American use of the word like

Why Americans Say Like_Thumb_1920x1080

  • «Like» is one of the most abused words in the English language. It’s so versatile and can be used in almost any sentence. 
  • The word was first popularized by the Beatniks in the 1950s as a sign of being cool. 
  • The word only reached mainstream popularity in the 1980s after the song «Valley Girl» became widely recognized. 
  • Now, the word «like» exists across every form of media and constantly evolves to remain part of the English language. 
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

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Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: So you’re, like, talking to your friends or coworkers, and you notice this strange pattern.

David Anderson: This happened, like, five minutes ago.

Abby Tang:We’ve been friends for, like, like, 11 years.

Medha Imam: And then I was like, «Hello?» And I was like, «Please, can I have my ticket?»

Irene Kim: I’m always weird about, like, well, like, they wanted to watch it together, and I was like, well, I don’t wanna sit there with them.

Narrator: Like it or hate it, you can actually hear the word «like» everywhere, from celebrities…

Kim Kardashian West: But, like, if they ask about your lips, like, own up to it.

Narrator: To movies.

Cher: But people came that, like, did not RSVP. So I was, like, totally buggin’.

Narrator: And, yes, our own mouths.

David: I say like all the time. Narrator: And most of the time…

Abby: No, I do not notice that I’m saying like. Unless it’s, like…oh, now I do!

Narrator: So, where exactly did this annoying trend begin? And more importantly, why?

Believe it or not, the way we use like can be traced back as far as the late 19th century. Right here on the pages from the 1886 Scottish novel «Kidnapped» by Robert Louis Stevenson. But it wasn’t until the 1950s that a certain group brought the word to spotlight: The Beat Generation.

The young, rebellious Beat Generation soon picked up the interjection as a sign of cool, and it was used so frequently that it turned into a trope for any beatnik characters in pop culture.

Spook: Like, how should I know, Jazz? Like, he never tells me nothing.

Dobie: What’s that on your chin?

Maynard: Can’t you tell, man? It’s, like, a beard.

Shaggy: Like, next time, signal!

Scooby: Sorry!

Narrator: The Beats played an important role in introducing the new use of like to a larger audience, especially the younger generations. And 20 years later, when the word rose to prominence once again, it wasn’t from the rebellious Beat writers in bars, but from the young girls in the malls of San Fernando Valley. And they had a name for themselves.

Reporter: They’re high-school girls with a lingo, style of dress, and philosophy all their own. They are: Valley girl!

Narrator: The Valley girl was a socioeconomic stereotype referring to the young, upper-class white girls living in the San Fernando Valley. These girls were known for spending days at the mall and dressing head to toe in pink, but what stood out the most was the way they spoke.

Moon Zappa: And think of the muscles straining and the jaw being, like, pulled out. Make it seem as if it’s rolling off your tongue. Let’s try: Barf out, I am sure!

Narrator: It even had its own name: Valley speak. It was what linguists call a sociolect, a set of dialect, slang, and words used by a specific class of people. It includes words and phrases like tubular, totally, grody, gag me with a spoon, some of which are still used today. And, of course, the word like. But it was still just a regional phenomenon, until a single record changed all of that.

♪ Valley girl ♪ ♪ She’s a Valley girl ♪

Narrator: In 1982, musician Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Zappa released their single «Valley Girl,» a novelty song written to mock and satirize the Valley girl culture. To their surprise, the song was a massive hit, peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard chart, and was even nominated for a Grammy. The song that was meant to be a parody had ironically turned Valley girls and Valley speak into a national phenomenon.

Frank Zappa: I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years, and this is the most successful record that has ever occurred, and the only reason that it’s successful is because it’s an accident.

Narrator: The Valley girls had turned from a stereotype that symbolized Southern California’s shallow materialism into a cool, idolized icon. And the Californian entertainment industry only fueled its spread, this time in movies and TV shows. A year after the song’s release, films like «Fast Times at Ridgemont High» and «Valley Girl» were made to quickly take advantage of the trend, which then led to other movies and shows, like «Clueless,» «Mean Girls,» and «Beverly Hills, 90210,» all targeting a younger demographic. Although pop culture has contributed to the word’s widespread popularity, linguists have come to believe that it might also be because of how we use the word.

Abby: Yeah, everyone says like. It’s just the way people, like, talk.

Narrator: The word originally began with just two definitions, the verb from the Old English «lician» meaning, to feel attracted towards, and the adjective from the Old English «lich,» meaning similar to. But over time, it’s not developed one, but four more definitions, each serving an entirely different purpose. Like the quotative, used to quote our own or someone else’s words.

Medha: She was just like, «Hey, do you have PayPal?» And I was like, «I don’t have PayPal, I have Venmo.»

Narrator: A filler mainly used for pause and flow.

Irene: It was really just amazing. Like, I kept thinking about it afterwards.

Narrator: An adverb, also known as a hedge, that’s used for approximation.

David: This happened, like, five minutes ago.

Narrator: And what’s known as a discourse particle, to emphasize a point.

Abby: She has this bananas phobia of blood. Like, it’s… she’s completely, like, debilitated.

Narrator: And that’s not all. Recent studies have suggested that the word might also have a social function, acting as a cue to seem informal and friendly, another reason why it’s so prevalent among young girls. Over the years, the way we use like has been used as a prime example of how younger generations are destroying the English language. The internet is full of advice on how to stop saying the word, and schools have gone as far as to ban their students from saying it. But chances are, they won’t work. If history has proven one thing, language evolves and spreads, no matter what we want. So as long as we continue to speak, how we say like is, like, not going anywhere.

[Irene laughing]

Irene: I did think of that, ’cause I was like, I think I’m saying like a little bit too often. But, no, I was being framed.

Read next

If you have studied English, you probably know what the word «like» means, but if you haven’t lived in the United States, you may be unfamiliar with the some of the more informal uses of the term. Here’s what you’ll need to know in order to understand native English speakers…

If you have studied English, you probably know what the word like means, but if you try to speak like an American and you haven’t lived in the United States, you may be unfamiliar with the some of the more informal uses of the term. Even though you may hesitate to use like in these less formal ways, they have become so common in day-to-day conversation that you’ll have a difficult time understanding native English speakers outside of your academic or professional life if you haven’t at least studied them. Included below are examples of the informal uses of like to help you speak like an American.

Formal Uses

To describe preferences

If you know enough English to read this article, you should be familiar with the word like as a verb used to describe preferences.

  • I like learning English on italki.
  • I like hamburgers more than hot dogs.

For comparisons

Like can also be used to compare two things.

  • That man looks like Tom Cruise.
  • One of these things is not like the other.              

Close in meaning to “such as”

Like can also be used to replace such as.

  • Technologies like smart phones and tablets are changing business.
  • Technologies such as smart phones and tablets are changing business.

Like in this example has about the same meaning as such as. The technologies the speaker has in mind that are changing business may include smart phones and tablets, but the speaker may also simply be referring to similar technologies. In the such as sentence, the technologies that the speaker thinks are changing business definitely include smart phones and tablets.

Close in meaning to “as if”

Like replaces as if to link two clauses together.

  • They spend money like they they’ve just won the lottery.
  • They spend money as if they’ve just won the lottery.

Note: The two previous usages are seen by some as informal, but they are so common that the average English speaker is not even aware of a difference.

Informal Uses

The informal uses of like will help you speak like an American.

To stop and think

Like can be used in the same way as the words um, uh, and well. It lets you pause in the middle of a sentence to figure out what else you want to say.

  • Person A: Are you coming with us on Friday?
  • Person B: I… like…don’t know yet because I might have to stay late at the office.

Giving an estimate, making an exaggeration

Like can be used to tell the listener that what you are about to say is approximate or that you are about to exaggerate.

  • Why are you still studying? We have like five minutes until the exam.

Here, it is likely that five minutes is only an approximation of the time remaining before the exam. The implication is that the speaker thinks it is a waste of time to study because there is such a short amount of time left.

  • Person A: Can you believe Sarah has a new boyfriend?
  • Person B: Yeah, she’s dated like thirty guys this year.

The truth may be that Sarah has only dated five guys this year. Thirty is an exaggeration.

Describing what you or someone else said or thought

Like may be used to describe what someone was saying at an earlier point in time.

In this case the word said is replaced by a form of the verb to be before the word like.

  • They wanted me to drive all of them, and I said, “No way. My old car might actually fall apart if we go that far.”
  • They wanted me to drive all of them, and I’m like, “No way. My old car might actually fall apart if we go that far.”

The first sentence above can only have one meaning, that the words were said just as they appear in quotation marks. The second sentence could have this same meaning, or it could represent a rewording of what the speaker actually said.

Like is often used to describe something you were thinking but did not say aloud.

  • Person A: How was work?
  • Person B: My boss said he wants me to finish the project by Friday, and I’m like, “is this guy crazy?”

In this conversation, Person B is describing to Person A what he was thinking; he did not actually say the words, “is this guy crazy?” to his boss.

Sometimes it’s difficult to determine which use (a quotation or a thought) is intended by the speaker.

  • Person A: How was work?
  • Person B: My boss said he wants me to finish the project by Friday, and I’m like, “are you crazy?”

In this case, Person B could either be describing what he was thinking or what he actually said out loud. The listener may have to ask for clarification. For example, “Did you actually say that to your boss?”

Emotional expression

Like, when used to indicate what someone was saying or thinking, is very useful for conversations where the speaker is expressing strong attitudes. Body language, facial expressions or non-verbal vocalizations that convey emotion can completely replace the words after the “be + like” construction to indicate how the speaker felt.

  • He was like, “don’t you know what you’re doing?” and I was like [shrugs shoulders].
  • He was like, “the repair won’t be cheap”, and I was like, [irritated sigh].

When to use informal like

Be aware that because of the extreme informality, these uses of like are often viewed negatively or are thought to be grammatically incorrect. Their acceptability varies with the age of the speaker and the context.

It may feel and sound awkward to use like in informal conversation until you have studied English for a while, and have spent a good amount of time talking with native speakers. A good rule to follow is that if you have to make a conscious effort to put a word or expression into a sentence, don’t use it.  When you have enough exposure to informal English that you use it without thinking, you will sound more like American English is your first language.

Hero Image (Like) by Luca Sartoni (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Why do Americans use the word «like» so much?

«She was like going into the house and they like just stood there, they didn’t like follow her, like it was like they didn’t see her.» And I was like, «Follow her! And they were like «Who?»

Its like they don’t realise how many times they use the word «like» So irritating in movies.

In English, the word like has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, semi-suffix.

UsesEdit

ComparisonsEdit

Like is one of the words in the English language that can introduce a simile (a stylistic device comparing two dissimilar ideas). It can be used as a preposition, as in «He runs like a cheetah»; it can also be used as a suffix, as in «She acts very child-like«. It can also be used in non-simile comparisons such as, «She has a dog like ours».[1]

As a conjunctionEdit

Like is often used in place of the subordinating conjunction as, or as if.[2] Examples:

  • They look like they have been having fun.
  • They look as if they have been having fun.

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 criticized for its usage by prescriptivists, the «as» 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 is considered a faux pas to use like instead of as or as if, whereas in other circles as sounds stilted.

As a nounEdit

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

  • She had many likes and dislikes.
  • We’ll never see the like again.

When used specifically on social media, it can refer to interactions with content posted by a user, commonly referred to as «likes» on websites such as Twitter or Instagram.

  • That picture you posted got a lot of likes!

As a verbEdit

As a verb, like generally refers to a fondness for something or someone.[1]

  • I like riding my bicycle.

Like can be used to express a feeling of attraction between two people that is weaker than love. It does not necessarily imply a romantic attraction.[3][4] Example:

  • Marc likes Denise.
  • I’ve taken a liking to our new neighbors.

Like can also be used to indicate a wish for something in a polite manner.[1] Example:

  • Would you like a cup of coffee?

As a colloquial adverbEdit

In some regional dialects of English, like may be used as an adverbial colloquialism in the construction be + like + to infinitive, meaning «be likely to, be ready to, be on the verge of.» Examples:

  • He was like to go back next time.
  • He was like to go mad.

As the following attest, this construction has a long history in the English language.

  • But Clarence had slumped to his knees before I had half-finished, and he was like to go out of his mind with fright. (Mark Twain, 1669, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court)
  • He saw he was like to leave such an heir. (Cotton Mather, 1853, Magnalia Christi Americana)
  • He was like to lose his life in the one [battle] and his liberty in the other [capture], but there was none of his money at stake in either. (Charles MacFarlane and Thomas Napier Thomson, 1792, Comprehensive History of England)
  • He was in some fear that if he could not bring about the King’s desires, he was like to lose his favor. (Gilbert Burnet, 1679, History of the Reformation of the Church of England)

As a colloquial quotativeEdit

Like is sometimes used colloquially as a quotative to introduce a quotation or impersonation. This is also known as «quotation through simile». The word is often used to express that what follows is not an exact quotation but instead gives a general feel for what was said. In this usage, like functions in conjunction with a verb, generally be (but also say, think, etc.), as in the following examples:[5]

  • He was like, «I’ll be there in five minutes.»
  • She was like, «You need to leave the room right now!»

Like can also be used to paraphrase an implicitly unspoken idea or sentiment:

  • I was like, «Who do they think they are?»

The marking of past tense is often omitted (compare historical present):

  • They told me all sorts of terrible things, and I’m like «Forget it then.»[6]

It is also sometimes used to introduce non-verbal mimetic performances, e.g., facial expressions, hand gestures, body movement, as well as sounds and noises:[7]

  • I was like [speaker rolls eyes].
  • The car was like, «vroom!»

The use of like as a quotative is known to have been around since at least the 1980s.[8]

As a discourse particle, filler or hedgeEdit

HistoryEdit

The word like has developed several non-traditional uses in informal speech. Especially since the late 20th century onward, it has appeared, in addition to its traditional uses, as a colloquialism across all dialects of spoken English, serving as a discourse particle, filler, hedge, speech disfluency, or other metalinguistic unit.[9] Although these particular colloquial uses of like appear to have become widespread rather recently, its use as a filler is a fairly old regional practice in Welsh English and in Scotland, it was used similarly at least as early as the 19th century. It is traditionally, though not quite every time, used to finish a sentence in the Northern English dialect Geordie.[10] It may also be used in a systemic format to allow individuals to introduce what they say, how they say and think.[11]

Despite such prevalence in modern-day spoken English, these colloquial usages of like rarely appear in writing (unless the writer is deliberately trying to replicate colloquial dialogue) and they have long been stigmatized in formal speech or in high cultural or high social settings. Furthermore, this use of like seems to appear most commonly, in particular, among natively English-speaking children and adolescents, while less so, or not at all, among middle-aged or elderly adults. One suggested explanation for this phenomenon is the argument that younger English speakers are still developing their linguistic competence, and, metalinguistically wishing to express ideas without sounding too confident, certain, or assertive, use like to fulfill this purpose.[9]

In pop culture, such colloquial applications of like (especially in verbal excess) are commonly and often comedically associated with Valley girls, as made famous through the song «Valley Girl» by Frank Zappa, released in 1982, and the film of the same name, released in the following year. The stereotyped «valley girl» language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by younger generations.

This non-traditional usage of the word has been around at least since the 1950s, introduced through beat (or beatnik) 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; this was reinforced in later decades by the character of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo (who was based on Krebs).

Very early use of this locution[citation needed] can be seen in a New Yorker cartoon of 15 September 1928, in which two young ladies are discussing a man’s workplace: «What’s he got – an awfice?» «No, he’s got like a loft.»

It is also used in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by the narrator as part of his teenage slang and in the Top Cat cartoon series from 1961 to 1962 by the jazz beatnik type characters.

A common eye dialect spelling is lyk.

ExamplesEdit

Like can be used in much the same way as «um…» or «er…» as a discourse particle. It has become common especially among North American teenagers to use the word «like» in this way, as in Valspeak. For example:

  • I, like, don’t know what to do.

It is also becoming more often used (East Coast Scottish English, Northern England English, Hiberno-English and Welsh English in particular) at the end of a sentence, as an alternative to you know. This usage is sometimes considered to be a colloquial interjection and it implies a desire to remain calm and defuse tension:

  • I didn’t say anything, like.
  • Just be cool, like.

Use of like as a filler has a long history in Scots English, as in Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel Kidnapped:

«What’ll like be your business, mannie?»
«What’s like wrong with him?» said she at last.

Like can be used as hedge 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. It may indicate that the phrase in which it appears is to be taken metaphorically or as a hyperbole. This use of like is sometimes regarded as adverbial, as like is often synonymous here with adverbial phrases of approximation, such as «almost» or «more or less». Examples:

  • I have, like, no money left.
  • The restaurant is only, like, five miles from here.
  • I, like, almost died!

Conversely, like may also be used to indicate a counterexpectation to the speaker, or to indicate certainty regarding the following phrase.[5] Examples:

  • There was, like, a living kitten in the box!
  • This is, like, the only way to solve the problem.
  • I, like, know what I’m doing, okay?

In the UK reality television series Love Island the word ‘like’ has been used an average of 300 times per episode, much to the annoyance of viewers.[12]

See alsoEdit

  • Like button

BibliographyEdit

  • Andersen, Gisle. (1998). The pragmatic marker like from a relevance-theoretic perspective. In A. H. Jucker & Y. Ziv (Eds.) Discourse markers: Descriptions and Theory (pp. 147–70). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Andersen, Gisle. (2000). The role of the pragmatic marker like in utterance interpretation. In G. Andersen & T. Fretheim (Ed.), Pragmatic markers and propositional attitude: Pragmatics and beyond (pp. 79). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Barbieri, Federica. (2005). Quotative use in American English. A corpus-based, cross-register comparison. Journal of English Linguistics, 33, (3), 225-256.
  • Barbieri, Federica. (2007). ‘Older men and younger women’: A corpus-based study of quotative use in American English. English World-Wide, 28, (1), 23-45.
  • Blyth, Carl, Jr.; Recktenwald, Sigrid; & Wang, Jenny. (1990). I’m like, ‘Say what?!’: A new quotative in American oral narrative. American Speech, 65, 215-227.
  • Cruse, A. (2000). Meaning in language. An introduction to semantics and pragmatics.
  • Cukor-Avila, Patricia; (2002). She says, she goes, she is like: Verbs of quotation over time in African American Vernacular English. American Speech, 77 (1), 3-31.
  • Dailey-O’Cain, Jennifer. (2000). The sociolinguistic distribution of and attitudes toward focuser like and quotative like. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4, 60–80.
  • D’Arcy, Alexandra. (2017). Discourse-pragmatic variation in context: Eight hundred years of LIKE. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Ferrara, Kathleen; & Bell, Barbara. (1995). Sociolinguistic variation and discourse function of constructed dialogue introducers: The case of be+like. American Speech, 70, 265-289.
  • Fleischman, Suzanne. (1998). Des jumeaux du discours. La Linguistique, 34 (2), 31-47.
  • Golato, Andrea; (2000). An innovative German quotative for reporting on embodied actions: Und ich so/und er so ‘and I’m like/and he’s like’. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 29–54.
  • Jones, Graham M. & Schieffelin, Bambi B. (2009). Enquoting Voices, Accomplishing Talk: Uses of Be+Like in Instant Messaging. Language & Communication, 29(1), 77-113.
  • Jucker, Andreas H.; & Smith, Sara W. (1998). And people just you know like ‘wow’: Discourse markers as negotiating strategies. In A. H. Jucker & Y. Ziv (Eds.), Discourse markers: Descriptions and theory (pp. 171–201). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A., & Leap, W. (2009). Introducing sociolinguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Miller, Jim; Weinert, Regina. (1995). The function of like in dialogue. Journal of Pragmatics, 23, 365-93.
  • Romaine, Suzanne; Lange, Deborah. (1991). The use of like as a marker of reported speech and thought: A case of grammaticalization in progress. American Speech, 66, 227-279.
  • Ross, John R.; & Cooper, William E. (1979). Like syntax. In W. E. Cooper & E. C. T. Walker (Eds.), Sentence processing: Psycholinguistic studies presented to Merrill Garrett (pp. 343–418). New York: Erlbaum Associates.
  • Schourup, L. (1985). Common discourse particles: «Like», «well», «y’know». New York: Garland.
  • Siegel, Muffy E. A. (2002). Like: The discourse particle and semantics. Journal of Semantics, 19 (1), 35-71.
  • Taglimonte, Sali; & Hudson, Rachel. (1999). Be like et al. beyond America: The quotative system in British and Canadian youth. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3 (2), 147-172.
  • Tagliamonte, Sali, and Alexandra D’Arcy. (2004). He’s like, she’s like: The quotative system in Canadian youth. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 8 (4), 493-514.
  • Underhill, Robert; (1988). Like is like, focus. American Speech, 63, 234-246.

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ a b c «Like». Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  2. ^ «As or like?». Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Seltzer, Leon F (March 7, 2017). «‘I Have Feelings for You,’ Its Eight Different Meanings». Psychology Today. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  4. ^ Tigar, Lindsay (January 19, 2016). «How to Say ‘I Like You’ When You’re Not Ready for ‘I Love You’«. Bustle. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  5. ^ a b McWhorter, John (November 25, 2016). «The Evolution of ‘Like’«. The Atlantic. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  6. ^ Quoted from: Daniel P. Cullen, «I’m Learning as I Go, and I Don’t Like That»: Urban Community College Students’ College Literacy, ProQuest, 2008, p. 210.
  7. ^ «Linguists are like, ‘Get used to it!’«. The Boston Globe.
  8. ^ Blyth, Carl; Recktenwald, Sigrid; Wang, Jenny (1990). «I’m like, «Say What?!»: A New Quotative in American Oral Narrative». American Speech. 65 (3): 215–227. doi:10.2307/455910. JSTOR 455910.
  9. ^ a b Andersen, Gisle; Thorstein Fretheim, eds. (2000). Pragmatic Markers and Propositional Attitude. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 31–3. ISBN 9027250987.
  10. ^ Wolfson, Sam (15 May 2022). «Why do people, like, say, ‘like’ so much?». The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2022. But there are more uses than that, for example the Geordie tradition of finishing sentences with a like.
  11. ^ Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A., & Leap, W. (2009). Introducing sociolinguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
  12. ^ Griffiths, Sian; Julie Henry (June 16, 2019). «Like it or not, they can’t stop saying it on Love Island». The Times. London.

External linksEdit

Look up like in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

  • See Fleischman (1998) (JSTOR 30249153) for a parallel discussion of like and the similar discourse particle genre in French.

Red Level

Lesson Thirteen

The word “like” gets special attention in this level because it’s a popular word in English. Understanding how to use “like” is important.

 1. “Like” expresses your happiness with something or someone:

I like this ice cream. / I like my neighbors.

 2. “Like” is used to make comparisons and to ask questions about people and things:

  • Question: What is it like to live in Minnesota in January?
  • Answer: It’s like living in Siberia.
  • Question: Why is he like that?
  • Answer: I don’t know. He’s just naturally a mean person.
food food

A cantaloupe is like a honeydew melon.

or use kind of like:

kind of like = similar to

A honeydew melon tastes

kind of like a cantaloupe.

This video provides some more examples.

 3. “Like” is often used with “would” as a polite way of asking what a person wants. You often hear this in restaurants:

Question: What would you like to have for lunch?

waitress
Answer: I’d like a veggie sub, french fries, and a coke.

(note the use of the contraction: I’d like = I would like.)

diner

 4. “How do you like…” is used to ask if someone likes something. It’s very similar to “Do you like _______?”

  • Question: How do you like living in this city?
  • Answer: It’s great. I really like it.
  • Question: How do you like your pizza?
  • Answer: It’s awesome!

This YouTube video offers additional examples and explanations for “How do you like _______?”

 5. “Like” sometimes doesn’t mean anything at all. Americans use it in the same way they use “you know” and “uuhhhh….” Try to avoid doing this when you speak English. It’s a bad habit. Teenagers use this “like” a lot.

  • That movie was, like, so good.
  • I was, like, really mad at my teacher because he gave me a bad grade, and he was, like, “Here. you earned this.”

____________________________________________

Warning: “I like.” The verb should have an object somewhere after it. (The exception is example #5.)

  • Question: Do you like this car?
  • Answer: Yes, I like. (incorrect!)
  • Answer: Yes, I like it. (correct!) Or…I like this car.

Next: Lesson Fourteen
adjectives

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