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She didn’t show the workings in the math exam, she just tried to guess the answers just like she does in the homework.

I am not sure if 'just like she does' makes sense. If not what can I use instead?

She neither showed the workings in the math exam nor in her homework that's why I used the phrase 'just like she does'. In other words, she has the habit of not showing the workings.

Justin
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Denver
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  • Welcome! Please edit the question to explain just a bit more; especially, please tell more about the meaning you want (so you don't get a different one). The phrase makes sense, but it does contain a usage that is regarded as an error in formal requirements, though often used colloquially. – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 14:17
  • No, sorry. I need the opinion of a native English speakers to be sure whether it is correct or not. – Denver Mar 01 '22 at 14:46
  • I think that's just what you have from the comment by @AndyBonner . It's technically ungrammatical, it should be "as she does", but "like she does" is much more common in ordinary speech. In fact if you said "as she does" in most conversational environments you would get an odd look. – BoldBen Mar 01 '22 at 15:35
  • To be clearer, I'm refraining from answering until the question is edited to be clear enough that we can be sure we're addressing your specific concern and the meaning you want (and the level of formality). There are several problems in the sentence, but some of them are less significant problems in informal contexts. – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 16:15
  • @Andy Bonner, I have edited my question, please refresh your browser. – Denver Mar 01 '22 at 16:19
  • By the way, there's also an English Language Learners stack exchange that can be helpful to non-native speakers! And for the record, I go ahead and use "as she does" even in everyday speech, and if I get odd looks I ignore them. :) – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 17:10
  • The sentence in question has multiple grammatical and stylistic errors. "Just like she does" is not among them, however. And we don't do proofreading. – John Lawler Mar 01 '22 at 17:25

2 Answers2

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As a native English speaker, I find "just like she does" perfectly acceptable usage. Conversationally, I might say "I guess at exam answers, just like she does". In your example "She didn’t show the workings in the math exam, she just tried to guess the answers just like she does in the homework" my personal preference would be to lose either the first or the second occurrence of "just".

Leachoid
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she just tried to guess the answers just like she does in the homework

This communicates your meaning effectively. Using "like" in this construction is sometimes considered a grammatical mistake, but it's a very common usage.

The rule is supposedly that "like" is a preposition, while "as" is a conjunction. As a rule of thumb, if there is a verb coming soon after the word, the correct choice is "as":

she tried to guess as she does in the homework

... while, if you are simply comparing two things, you use "like":

Her test is wrong, like her homework.

However, a usage guide at the Merriam-Webster entry on like shows that, like many grammar "rules," the objection to using "like" as a conjunction arose in the 19th century, stands in opposition to centuries of use, and should perhaps be seen as overly officious today, even if it's wise to abide by it in academic writing:

Like has been used as a conjunction in ways similar to as since the 14th century. In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries it was used in serious literature, but not often; in the 17th and 18th centuries it grew more frequent but less literary. It became markedly more frequent in literary use again in the 19th century. By mid-century it was coming under critical fire, but not from grammarians, oddly enough, who were wrangling over whether it could be called a preposition or not. There is no doubt that, after 600 years of use, conjunctive like is firmly established. It has been used by many prestigious literary figures of the past, though perhaps not in their most elevated works; in modern use it may be found in literature, journalism, and scholarly writing. While the present objection to it is perhaps more heated than rational, someone writing in a formal prose style may well prefer to use as, as if, such as, or an entirely different construction instead.

Andy Bonner
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  • ..........Thanks for your help! Much appreciate it – Denver Mar 01 '22 at 18:25
  • @Denver Note, I added to my answer: It seems that there's a very good case to make that the "rule" is a bad rule—even though it's still smart to follow it in writing that will be graded. – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 18:55
  • I guess, the sentence should be written like this:

    She didn’t show the workings in her math exam, she tried to guess the answers just as she does in the homework.

     – Denver Mar 01 '22 at 18:58
  • @Denver With the comma changed to a semi-colon, yes, that's great. By the way, I had thought at first that "workings" was a wrong usage, but I looked it up and it is used that way in British usage (particularly for maths). – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 19:17
  • Didn't tchrist give essentially the same answer years ago? – Edwin Ashworth Mar 01 '22 at 19:26
  • @EdwinAshworth Oops, I missed the proposed duplicate. Did so with rather more panache, I'd say, though I'm not sure I feel as strongly. – Andy Bonner Mar 01 '22 at 19:30
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    Yes, tchrist seems to have equanimitous and zealous phases ... but he's posted a lot of valuable material. Under both personas. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 01 '22 at 19:58