Teacher Discussion Forums

Can anyone advise me as to the best way to explain the uses and differences of AS and LIKE?

1) Like: adj., adv., preposition;
1.1: Adj., often governing a noun as if a transitive participle (a gerund, such as 'rambling'), example: "This is more like him..."
1.2: Having similar or same qualities:
"As like as two pears..." "in like manner..."
1.3: "Good writers like Shakespeare..." (ohters that might be mentioned
in the same breath).

1.4: As a preposition: "Eat like a pig...";

2: "As...as", conjunction:
2.1: Comparison: "As wise as a philosopher...";
1.2: In conditional clauses: "...as if he was the emperor himself!"

There are some colloquialisms, I guess, where the border has been rendered fuzzy"
"Like I said..." (colloquial?) or "as I said..." (standard?).

THE FLAT WAS DESCRIBED AS WARM AND COSY. IT WAS MORE LIKE A PRISON CELL.

WHY DO WE NOT SAY IT WAS DESCRIBED LIKE OR IT WAS MORE AS A PRISON CELL?

You can't "describe LIKE a prison...", though you could "describe (something) like a prisoner (in the fashion of how prisoners' describe things, whatever that might mean!).

BUt:
"It was LIKE a prison..." sounds alright to me. "Was" is a linking verb, thus "a prison" is equated to "it" in the same manner as any adjective is.