like

[navi tasan]

Can:
1-He was with his brother like Brad Pitt.
be used instead of:
2-He was with his brother who was like Brad Pitt.

[Keblejen]

No- it changes the meaning.
Number 1 seems to me to mean that
'he was with his brother like Brad Pitt was with his brother'.
In other words both 'he' and 'Brad Pitt' were with their brothers.

[Tdol]

How about 'he was with his Brad-Pitt-like brother'?

[navi tasan]

Thank you Keblejen and Tdol,

I see that this is your first post Keblejen so allow me to be the first person to welcome you to this forum!

How about 'he was with his Brad-Pitt-like brother'?

I don't think one could find a shorter way to say that!

[Keblejen]

Thanks for the welcome!
Personally, I would still opt for 'He was with his brother who was like Brad Pitt.'

[Tdol]

I wasn't really pushing for my suggestion.

[Temico]

'He was with his brother who was like Brad Pitt.'

"He was with his brother who was like Brad Pitt." can mean, "He was with his brother who was like Brad Pitt was." Like Brad Pitt was what, may I ask? (Good, bad, indifferent, handsome, ugly, despicable, etc.,.....)

"He was with his brother who looked like/resembled Brad Pitt." would be better.

[MrPedantic]

It's a very interesting point.

Prepositional "like" can mean "having the characteristics of", "similar to". But in ordinary usage, "to be like" further implies "to resemble (in an obvious quality or fashion)".

So when we say "it's like the Marie Celeste in here", we don't mean "it's like a ship in here", or "this place has a cargo of industrial alcohol". We mean "it's deserted in here", as "desertedness" is the salient characteristic of the Marie Celeste.

Similarly, when we say that someone is like Brad Pitt, we mean that someone resembles Brad Pitt in an obvious quality. No offence to the "legions of fans" out there; but that's more likely to be "appearance" than "acting ability".

MrP

[Temico]

Similarly, when we say that someone is like Brad Pitt, we mean that someone resembles Brad Pitt in an obvious quality......

So, when someone says that his brother is like George Bush, he either means that his brother looks like George bush or is a liar like George Bush, depending on whether he is for or against the policies of George Bush!!

[MrPedantic]

Oddly enough, "like" does lend itself to a certain kind of humour.

MrP