Like Totally Explained

Everything about Like totally explained

In English, the word like can be a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, interjection, and quotative.

Word history

As a preposition or adjective, it comes from the Middle English like meaning "similar", which in turn comes from Anglo-Saxon gelīc and Old Norse líkr. The verb "to like" came from Anglo-Saxon līcian. Both words may be related to Anglo-Saxon līc = "body", and are cognates of the modern German adjective "gleich" (=same, equal) and the modern Dutch "gelijk".

As a preposition used in comparisons

Like is one of the words in the English language that can introduce a simile. Examples:

He eats like a pig.
He has a toy like hers.

(Note: This last example isn't a simile, which compares two dissimilar things. The fact that the toys are similar precludes this example from being a simile. "His toy spun like Fourth of July fireworks" would work because, although the toy and the fireworks are essentially different, the comparison helps explain how the toy moved.)

As a conjunction

Like is often used in place of the subordinating conjunction as or as if. Examples:

They look like they don't want to go to school.

They look as if they don't want to go to school. Many people became aware of the two options in 1954, when a famous ad campaign for Winston cigarettes introduced the slogan "Winston tastes good — like a cigarette should." The slogan was criticised for its usage by prescriptivists, the "as" or "as if" construction being considered more proper. Winston countered with another ad, featuring a woman with greying hair in a bun who insists that ought to be "Winston tastes good as a cigarette should" and is shouted down by happy cigarette smokers asking "What do you want — good grammar or good taste?"
The appropriateness of its usage as a conjunction is still disputed, however. In some circles it's considered a faux pas to use like instead of as or as if, whereas in other circles as sounds stilted.

As a verb

Generally as a verb like refers to a fondness for something or someone. Examples:

I like traveling.

He doesn't like lima beans. Like can be used to express a feeling of attraction between two people, weaker than love and distinct from it in important ways. Examples:

He likes Jane. ť When using the term in this context, many teenagers will differentiate between a mere positive feeling towards someone and a crush by saying "like like" whereas "like" refers to as a friend. Alternately, this differentiation can be made by stressing the word like instead of repeating it. Example:

ť * Do you "like" her or do you "like like" her?

As a noun

Like can be used as a noun meaning "preference" or "kind". Examples:

We'll never see the like again.

She had many likes and dislikes.

In slang and colloquial speech

The word like has developed several non-traditional uses in informal speech. These uses of like are commonly associated with Valley girls in pop culture, as made famous through the song "Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa, released in 1982, and the film of the same name, released the following year. The stereotyped "valley girl" language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by younger generations.
   However, non-traditional usage of the word has been around at least since the 1950s, introduced through beat and jazz culture. The beatnik character Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) in the popular Dobie Gillis TV series of 1959-1963 brought the expression to prominence. The word finds similar use in Scooby Doo (which originated in 1969) :
Shaggy: "Like, let's get outta here, Scoob!"
   It is also used in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by the narrator as part of his teenage slang. "I, like, didn't say anything."
   Such uses of the word like can now be found virtually everywhere English is spoken, particularly by young, native English speakers.

As an adverb

Like can be used as an adverb meaning "nearly" or to indicate that the phrase in which it appears is to be taken metaphorically. This is normally considered to be 'lazy' speech. Examples:

I, like, died!

They, like, hate you!

As a quotative

Like is sometimes used as a verbum dicendi to introduce a quotation or paraphrase, especially if the quote is being recited from short-term memory and therefore may or may not be exact. If the speaker changes his or her voice to impersonate the person who said the quotation, it's probably in exact words. As in the examples below, Like for this usage is always joined with a "to be" verb (was, were, is etc). Examples:

She was, like, no way!

He was like, I'll be there in five minutes.

He was like [speaker'svoice deepens], "you need to leave the room right now!" Like can also be used to communicate a pantomime, or to paraphrase an explicitly unspoken idea or sentiment:

I was like [speakerrolls eyes].

I was like, who does she think she is? Sometimes used to introduce non-verbal quotations. For instance, facial expressions, or even miming whole-body actions (tripping, walking into something) by use of hand gestures.
See Golato (2000) for a similar quotative in German.

As a hedge

Like can be used to indicate that the following phrase will be an approximation or exaggeration, or that the following words may not be quite right, but are close enough. Examples:

I have, like, no money.

The restaurant is, like, five miles from here.

As a discourse particle or interjection

Like can also be used in much the same way as um... It has become a trend among North American teenagers to use the word like in this way.(see Valspeak, discourse marker, and speech disfluency):

I, like, don't know what to do. It is also becoming more often used (Northern England and Hiberno-English in particular) at the end of a sentence, as an alternative to you know:

I didn't say, like, anything. Use of "like" as a filler is a fairly old practice in Welsh English.
See Fleischman (1998)

for a similar discourse particle in French.

As a way to use an onomatopoeia as a verb

For example, "It was like, boom!" can be substituted for "It exploded!"
This usage is often expressed with exuberance, extremely casual, and combined with non-verbal elements.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Like'.

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