I Have a Grammar Question

[paulinem]

Okay, so I have a million, but I'll start with one and I hope it makes sense!?!

I found a site a while back (called Grammarly), that shows the errors in text.

Now, what you do (for those who may not of heard of this site), is you paste your text in the box and it brings up a report of where the errors are, such as:

Punctuation within a sentence – 1 error

Or

Passive voice use – 2 errors

Now, usually when I use this program it will only show what the errors are (as in: Spelling-1), however this morning it gave me an explanation (you have to be a registered member and pay a fee to get the full service, thought they do have free trials, I think it was to demonstrate what I’m missing). Anyhoo this is part of the text I had:

He legs felt like they were encased in lead boots as he dragged his feet through the quiet halls of Enterprise. It had become a nightly ritual, a pilgrimage he had taken for the last thirteen nights.

This is one of the reports I was provided:

Review this sentence for use of “like” and “as”.

Ensure you have properly used “like” in your sentence.

Because the word is connecting two clauses, consider changing “like” to “as”.

The confusion in using “like” or “as” is caused by a lack of understanding of the word’s role. “Like” is used as a preposition, telling where, when or how the noun in the sentence is doing whatever it may be doing. “As” is used like a conjunction, joining two clauses. A general rule-of-thumb is that “like” should be followed by an object (to make a prepositional phrase), and “as” should be followed by a clause containing a verb. Frequently, “as” can be replaced by “the way”.

Incorrect: No one makes chocolate cake like my mother does.

Because there is a verb after “like”, the conjunction “as” should be used. Here, “as” can be replaced by “the way”: No one makes chocolate cake the way my mother does.

Correct: No one makes chocolate cake as my mother does.

Incorrect: He can’t play cricket like he used to.

At first glance, there appears to be no verb after “like”. However, when speaking, we often leave out verbs which are already implied. The implied verb is “play”, as in “he used to play cricket”. “Like” should be changed to “as”.

Correct: He can’t play cricket as he used to before he got old.

The verb “used to play” is also implied here, so “as” is correct.

Is this correct? It doesn’t sound right to me!

And, there are big words in here that I'm not sure what they mean like "prepositional phrase". Good lord, am I as thick as a brick or what!?!

Anyhoo, thanks for the help in advance, and really, I am sorry I'm such a dunce!

Oh, and ETA, that if this topic is in the wrong place, please forgive me!

[Aquarius]

pauline, what you've hit on is one of those "nobody talks that way any more" things.

For the purposes of your sentence, "as" doesn't quite work either. If you wanted to change it, though, I would suggest "His legs felt as though they were..." I'm a little hopped up on cold tablets at the moment so I don't have exactly the right words to explain why they're telling you what they are. I will say this:

1. If you were writing a formal paper I absolutely would not use "like" as it appears in your sentence. (And, unintentional, my use of "as" in that last sentence is an example of the correct use of "as" where some people like to put "like".)

2. This is creative writing. You have a little bit of leeway. But you need to understand the rules before you can break them effectively. Your choice of "like" should reflect the tone of the rest of the narration, and possibly the voice of the character's POV the scene is being written from.

One litmus test you can use: if you used "like" and you can substitute "the way" easily, then the use of like is wrong.

Nobody makes chocolate cake like my mother does.
Nobody makes chocolate cake the way my mother does.

"As" alone is awkward. "As though" does the same thing as "the way," and gives the thought a better cadence.

Hope that helped.

[Misplaced]

I'm with Aquarius on this. (Especially about needing to understand the rules before you can break them.)

His legs felt like they were encased in lead boots as he dragged his feet through the quiet halls of Enterprise. It had become a nightly ritual, a pilgrimage he had taken for the last thirteen nights.

I'd write that as: "His legs felt as though they were encased in lead boots..."

I typically use "as if" and "as though" far more often than "like." I reserve "like" for similes only, in general. For example: "His anger burned through his body like a star gone supernova." In that instance, "as" (and the subsequent "as if" or "as though") doesn't make sense (at leas not to me!).

Generally, when I'm doing my final read-through, I'll mentally substitute any "like" I come across with "as if" or "as though," and if the sentence makes sense with the substitution, I'll change it.

ETA: Also, you needn't worry about this rule when it comes to character dialogue. As many of us (myself included) use "like" improperly in everyday speech!

[Aquarius]

^ THAT'S what I was trying to come up with and couldn't-- like = simile. Stupid cold medicine.

[Misplaced]

^ THAT'S what I was trying to come up with and couldn't-- like = simile. Stupid cold medicine.

[THE Rigil Kent]

pauline, what you've hit on is one of those "nobody talks that way any more" things.

Plus, its English and for every grammar rule, there are like (heh) twenty exceptions or caveats or addendums.

[paulinem]

Thank you so much for the clarification! I'll have to admit that grammar, and the such, does bamboozle me! I was never expected to learn when I was growing up so I was never encouraged to learn. So now, I have a lot to learn and make up for. Plus, we were taught differently in Australia, but I'm guessing that's changing. So, thank you for your patience!

Edited to add:

One of the things I recognise about myself is the way I learn. I've never been much of a student. I am by no means dumb (though I do have a brain like a sieve, and I do struggle with retaining knowledge (maybe that's just old age?)), but I'm not good a picking up a book to learn by reading. I learn by example. I need to see things in action before I understand how the end result occurred. Exactly what you have all done here. Sometimes I will pick up things by reading, but nowhere near as quickly as I do by watching or example. This is how I learned how to do cryptic crosswords. If I couldn't figure out the answer I'd go to the answers at the back of the book so that I could see how the answer came about.

One of my biggest downfalls is understanding grammar. I use Grammarly when I know what I've written doesn't sound right. So when I get:

Revise adjectives and adverbs.

I get confused. I understand what these words mean, but in context of writing, I get lost unless it's demonstrated to me.

Anyhoo, I'd just thought I'd throw that in, because I do appreciate peoples patience when I come up with dumb questions.