A Dictionary of Cont..

like 276
food, that I like it, bzzt it doesn’t like me, unintentionally
combines the present and the earliest
meaning of the verb. See also love.
Like may be followed by an infinitive, as in
she likes to travel. It may also be followed by
an -ing form, as in she likes traveling. Some people
object to this but it is generally acceptable
in the United States. Like cannot be followed by
a clause. We cannot say I like that you are here.
In order to say what amounts to the same thing
we must insert it as the object of like, as in I like
it that you are here. The clause then qualifies
the word it instead of functioning as the object
of like.
In literary English for is not used after like to
introduce the subject of an infinitive, as in he
would like for you to come, and the simpler
form, he would like you to come, is required.
(See for.) But like for is generally acceptable
in the United States. It is standard in the southern
states and considered “southern” elsewhere.
In Great Britain the auxiliary should (and
not would) is used with like when the subject
of the verb is I or we, as in I should like to go.
To British ears I would like seems to say “I am
determined to enjoy.” When the subject of the
verb is anything except I, we, or you, the auxiliary
would (and not should) is used, as in they
would like to go. When the subject of the verb
is you, the rules are more complicated. See
shall; will.
In the United States the British should like is
sometimes heard but would is generally preferred,
regardless of the subject of the verb. TO
most Americans, I shozdd like seems to say “I
know I ought to enjoy.”
ADJECTIVE, ADVERB, AND PREPOSITION
When like is used as an adjective or an adverb
it is followed by an object and this makes it
indistinguishable from a preposition. The object
may be any noun equivalent, including the -ing
form of a verb, as in Z felt like laughing. If the
obiect is a personal pronoun it must have the
objective form, as in like me. A subjective pronoun
following like, as in a girl like I, is not
standard. In current English like always means
similar to or resembling. It could once be used,
as likely is, to mean probable, as in he is like to
die and there were more like eight of us. This
use is heard today but is old fashioned or questionable.
In older literary English like is sometimes
used in the comparative or superlative form, as
in liker to a madman and likest to a hogshead.
These forms are now archaic and today like is
always compared by using the words more or
most.
Like is also used as a suffix, as in owl-like.
(For the use of the hyphen, see suffixes.) It
should not be used to modify or tone down a
full statement, as in she was out of her mind
like and he didn’t pass his examinationr like.
like; as. When like is followed by a full clause
instead of a simple noun or noun equivalent
object, it is being used as a conjunction, as in
you don’t know Nellie like Z do and wood does
not contract like steel does. This is an estab-
lished function of the word as. (See as.) Some
people believe that it is a grammatical mistake
to use like in this way. But they are a minority.
The second example quoted above is taken from
the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Keats wrote, it is astonishing how they
raven down scenery like children do sweet meats.
The construction is also found in the writings
of Shakespeare, More, Sidney, Dryden, Smollett,
Burns, Southey, Coleridge, Shelley, Darwin,
Newman. BrontE. Thackerav, Morris, Kipling,
Shaw, Wells, Ma&field, and Maugham. - -
During the nineteenth century literary gentlemen
felt strongly about this question. Those
whose education had been chiefly Greek and
Latin said that the use of like as a conjunction
was a vulgarism. But Furnivall, the foremost
English language scholar of the period, defended
it. He tells how on one occasion, “having to
answer some ignorant in a weekly about the use
of like, I said to Morris: ‘Have you ever used
like as a conjunction?’ ‘Certainly I have,’ answered
Morris, ‘constantly.’ ‘But you know
there’s a set of prigs who declare it’s vulgar and
unhistorical.’ ‘Yes I know. They’re a lot of
damned fools.’ ” But Tennyson belonged to the
other camn. He told Furnivall: “It’s a modern
vulgarismthat I have seen grow up within the
last thirty years; and when Prince Albert used
it in my drawing room, I pulled him up for it,
in the presence of the Queen, and told him he
never ought to use it again.” Actually, the Prince
was speaking a more classical English than
Tennyson realized.
Around 1600 like was used with a preposition,
usually to, whenever a person or thing was being
compared, that is, when it qualified a noun
or pronoun, as in like to one more rich in hope
and like unto whited sepulchres. It was used with
as when the comparison involved an action,
that is, involved a clause containing a verb, expressed
or implied, as in like as a father pitieth
his children, and the description of the ghost in
Hamlet which moved like as it would speak.
But about that time the to began to be
dropped out and its meaning was carried by like,
which in this way took on the functions of a
preposition. This can be seen happening in Hamlet’s
words: no more like my father than Z to
Hercules. By now this has become standard English
and we would normally say like whitened
sepzzlchres. But as was dropping out of these
constructions too, at about the same time. Shakespeare
felt that like could carry the meaning of
as, and so function as a conjunction, just as it
carried the meaning of to. Juliet says, no man
like he doth grieve my heart-that is, no one
grieves her as he does.
The modern purist claims that like is correctly
used when it functions as a preposition and carries
the meaning of like to, and incorrectly used
when it functions as a conjunction and carries
the meaning like as. There is no doubt but that
like is accepted as a conjunction in the United
States today and that there is excellent literary
tradition for this. There is no reason why anyone
should take the trouble to learn when like is a