“Like” is not a conjunction — for most grammarians

February 4th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

In grammar, a conjunction is a connecting word. The most common, called “coordinating conjunctions,” are “and,” “but” and “or.”

Our old friend “as” also can serve as a conjunction, a type known as “subordinating.” Most grammarians frown on using “like” instead of “as” for this function. A frequently used example of this issue is the old cigarette slogan “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.”

No, no, scream the usage experts, “like” should have been “as.” “As” can be used to link two clauses, but “like” cannot.

In his new book “Alphabet Juice,” Roy Blount Jr. writes that such “as” issues “have been thrashed out over the years. If anyone gets apoplectic anymore” over the Winston slogan, “it’s to do with cancer, not grammar.”

Anyone but grammarians, that is. Even the most permissive are reluctant to give ground on this one, although they also acknowledge that change is in the wind. For instance, Webster’s already includes “like” as a conjunction, labeling it “informal.”

Bryan A. Garner puts it this way in “Garner’s Modern American Usage”:

“It is acceptable casual English; it isn’t yet in the category of unimpeachable English.”

There’s that impeaching thing again.

Entry Filed under: word choices, strict usage