comma/not before 'like' [meaning?, preposition]: detest liars, like

LQZ

LQZ

Senior Member
Canada
Mandarin
I detest liars like you, I believe that honesty is the best policy.
I detest liars, like you, I believe that honesty is the best policy.
Click to expand...

Dear all,

I ran into these two sentences in a English learning web in which a chapter tells me how commas can be important and also says "misplacing a comma may lose friend(s)". Now I am thoroughly confused about the quoted ones. Could you please tell me what difference is between them? Thank you.


LQZ
 
    • Okay, forget about the second part, starting with I believe... <- that is a separate sentence, so in fact there should be a period, not a comma, after you. So we have:

    (1) I detest liars like you.
    (2) I detest liars, like you.

    (1) means that you are a liar and I detest you. (2) can actually mean one of two things: either you and I both detest liars, or I detest liars and you are a liar.

    So the point is that you should add a comma, or else you may lose a friend (by calling them a liar and saying you detest them); however, in my opinion, even with the comma, the sentence is still ambiguous!
     
    There is a great difference between the two "fun" sentences

    1. I detest liars like you.... The speaker is clearly calling someone a liar.

    2. I detest liars, I believe that honesty is the best policy.
    Because "like you" is separated by comas, it can be taken out of the sentence to undertand the meaning.
    or
    Like you, I believe that honesty is the best policy.
    In this sentence the speaker is refering to his friend has an honest person.

    Maybe someone else can explain it better.:)BB
     
    Well, they're both wrong. You don't separate sentences (there are two in each example) with a comma. So what was intended as instructive is misleading.

    Here are correct variations...
    First example
    I detest liars like you; I believe that honesty is the best policy.
    I detest liars like you. I believe that honesty is the best policy.

    Second example
    I detest liars; like you, I believe that honesty is the best policy.
    I detest liars. Like you, I believe that honesty is the best policy.

    What they're trying to point out is that without a comma you're calling your friend a liar (first example).
     
    :)Thank you for all your help.

    :D But I am curious about why three native speakers give me different replies.
     
    LQZ said:
    :)Thank you for all your help.

    :D But I am curious about why three native speakers give me different replies.
    Click to expand...

    That's the beauty of language -- free will or free wilfulness or something. :)

    Personally, I always go with the last answer I get. :D (To clarify for everyone -- that's a joke.)
     
    All three people who responded had to second-guess the original author and fix the sample sentence before giving answers based on that. As you see, not everyone fixed the problem in the same way.

    The author, whether he meant it or not, has in fact shown TWO examples at once of how misusing a comma can change meaning dramatically.
     
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