6-1 Like: Verb Or Preposition?

The word “like” in English has many uses. Sometimes it is a verb, and sometimes it is
a preposition.

Examples:

 What do you like doing in the  What would you like to do after 
evenings? (verb) school? (verb)

 What does your brother look like?  My country isn’t like Canada at
(preposition) all. (preposition)

 What is your country like?

(preposition)

As a verb

Like

Because “like” is a verb, we need an auxiliary verb in questions and negative sentences. We
also need the auxiliary verb, “will” when we talk about the future.

Examples:

 I don’t like this coffee very much.  Do you like flying kites?

 Did you like San Francisco?  She doesn’t like to study at the library.

 He will probably like the movie.

Would Like
In this usage, “would like” has a different meaning than “like.” It is more similar to
“want”. Don’t forget to use the auxiliary verb, “would” in this meaning.

Examples:

 What would you like to eat tonight?

 She wouldn’t like to see that movie because it’s scary.

 I would like to have a cup of coffee please.

As a preposition

What...like?
This is the most common way to ask for descriptions in English. We do not use “like” in the
answers.
This is a prepositional usage of “like,” so usually the main verb is “be.”
In these questions, the meaning is “tell me about this because I don’t know anything about it.”

Examples:

 What’s your country like?

o It’s pretty big, warm, and cheap.

 What are your mother and father like?

o My mother is really friendly and nice, but my father is a little more

quiet.

 What was the movie like last night?

o Um, it was okay. The actors were great, but the story was slightly
boring.

 What were the students like?

o They were very hard-working and polite.

How

How...? has a different meaning. How...? usually asks someone to tell you about:

Someone’s health or happiness:

 How are you? (Are you healthy?) (Are you happy?)

 How is your mother? (Is she healthy?) (Is she happy?)

A short reaction to something:

 How’s the food? (Is it okay?)

 How was the movie? (Was it okay?)

Look at the difference in answers between how...? and what...like?:

Example One:

 How is your family?

o Oh, they’re doing well these days.

  What’s your family like?

o My family? There are four people in my family. Myself, my brother,

my mother and my father. My mother is a kind woman and she is a
teacher. My father is also very nice and he is a businessman. My
brother is 25 years old and he is a university student.

Example Two:

 How’s the soup?

o Actually, it’s terrible.

 What’s the soup like?

o Well, it’s a little spicy but good. It has lots of vegetables and chicken. I think I’ll
order this again in the future.

Like (Similar to~)

Another meaning of “like” is “similar to” something.

Examples:

 That restaurant is a lot like McDonald’s.

 She looks like my mother a little.

 This tastes like chicken!

In this usage, “like” is often used with the following verbs:

 be like...

 look like...

 sound like...

 feel like...

 taste like...

 smell like...

Remember, prepositions introduce nouns. You must say a noun after “like.”

Examples:
  Your car smells like cigarettes inside.

 This tastes like candy.

 He looks like an athlete.

 This music sounds like a broken engine.

 She isn’t like you.

Like (For example)

Another preposition usage of “like” is “for example” or "such as." This is very common in
speaking, but it is not common in writing because it is not very formal.

Examples:

 I love eating vegetables, like potatoes and carrots.

 He never drives American cars, like Chevrolets or Fords.

 Could you buy some food, like chips or cookies or something?

6-2 Comparative Adjectives

When we compare things using adjectives, we must use comparative adjectives.

Short Adjectives  cheap  cheaper

 tall  taller

 fat  fatter

Adjectives That End In ~y  funny  funnier

 easy  easier

 pretty  prettier

Adjectives With More Than Two Syllables  boring  more boring

 interesting  more interesting

 wonderful  more wonderful

 beautiful  more beautiful

 Irregular Adjectives  good  better

 bad  worse

 far  farther

Spelling: Short Adjectives

1. For short adjectives that end in one vowel + one consonant, we double the
consonant when changed to a comparative adjective:

Examples:

 big  fat  hot

 bigger  fatter  hotter

No Change (Not one vowel + one consonant):

 short  small  young

 shorter  smaller  younger

Than (Not “then”)

2. Than is often used when using a comparative adjective:

Examples:

 Vancouver is smaller than Seoul.

 The department store is more expensive than the grocery store.

 Titanic was more interesting than Avatar.

Much / Far / Way

3. Much, far, and way are used to give emphasis when we compare. Way is common in
speaking and is not very formal.

Examples:

 Saudi Arabia is bigger than Japan.

 Canada is much bigger than Japan.

  Brazil’s soccer players are better than USA’s.

 Brazil’s soccer players are way better than Canada’s.

As...as

4. This form is used to show that something is the same or equal. With this form, we do not
use comparative adjectives.

Examples:

 Vancouver is as big as Boston.

 Peter is as old as me.

 Jenny is as nice as my old roommate.

Not as...as

5. This form is used to show that something isn’t the same or equal. Again, with this
form, we do not use comparative adjectives.

Examples:

 Brazil isn’t as big as Canada.

 Toronto isn’t as warm as Vancouver.

 Gas wasn’t as expensive as I thought.

 The dinner wasn’t as good as lunch.

6-3 Superlative Adjectives

Superlative Adjectives are used when we want to say that something is #1 in a group.
We always use the determiner, “the” with Superlative Adjectives.

Short Adjectives  cheap  the cheapest

 tall  the tallest

 fat  the fattest

Adjectives That End In ~y  funny  the funniest

 easy  the easiest

  pretty  the prettiest

Adjectives With More Than  boring  the most boring

Two Syllables
 interesting  the most
interesting
 wonderful
 the most
 beautiful
wonderful

 the most
beautiful

Irregular Adjectives  good  the best

 bad  the worst

 far  the farthest /

furthest

Spelling: Short Adjectives

Like comparative adjectives studied in Grammar 6-2, we double the consonant in short
adjectives that end in one vowel + one consonant when changed to a superlative adjective:

Examples:

 big  fat  hot

 the biggest  the fattest  the hottest

No Change (Not one vowel + one consonant):

 short  small  young

 the shortest  the smallest  the youngest

Meaning

Superlative adjectives are usually used to say that something is #1 in a group.

Examples:

 She is the smartest student in the class.

  This is the most delicious pizza in the world!

 He is the laziest person I know.

One Of The ~

Superlative adjectives are also used with the phrase, “one of the ~” to give the adjective a very
strong meaning. The noun is always plural if you can count it.

Examples:

 Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

o (Vancouver is a VERY beautiful city.)

 He is one of the most famous actors in the world.

o (He is a VERY famous actor.)

 John is one of the most selfish people I know.

o (John is a VERY selfish person.)

VOCABULARY

Nouns
Architecture
area
attention
bath
bridge
climate
hometown
human
jacket
kite
lawn
leader
match
personality
sunshine
training

Verbs
bump into
describe
explain
feed
itch
require
scratch
sneeze

Adjectives
active
allergic
famous
friendly
independent
loyal
miserable
needy
pretty
quiet
selfish

Adverbs
generally