Like, I’mlike gonna like learn how to like talk.

1. Like, I’mlike gonna like learn how to like talk. From A Grammar Book for You and Me by C. Edward Good

2. Pair Share • Turn to a neighbor, and make a list of all the ways we use “like” in our everyday communication. • Like, what parts of speech can “like” function as? • GO! You have 3 minutes to talk.

3. Taylor Mali: “Like Lilly Like Wilson” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshNfYWPlDg

4. Tobelike • “tobelike” (to be like): new verb devised by young people—but used by everyone—that substitutes for “thought” • Instead of: I thought, “Man, that exam sucked.” • We say/hear: I was like, “Man, that exam sucked.”

5. Conjugation of tobelike • Present tense: I’mlike (I’m like) • Past tense: Iwaslike (I was like) • Future tense: I’llbelike (I’ll be like)

6. The meaning isn’t totally lost, right? Usually people use tobelike to introduce something they said or thought. I’m like, “Hello!?! Could you park any closer to my car?! Idiot.” I was like, “What a moron—talking on his cell phone, picking his nose, and driving at the same time.” I’ll be like, “Whatever, skeezeball. What goes around comes around.”

7. But … • Our meaning isn’t always so clear, when tobelike and like begin to pervade our speech. • Consider the following conversation: • Bob: I’mlike up to here. • Sue: Like yeah. • Bob: Like yesterday waslike, Ugh! • Sue: I’mlike, oh well, you know. • It might be difficult to understand what Bob and Sue are talking about without some non-verbal cues (hand gestures, facial expressions)

8. If that’s how we talk, what happens to our writing? • According to C. Edward Good … • “If people talk this way, quite likely they will find writing even more difficult.” • “People with the like habit overuse the verb to be in their writing. They simply cannot write a sentence without saying ‘something is this’ or ‘something was that.’”

9. Side note: • To be is not a strong verb. It’s boring; it makes your writing boring. Try to avoid it when possible, and instead use verbs that actually depict your meaning. • Instead of: • There are only a few students who applied for scholarships. • The committee was unanimous in selecting the finalists. • The teacher was hesitant. • Try these: • Only a few students applied for scholarships. • The committee unanimously selected the finalists. • The teacher hesitated.

10. So, how is likesupposedto be used??!?!?!

11. Like as a Verb • I like KFC’s buttermilk biscuits. • My brother likes Shooter Jennings. • My cat Sal likes to jump on countertops, and I like to spray her with water when she does this.

12. Like as Preposition = “similar to” Hint: it hooks nouns to sentences and shows similarity. • She runs like the wind. • He was like a brother to me. But look out! • According to Good, “Virtually everyone addicted to like uses it to show not what something is like but what something actually is. They use it to show identity (is), not similarity (like). • He’s like tall. Huh?

13. Like as a Noun • I have many likes and dislikes. • One of my likes is walking in the rain.

14. Like as an Adjective = “similar” • She has mastered lacrosse, field hockey, and like sports.

15. Like as a Conjunction • Hint: • It means “in the same way as” or “as if” • It connects independent clauses • Many shoppers study the food ads like brokers study market reports. • It looks like it will rain. • I need a new car like I need a hole in the head.

16. Here’s a thought to brighten your day … • Since the 1980s, be like is also a juvenile colloquialism equivalent to said in relating a conversation—e.g. “And I was like, ‘Yes, I do.’ But he was like, ‘No you don’t.’ And so I was like, ‘If you’re just going to contradict me, then …’” In teenagers, this usage is all but ubiquitous. In adults, it shows arrested development. -Garner Oxford p. 212

17. Taylor Mali: “Like, you know?” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4&feature=related