How to use like to

How to use Like

The word like can be confusing for students since it has many different meanings in English. Here are five of its common uses:

Five ways to use ‘like’

Like = enjoy
I like coffee

To be + like = describe personality/characteristics
What is he like?

Like = the same as
This Coke tastes like Pepsi

Would like = want
I’d like a hamburger please

Look like = appearance
What does he look like?

‘Like’ Phrases

Before doing the exercise, can you guess what the correct ‘like’ sentence would be in these ten examples. Remember, you must use ‘like’!

1. A: What ___?
B: It’s beautiful in summer and there are a lot of famous beaches.

2. A: What ___?
B: I like English. It’s an amazing language.

3. A: ___?
B: Yes please.

4. A: What ___ tomorrow?
B: I think it’s going to be rainy and cold unfortunately.

5. A: What ___?
B: He’s tall and a little fat. I think he’s handsome.

6. A: What ___?
B: It’s very spicy and strong

7. A: I ___
B: Yes you do, you could be twins!

8. A: What ___?
B: She’s very friendly and sweet.

9. A: What ___?
B: It was amazing! I want to go back.

10. A: I ___
B: Yes me too. I also like them.

Use the ten sentences above Choose the correct answer for each sentence. Good luck!

is Rio like
does Rio like
would Rio like

language do you like
language would you like
does the language look like

Do you like coffee
Would you like some coffee
What is coffee like

will the weather like
will the weather be like
will the weather look like

is your husband like
does your husband look like
would your husband like

would you like some curry
is curry like
do you like curry

look like my sister
like my sister
am like my sister

is she like
does she look like
does she like

was your holiday like
is your holiday like
would you like a holiday

would like a Ferrari
am like a Ferrari
like Ferraris

English Vocabulary: How to Use the Verb “Like”

The verb like is one of the most commonly used verbs in English. However, it is also one of the most commonly misused verbs in English. In this article you’ll learn how to use the verb like in a simple English sentence.

1. You MUST say what you like!

When you use the verb like, you MUST say what you like, even if you have to use ‘it’ or ‘this.’

I like. is NOT a complete sentence!

The correct pattern is:

subject + like + what you like

Example sentences:

Do you like Lynn’s new haircut?

Yes! I like it!

My mom liked her Mother’s Day present.

I don’t like the way you treat people.

Does he like his new teacher?

No, he doesn’t like her!

On the weekends she likes to go shopping with her friends.

I don’t like interrupting her when she’s studying.

2. How much you like something always go before ‘like’ or after the object.

The verb like is ALWAYS followed by what you like [the object]. They can’t be separated. If you want to use very much, a lot, or so much, put them AFTER like:

subject + like + what you like + very much / a lot / so much

*You can NOT put very much, a lot, or so much between like and the object.

INCORRECT:

X : I like so much playing football!

X : I very like playing football!
[Very cannot be used by itself]

Example sentences:

Have you seen Dan’s new car?

subject + really + like + what you like

*You can put really before like, but it cannot separate like and the object.
Example sentences:

What do you think of her new house?

I really like it!

He really likes playing video games. He plays them all day long!

What’s your favourite city?

Paris! I really like it!

My mom really likes old movies.

I really like Depeche Mode’s new album.

NOTE: You CAN’T like something too much. Too much is a negative expression. For example:

I ate too much chocolate and now I feel sick.

INCORRECT:

X : Teacher, I like you too much!

3. ‘Like’ can be followed by a gerund OR an infinitive.

*Some people will say there is a difference between the two, but don’t worry about it. It’s such a small difference that it’s almost meaningless.

Now you know how to use the verb like!

Filed Under: Blog, Vocabulary Tagged With: verbs

Comments

How do we explain to a learner that the following sentence is wrong:
1. How does she look like? She looks like very pretty.

First, you can say that ‘what’ is used instead of ‘how.’ That’s just the way it is in English! You may use ‘how’ in your language, but in English ‘what’ is used. Some things just don’t translate between languages.

Second, you can say that ‘very pretty’ takes the place of ‘looks like.’ “What does she look like?” asks you to describe a person. In English, you usually describe someone using adjectives with the verb ‘be.’ “She is very pretty.”

“What does she look like?”

“She is very pretty.”

Thank You for you work, is very import for all us.

Thank you, I like your explanations very much.
I found your website because I was trying to see when it became okay to use “like” as people do regarding Facebook. Even television news personalities ask people to “like” them. They do not want people to “like” them – they are trying to have people DO something – on the “you like this” on Facebook.

Aside from the fact that I hate the familiarity that is required on that site, I hate that my only choice is to one-click “you like this”. (Everyone is not my ‘friend’; and I wish they had a button that said – “I acknowledge that I read your message and wanted you to know”. Like the old rubber stamp that said “Read, date/initial”. Sometimes I don’t agree with the comments at all – but I am not unhappy to have the information.)

“I wish they had a button that said – “I acknowledge that I read your message and wanted you to know””

I do, too! What a great idea! This would make Facebook so much more enjoyable to use. I use Facebook mostly to help English learners. I rarely use it in my personal life. I prefer phone calls & emails with friends!

When people/companies tell Facebook users to ‘Like’ them, they want the user to CLICK on the ‘Like’ button.

Melanie, please, what’s correct to write/say:
“I’d like presente me” or “I’d like to presente me”? Thanks

‘Present’ is not followed by ‘me.’ What is the rest of your sentence or what is the context of the sentence? Also, present is not spelled with an ‘e.’

“I’d like to present my new co-worker, John Smith.”

hi my name is basel
I have one question always makes me complected
ones my teacher told me when you use the verb like you use it in the grimmer position
1- like + gerund
or
2-like +infinitive
or
3- like +noun

but here is the proplem

she said when you use it with uncountable nouns you have to make the noun plural

she likes oranges

thanks a lot for every thing

Your teacher is correct! All your example sentences are correct.

How to Use LIKE in SQL: SQL Pattern Matching

SQL pattern matching is a very important and useful ability. In this article, we look at how you can perform it using LIKE in SQL.

SQL Pattern matching is a very simple concept. It allows you to search strings and substrings and find certain characters or groups of characters. Apart from SQL, this operation can be performed in many other programming languages.

In this article, we’ll examine how you can use LIKE in SQL to search substrings. We’ll also make the distinction between SQL exact match and SQL partial match by explaining how you can expand your search by using wildcards. Finally, we’ll clarify when you should use something other than LIKE to find a match.

If you’d like to practice LIKE and other SQL features, check out our SQL Practice track. It offers over 600 interactive SQL exercises to help you review your SQL knowledge and gain confidence in your SQL skills.

How to Use LIKE in SQL?

Suppose you have to retrieve some records based on whether a column contains a certain group of characters. As you know, in SQL the WHERE clause filters SELECT results. By itself, WHERE finds exact matches. But what if you need to find something using a partial match?

In that case, you can use LIKE in SQL. This operator searches strings or substrings for specific characters and returns any records that match that pattern. (Hence the SQL pattern matching.) Below is the syntax of the LIKE operator in a SELECT statement:

Notice that the column name or the expression to be searched comes before LIKE in SQL. After the operator is the pattern to match. This pattern can be pure text or text mixed with one or more wildcards. We’ll explain the use of wildcards next.

SQL Partial Match: Using LIKE with Wildcards

If you don’t know the exact pattern you’re searching for, you can use wildcards to help you find it. Wildcards are text symbols that denote how many characters will be in a certain place within the string. The SQL ANSI standard uses two wildcards, percent (%) and underscore (_), which are used in different ways. When using wildcards, you perform a SQL partial match instead of a SQL exact match as you don’t include an exact string in your query.

Look at the complete animal table which will be used in our SQL queries:

SQL Partial Match: the Percent Wildcard

As you can see in the above table, the percent wildcard can be used when you’re not sure how many characters will be part of your match. In the example below, notice what happens when you use only this wildcard with LIKE in SQL:

This use of the SQL partial match returns all the names from the animal table, even the ones without any characters at all in the name column. This is because the percent wildcard denotes any character or no characters. Even when there is a null value in the name column, an empty string is returned.

But if you would like to return only the animal names that start with a “ g ”, you should write the query using a “ g ” in front of the percent wildcard:

The result of this SQL partial match operation is the following:

Similarly, if you would like to select the animal names that end with a “ g ”, you’d put the percent wildcard first, as shown in this SQL partial match query:

The following query returns all animals whose name contains a “ g ”. To do this, use two percent wildcards and a “ g ” character, as shown below.

All these animals have a name that contains a “g” somewhere – at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.

Now, let’s move on to the underscore wildcard.

SQL Partial Match: the Underscore Wildcard

The underscore wildcard represents a single character for each underscore. In this SQL partial match, it can replace any character at all, but each underscore is limited to one character. Look at the example below:

This query didn’t return any records because there are no single-character animal names in the table.

The next example displays all names that contain exactly five characters. To represent this, we must use five underscores:

If you use the underscore wildcard at the end of your SQL partial match string, the query will return every record that matches the given text plus one more character. Below we see an example:

What is returned when the query has an underscore wildcard in the middle of the string?

It is all animals whose names start with “ p ” and end with “ ma ”, with only one character in between.

SQL Partial Match: Combining Wildcards

You can also use a combination of underscore and percent wildcards for your SQL pattern matching. Look at the following example:

As you can see, this query returned names that combined “ho” with any number of characters in front and only one character following.

Using LIKE in SQL with Text

Now we will discuss how to use LIKE in SQL with text-only strings and no wildcards. In some circumstances, you may find that there are better options than using LIKE in SQL pattern matching. But for now, let’s see how this works. We’ll start by looking at the complete table of animal names and ID numbers, as shown below:

Note that the record where id =21 has an empty string (without any characters). The last record has a NULL value in the name column.

Now, say we want to retrieve the records where the animal’s name is “elephant”. That’s pretty simple, as the example below shows:

In the table, there are actually two records containing “elephant”. However, the second record has an additional two spaces at the end of the word, so it isn’t returned.

Let’s try another text pattern that includes these two spaces.

Again, there is only one record: “elephant” with two spaces.

Next, suppose we use a concrete text string and an equals operator (=), like this:

Combining NOT and LIKE Operators

You can also test for strings that do not match a pattern. To do this, we combine the LIKE and NOT operators. It is another way of performing the SQL pattern matching.

In the example below, we want to find all animal names that don’t have an “a” character:

Using LIKE in SQL with Other Operators

The WHERE clause can include more than one condition. Therefore, LIKE and NOT LIKE can be used with other operators. Let’s look at another example:

It returned all the animal names that start with an “ s ” character or end with a “ g ” character.

Using LIKE in SQL in Other Statements

Let’s see how we can use LIKE to change some animal names. Ready?

There is only one record that matches the LIKE %key% condition: monkey. After this update, “tiger” will replace all instances of “monkey”.

Here’s the result after we update and then select all records from the animal table.

Next, we’ll delete any records where the animal name starts with a “ t ”:

To Learn More About SQL Pattern Matching

SQL pattern matching is very useful for searching text substrings. LIKE and its close relative NOT LIKE make this quite easy to do. If you are interested in learning more about pattern matching and the LIKE operator, check out theВ SQL Basics course. It will show you how to build queries from scratch, but it will also introduce practical skills like pattern matching matching.

If you have a basic knowledge of SQL, you can refresh it with the SQL Practice Set of 88 exercises,В ranging from simple tasks with SELECT FROM statements to more advanced problems involving multiple subqueries. Or try out our SQL Practice track with 5 SQL practice courses and over 600 exercises. Sign up now for free!

How to use like to

Like has a number of meanings and uses.

Like as a verb meaning ‘enjoy’

We use like to talk about things or people which we enjoy or feel positive about:

like + noun phrase

I like Sarah but I don’t like her brother much.

She really likes the singing of Luciano Pavarotti.

like + to-infinitive

She likes to go and see her parents at the weekend.

I don’t like to cycle in the dark.

He likes his friends to call him Hank.

Do you think she would like us to bring some chocolates or flowers?

like + wh-clause

We liked how they cooked the fish.

Would like in offers and requests

We use would like or ’ d like to offer something to someone in a polite way or to ask them to do something politely (requests), or politely to say what we want. We use the to-infinitive form of verbs that follow:

[At a fast food restaurant]

How can I help you?

I’d like a cheese burger and fries please.

[In an email to a company that has advertised a job]

… I’d like to enquire about the Sales Manager position which you have advertised …

Would you like to follow me, please? (Please follow me)

Like as a preposition meaning ‘similar to’

Like means ‘similar to’. We often use it with verbs of the senses such as look, sound, feel, taste, seem:

My sister is like my mother. (My sister and my mother are similar)

I think this tastes like coconut.

When we use like to mean ‘similar to’, we can put words and phrase such as a bit, just, very, so and more before it to talk about the degree of similarity:

It’s a bit like skiing but there’s no snow.

Isn’t that just like the bike we bought you for your birthday?

The car was more like a green than a blue colour.

Like as a conjunction

In informal contexts, we can use like as a conjunction instead of as. Traditional grammar books consider this use of like incorrect:

Like any good cook book will tell you, don’t let the milk boil. (or As any good cook book …)

Like as a suffix

We can use like as a suffix at the end of a noun to mean ‘similar to’:

There is something child-like about Marianne. She always seems so innocent.

Like in spoken English

In informal speaking, you will hear like used very commonly. It has a number of functions. It is important not to use these forms in formal writing such as academic essays.

Filler

We can use like to fill in the silence when we need time to think about what to say next or how to rephrase what we have just said:

I want to … like … I think we need to think carefully about it. It’s … like … it’s a very difficult decision for us to make.

Focusing attention

We can use like to bring attention to what we are going to say next. We do this especially when talking about quantities and times:

There were like five hundred guests at the wedding. ( like brings focus to the large number of guests)

It wasn’t till like 12:00 that I actually got to start on the project. ( like brings focus to how late it was)

Asking for an example ( Like what?)

In speaking, we often use like what? to ask for an example:

Some really funny things happened on the last day of school.

It can also be used to ask a question, meaning ‘similar to what?’:

[talking about a new restaurant]

There was kangaroo steak on the menu. I decided to try it.

Yeah. It actually tasted good.

I don’t know. Like steak but softer.

Softening what has just been said

We can use like at the end of what we say to modify or soften what we have just said especially if we are not sure if it was the right thing to say:

[A and B are talking about B’s holiday]

So did you buy anything there?

Reported speech

It has become common in very informal speaking to use like as a reporting verb. It can be used to report what someone said or what someone thought. It is used especially by young people, and it makes what is reported sound more dramatic:

Jason was like ‘I’m not going to Alma’s party because Chris is going to be there’ and I’m like ‘he’s so afraid of Chris’. (in the first use of like, it means ‘he said’, but in the second use it means ‘I thought’)

Saying something is like something else

We can use the structure it + be + like to introduce an example or say that something is similar to something else:

It’s like when you go to the airport and you keep thinking that you have forgotten something important.

[a woman talking about her husband Bob]

Everyone is always saying hello to Bob. It’s like being married to a superstar!

Be like or what is … like?

We can use be like to ask for a description of someone or something (e.g. their appearance, their character, their behaviour):

Not: How is your new apartment like?

We use be like to talk about someone’s character or personality. We use look like to talk about someone’s appearance:

What’s your new boss like?

She’s nice. She’s very professional.

What does your father look like?

He’s very like me but taller and older!

How to Use LIKE in SQL

Problem:

You’d like to find a substring matching a pattern in a string.

Example:

Let’s see some examples of pattern matching in SQL.

Example 1:

Let’s display the first name, last name, and city of each customer whose city name starts with the letter ‘S.’

Solution:

We used the % wildcard, which represents zero or more unknown characters. This wildcard can be used anywhere in the string.

Example 2:

Let’s show the first name, last name, and city of each customer whose city name contains exactly five characters.

Solution:

Here’s the result:

The underscore wildcard can be used to represent a single unknown character. Thus, by using five of them in a row, we can represent all strings that are five characters long. In our example, the only city matching that description is Seoul.

Example 3:

Let’s show the first name, last name, and city of each customer whose city starts with the letter ‘S’ and has the letter ‘o’ as the third-to-last character.

Solution:

Here’s the result:

Discussion:

As we saw in the examples, you can use two special characters known as wildcards to represent unknown characters:

You can combine these wildcards to achieve some really powerful results. You can also chain more than one LIKE condition. Finally, you can use the NOT operator to find strings that don’t match the given pattern.