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I am taking the ACT english section, and I came across this question. The background is "Even in the middle of winter, the sun, high in a blue sky, keeps me warm. Like me, wildlife avoids the ski resorts; I spot tracks made by elk, coyote, fox and even the endangered lynx".

The question is asking about the word in bold, "me". It is asking which pronoun I should replace it with, or if I should keep it. The options are:

A: No Change B: them, C: we, D: I,

I initially said D, I, as the answer. I did this because I rearranged the sentence so it read "Wildlife avoids the ski resorts like I do". The answer is A, not D. What am I doing wrong in this question? Any help would be appreciated.

user23472342
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"Like me" is correct because "me" is the object of the preposition.

"As I do" changes it to a clause with "I" as the subject.

"Like I do" is using the preposition as a subordinating conjunction and is technically incorrect, though common in informal English.

Mary
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The answer "no change" is correct.

You can find the applicable grammar "rules" here, on Grammarbook.

This is a summary of the information on that site, which provides a number of examples:

  • When "like" is a preposition (as it is here), it means "similar to" and is followed by a noun. It is not used with a verb.
  • "As" in this context means "in the same manner that", and is followed by a comparison that uses a subject and verb.

Because "like" can be used as a preposition, you didn't need to rearrange the sentence.

Since prepositions take objects, the preposition following it would have to be in the objective case -- hence "me". "I", on the other hand, is the nominative case of the first person pronoun, and would be used only as the subject of a sentence.

So the correct phrase here is "Like me".

Isabel Archer
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  • I don't think this is correct. "Like me, wildlife avoids the ski resorts." has a dependent and independent clause, so it could be rearranged as "Wildlife avoids the ski resorts like me." This makes it obvious that like here does not mean 'similar to', but rather something more like 'in the same manner that'. The guide you linked specifies that like is used for 'similar to' and as is used for 'in the same manner that'. In that case it should technically be "As I do, wildlife avoids the ski resorts." The guide also notes that the distinction between like and as is increasingly ignored. – William with a J May 18 '20 at 05:03
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    @WilliamwithaJ, good morning! I see where you're going. But you had to change the "like" to "as" when you rearranged the sentence. If I were to rearrange it, I'd write "Wildlife, like me, avoids...". The comparison is between the noun and the pronoun. In your rearrangement looks like another way to say, "Wildlife avoids, as I do..." with the phrase "as I do" modifying the verb "avoids". That's all technical, of course. As you point out, the guide does acknowledge that people pay little attention to the distinction between "like" and "as". We sticklers just can't help ourselves. – Isabel Archer May 18 '20 at 10:09
  • Hmm. I didn’t change like to as because I was rearranging the sentence, I did it as an example of what Grammarbook was saying was correct. More importantly, to me "Wildlife, like me, avoids..." reads as an appositive, saying I am like wildlife. – William with a J May 18 '20 at 11:50
  • That said, yes. It’s all technical. Only sticklers will care. One of us must be wrong, and so one of us cares about something that’s wrong. Which is a sad thought. (Sorry for the delay, all the downvotes on my answers ruined my reputation...) – William with a J May 18 '20 at 12:00
  • @WilliamwithaJ, At this stage, we are probably all getting to be a great deal like wildlife. – Isabel Archer May 18 '20 at 12:31