I teach like him

Consider the following:
What does John do for a living?
1-He teaches English like me.

Does 1 necessarily imply that he teaches English in the same manner as I do, or could it just mean that he teaches English for a living and so do I?
As in: 2-He teaches English, like me.
(In other words, could the context permit us to take off the comma without changing the meaning?)

The presence or absence of a comma makes a difference in the meaning of the sentence. In sentence one, "like" means "in the same manner as".

Thanks!

Welcome!

:)

However, given the context, I'd say the answer is that he does the same job- the question doesn't call for a description of the way. As punctuation standards are so low and mixed in English, BE at least, then I'd plump for this answer regardless. I can't see the speaker meaning the opposite, but then we BE speakers are a bit sloppy. ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tdol

However, given the context, I'd say the answer is that he does the same job- the question doesn't call for a description of the way. As punctuation standards are so low and mixed in English, BE at least, then I'd plump for this answer regardless. I can't see the speaker meaning the opposite, but then we BE speakers are a bit sloppy. ;-)

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I agree with everything you said. (Sometimes I am too picky about punctuation.)

And I'm a BE speaker. The comma is a hit and miss affair for most here. ;-)

It is a well known fact that native English-speakers are sloppy when it comes to using commas in writing (and not only native English-speakers). But I think if you listen to them, you'll be able to hear the commas, and they are used correctly.

I wouldn't ordinarily have thought of punctuation as something that occurs in speech.

It does, though. ;-)