What's
wrong with this song title: You Make Me Feel Like I've Been Locked Out
Of Heaven?
If
you're a word nerd like me, the answer should jump out at you. The usage of 'Like' is wrong. It should be You Make Me Feel As If I've Been Locked Out Of Heaven. We don't
expect song writers to have perfect English. In fact, they often intentionally
use incorrect English in order to play with the words or sound folksy. We do expect writers and editors to have
perfect English, however.
If
you're one of the countless people who have wrongly used like and as if, don't feel
stupid. Many otherwise competent writers
of English make this mistake. Yours truly has made that error himself. It's what I call a word trap and there are many
in the English language.
Determining
the correct usage is actually quite simple. Like
is a preposition while as is a
conjunction. The correct use of like is when a noun or object
follows. He ran like a sprinter. As
should be used directly in front of a verb or clause. He ran as if he were a sprinter.
That's
all you need to know. Using the correct
word is not hard at all once you know the rule and it will allow you to avoid a
lot of embarrassing mistakes.
