As You Like It

As or Like? In the best college writing and in all commercial writing, the distinction between these two words must never be confused. "Like" should rarely be used in place of as, as if or as though. "As" can be used as a conjunction and as a preposition. (In the previous sentence, "as" is used twice as a preposition.)
The word "like" can be several parts of speech, but usually it should not be used as a conjunction to introduce a clause. "He paints his house like an artist paints a still-life" is wrong because "like" introduces a clause. The conjunction should be "as." "It looks like it's going to snow" and "It looks like the parade will not happen" use "like" to mean as if and as though, and they follow like with a clause. These two uses of "like" are sometimes acceptable because of the use of the impersonal it and because constructions with the impersonal it are highly idiomatic.