"Him" is an object pronoun. In grammar, we use the word "object" to talk about the thing or person that the verb is done to, or who receives the verb. I don't understand how a verb that is not an action but a condition can have an object.
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1"Him" is not object of the verb but object complement of the preposition "like". – BillJ Feb 04 '19 at 10:30
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1The form "I am not like he is**" is pretty rare in my view but plausible. – Mari-Lou A Feb 04 '19 at 10:49
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I use "like him" when I am using the other guy as a reference point, a way for the audience better to understand who I am because I am like someone they already know. In contrast, I use "as he is" to claim mere commonality in some regard. – remarkl Feb 04 '19 at 16:04
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"Object" pronouns are not just used for the objects of verbs. They have various other uses; one common use of objective pronouns is for objects of prepositions. "Like" is often analyzed as a preposition in this context.
Like can also be used as a "conjunction", but there is a "traditional" aversion in prescriptivist sources to the use of like as a conjunction (see e.g. Should we use "like" as a conjunction?). It's kind of the opposite of the situation with than, where the "traditional" prescriptivist position is that than should only be used as a conjunction and not as a preposition.
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