I have a dog like you.

[Banglardon]

Does 'I have a dog like you." mean 'you' is being referred here as a dog or does it mean "I have a dog like your dog."?

 

[PeterCW]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

Does 'I have a dog like you." mean 'you' is being referred here as a dog or does it mean "I have a dog like your dog."?

It means that "you" are being compared with the speaker's dog.

 

[Banglardon]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

It means that "you" are being compared with the speaker's dog.

If I said 'I have a dog like yours.', would that be correct?

 

[Rover_KE]

If I said 'I have a dog like yours.', would that be correct?

Yes, but in writing, leave out the full stop/period after 'yours'.

I deleted your post which had incorrect options except for the last, which is identical to this one.

***

Please note that I have changed your thread title.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'

 

[Skrej]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

It means that "you" are being compared with the speaker's dog.

Of course 'you' might be an actual dog, or a human. The latter option is most likely intended as an insult of some kind.

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

I read it as "You have a dog and so do I."

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

I read it as "You have a dog and so do I."

I would say:

I have a dog too.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Ambiguous sentences

If you're talking to a person, "I have a dog like you" is rude.
If you're talking to a dog, "I have a dog like you" means "I have a dog that looks like you".

If you're talking to a person and you want to express the similarity between your dog and their dog, say "I have a dog like yours".

 

[jutfrank]

Does 'I have a dog like you." mean 'you' is being referred here as a dog or does it mean "I have a dog like your dog."?

No, neither. By far the most likely way to utter this sentence is with a pause after dog. In writing, this is represented with a comma, like this:

I have a dog, like you.

The meaning is this: You have a dog and I have a dog.

If the meaning you want is: I have a dog that is similar to your dog, then say:

I have a dog like yours.