like - as - the way

◊ used as conjunctions

You can use like, as, or the way as conjunctions when you are comparing one person's behaviour or appearance to another's. In the clause which follows the conjunction, the verb is usually `do'.

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For example, you can say `He walked to work every day, like his father had done', `He walked to work every day, as his father had done', or `He walked to work every day, the way his father had done'.

How can you live like she does?

They were people who spoke and thought as he did.

Start lending things, the way people did in the war.

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Learners used to be taught that only as was correct in sentences like these, but this use now sounds rather formal or literary. In conversation, people usually use like or the way.

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◊ used as prepositions

Like and as can be used as prepositions, but their meaning is not usually the same. For example, if you do something like a particular kind of person, you do it the way that kind of person would do it, although you are not that kind of person.

We worked like slaves.

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If you do something as a particular kind of person, you are that kind of person.

Over the summer she worked as a waitress.

I can only speak as a married man without children.

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