chendawg basically has the idea -- although, chendawg, you should check up on what "clause" means (owning and living in... is not a clause; it doesn't have a verb).


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Hi Ron, i got the gist but could not understand meaning of above lines. can you give an example.

basically, i'm saying that, if you have a "like X, Y..." construction in a sentence, then Y must appear in a clause -- because the sentence has to be a complete sentence!
i.e., if you try to write just "like NOUN, NOUN", then this is not a sentence at all.
for example
Like my brother, Richard. --> this is not a sentence
Like my brother, Richard has a weird sense of humor. --> this is a sentence. "richard" is in a clause, but the comparison is just my brother || richard.

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Also i would like to know that in X is Y, like Z. Z refers to X because of ,. Lets say the sentence is X is Y like Z. . Now Z should refer to Y, Am i correct.

yeah -- if "like X" is NOT separated by a comma, then it refers to the nearest noun.
e.g.
Nadia is looking for a spouse, like her father
--> the comparison here is Nadia || her father. therefore, nadia wants to get married -- and her father wants to get married too.
Nadia is looking for a spouse like her father
--> the comparison here is spouse || her father. therefore, nadia is looking for a spouse whose personality is similar to her father's.

vikram4689 wrote:Ron,
You said that "He treated his date like a gentleman --> he (not his date) = gentleman " https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/con ... t1782.html

But as per you comment above
Nadia is looking for a spouse like her father --> the comparison here is spouse || her father.

Aren't these 2 conflicting...

good point.

the result:
as usual, context wins. could be either of these -- you just have to use the combination of common sense + context of the sentence.