Around. See about. Article.“A” “an” and “the” are articles. They come before nouns to indicate degrees of de nitiveness: a house, the house See entries for the speci c words for more information on their use, spelling, and meaning. As. The subordinating conjunction as should not be confused in standard English with the prepositionlike As introduces clauses rather than simple noun objects: I see it as you do Often the verb in the clause that follows as is omitted The consultant acted as a troubleshooter would Dropping the verb makes it appear that as is a preposition followed by a noun; for that reason, people sometimes make the mistake of using like when the conjunction as is called for. This sometimes also leads to misuse of pronoun cases. WRONG The speaker talks like me RIGHT The speaker talks as I do See pronoun. The confusion of like and as has become so common that the grammatically correct usage sometimes sounds stilted or a ected. If your writing or speaking seems to su er from this distortion, adopt the form that makes you more comfortable or that fits your audience better. But for formal moments, the standard style is the better choice. Sentences like He was frightened as this was his rst visit to the dentist are not acceptable because it is unclear whether as refers to time or causation. Was he afraid because this was his rst visit to a dentist, or was he frightened on the occasion of his rst visit to the dentist The distinction is perhaps minor in this example, but it should be made clear in other sentences by using words like “because” or when instead of as See also simile.
