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To the bottom of a most pressing matter

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Last evening I said,

If you, like me, like poking around junk stores

Covered Casseroles post

I then posted the question, “Should that be ‘as I’?” Concluded it should, and awaited SueK’s response.

SueK agreed, “as I” and offered a rephrasing. I feel as if (!) we should get to the bottom of this, and so we will consult our two favorite authorities on all things grammatical, John C. Hodges (Harbrace Handbook of English, 1951) and William R. Strunk, Jr. (The Elements of Style, 1951).

From the Harbrace Handbook:

Like, as, as if. Use like as a preposition, not as a conjunction. Use as or as if as a conjunction.

WRONG It looks like it would rain. RIGHT It looks as if it would rain.

WRONG Do like I do. RIGHT Do as I do.

RIGHT He worked like a man.

More from The Elements of Style:

Like. Not to be used for as. Like governs nouns and pronouns; before phrases and clauses the equivalent word is as.

Like has always been widely misused by the illiterate; lately it has been taken up by the knowing and well-informed, who find it catchy, or liberating, and who use it as though they were slumming.

Strunk

“… as though they were slumming.” Awesome.

6 Responses

  1. I think Strunk would be sunk if he had to cope with the internet!! And…not just the internet! I’ve had some pet peeves….rein/reign, …there’s another one of the same type, but I’ve forgotten it…but at the moment my pet peeve is the number of people who use “more” instead of simply adding “er” or “est” to the appropriate word.
    Grammar is a bygone skill…
    And they’re not teaching cursive writing skills in school any more.
    We’re definitely moving backwards educationally!
    (and we won’t even begin to touch common core math)

  2. “WRONG Do like I do. RIGHT Do as I do.”

    ALL wrong!!!! “Do as I _SAY_…NOT as I do” !

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