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Like vs Similar to

by shobhitk » Sun Sep 29, 2013 3:20 am
I am a little confused between the use of like vs similar to? Are there any specific instances where we use like instead of similar to or vice versa. For example; If I'm comparing nouns to nouns as in-:

Like Ramesh, Suresh lives in a small town. Can I use similar to in this case?

Thanks in advance.
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by vinay1983 » Sun Sep 29, 2013 6:39 am
shobhitk wrote:I am a little confused between the use of like vs similar to? Are there any specific instances where we use like instead of similar to or vice versa. For example; If I'm comparing nouns to nouns as in-:

Like Ramesh, Suresh lives in a small town. Can I use similar to in this case?

Thanks in advance.
Like Ramesh, Suresh lives in a small town.------Correct usage of like
His financial condition is similar to mine------Correct usage of similar to

Hope this helps. But seriously I don't think this comparison is exclusively tested on GMAT. The usage can depend on the context also.

Hope I am of some help
You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!
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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:50 pm
vinay1983 wrote:
shobhitk wrote:I am a little confused between the use of like vs similar to? Are there any specific instances where we use like instead of similar to or vice versa. For example; If I'm comparing nouns to nouns as in-:

Like Ramesh, Suresh lives in a small town. Can I use similar to in this case?

Thanks in advance.
Like Ramesh, Suresh lives in a small town.------Correct usage of like
His financial condition is similar to mine------Correct usage of similar to
Dear shobhitk & vinay1983,
I'm happy to respond. :-)
The phrase "like X" can be used as a noun modifier, either at the beginning of the sentence, before the subject, or elsewhere adjacent to the noun.
Like Fred, Sally does X
..... to Fred who, like Sally, was not ...
I have NEVER seen "similar to" used on the GMAT in this way. This sounds wordy and awkward --- this never could be correct.

As vinay1983 suggest, the word "similar" may be used correctly as a predicate adjective ----
Korean is similar to Finnish in that ....
Conceivably, the construction could be correct in this form, although, again, I don't know that I have ever seen it on the GMAT.

Here's a blog you may find helpful, on the Idioms of Comparisons:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idioms-of-comparison/

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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