A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
Page 116
popularity. It combines a form of the verb be and the adverb like, followed by a brief but dramatic pause. This like construction can introduce dialogue, just as go does, but it is also used to announce a brief performance or imitation of someone’s behavior, often elaborated with gestures and facial expressions. So, for instance, if a woman says So I’m like “Get lost, buddy,” she may or may not have used those actual words to tell the offending person to leave. In fact, she may not have said anything, but is merely summarizing her attitude at the time by stating what she would have said if she had chosen to speak. This use of like is still restricted primarily to speech.
1
like and
as
Can like be a conjunction, or must you always use as instead? For an answer to this question, see
like under Grammar.
You normally use the adverb likely preceded by a modifier such as very or quite: He will quite likely require some help with his classes. But the unmodified use of likely is common enough in educated writing, and though it might be better avoided in highly formal style, it is perfectly acceptable: They’ll likely buy a new car this year.
The common expression a lot of is a whole lot more complicated than you might think. It belongs to a class of words that include deal (in a great deal of), plenty, and load. In phrases such as a lot of strawberries, the word lot is not really a head noun analogous to the word bowl in a bowl of strawberries. Rather, expressions like a lot of, a whole lot of, and a great deal of are best thought of as complex modifiers analogous to words like many, much, or several.Lot and plenty can occur with noncount nouns like furniture and with plural count nouns like chairs. The verb agrees in number with the noun in the of phrase. Thus, when followed by a singular noun, a lot of takes a singular verb: A lot of pizza was left on the table. But when followed by a plural noun, it takes a plural verb: A lot of the strawberries were ripe.
6
Like load, lot has the further distinction of being used in the plural with similarly peculiar agreement rules. When followed by a singular noun, lots of takes a singular verb: Lots of pizza was left on the table. When followed by a plural noun, lots of is plural: Lots of people were at the bookstore.
7
A lot and some of its cousin phrases are also used as adverbs meaning “much” or “very much”: I’m feeling a whole lot (or lots or a great deal) better. The phrase a bit or a little bit works in the other direction, meaning “somewhat.”
8
Virtually all of the expressions discussed here have an informal tone, with the plural phrases like lots of having a decidedly more informal tone than the others.
9
alot
Teachers of writing have seen this form in student papers more times than they care to remember, and they can expect to keep on seeing it. Even experienced writers find themselves writing alot for a lot, especially when working under pressure or dashing off a note. The fusion of an article and a noun into
