks to Barcelona.

8. For their honeymoon, they've booked themselves a caribbean cruise.

9. Her children learnt how to climb rocks on their outward-bound course.
Exercise

Complete the following sentences.

1. I went to Scotland last month.
Oh really? What ———- ?
Beautiful.

2. Have you met David's brother, Paul?
He's just —— him.
I think that physically they both take after their father – they ———– him.

3. What's this made of? It ——- cotton, but it looks —– linen.

4. I want to go to the beach today. It ——— it's going to be a beautiful day.

6. This soup is wonderful. It ——– a combination of tomatoes and potatoes.

 

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Parts of Speech