Editing Like (section)

=== As a conjunction ===
''Like'' is often used in place of the [[subordinating conjunction]] ''as'', or ''as if''.<ref>{{cite news |title=As or like? |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/as-or-like |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref> 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|Winston tastes good—like a cigarette should.]]" The slogan was criticized for its usage by [[Prescription and description|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 [[List of English words with disputed usage|disputed]], however. In some circles, it is considered an error to use ''like'' instead of ''as'' or ''as if'' in formal prose.