2. Manner Clauses
When you want to say how someone does
something, or how something is done, you use
‘as’.
He behaves as he does, because his father
was really cruel to him.
The bricks are still made as they were in
Roman times.
3. Manner Clauses
You often use ‘just’, ‘exactly’, or ‘precisely’ in
front of ‘as’ for emphasis.
It swims on the sea floor just as it’s ancestors
did.
I like the freedom to plan my day exactly as I
want.
4. Manner Clauses
When you want to indicate that the
information in the manner clause might not
be true, or is definitely not true, you use ‘as if’
or ‘as though’.
She reacted as if she didn’t know about the
race.
She acts as though she owns the place.
5. Manner Clauses
After ‘as if’ or ‘as though’, you often use a past
tense even when you are talking about the
present, to emphasize that the information in
the manner clause is not true. In formal
English you use ‘were’ instead of ‘was’.
6. Manner Clauses
Presidents can’t dispose of companies as if
people didn’t exist.
She treats him as though he was her own son.
He looked at me as though I were mad.
7. Manner Clauses
You can also use ‘as if’ or ‘as though’ so say
how someone or something feels, looks, or
sounds.
She felt as if she had a fever.
He looked as if he hadn’t slept very much.
Mary sounded as though she had just run all
the way.
8. Manner Clauses
You can also use ‘it looks’ and ‘it sounds’ with
‘as if’ and ‘as though’.
It looks to me as if he wrote down some
notes.
It sounds to me as though he’s just being
awkward.
9. Manner Clauses
When the subject of the manner clause and
the main clause are the same, you can often
use a participle in the manner clause and omit
the subject and the verb ‘be’
He ran off to the house as if escaping.
He shook is head as though dazzled by his
own vision.
10. Manner Clauses
You can also use ‘as if’ or ‘as though’ with a
‘to’-infinitive clause.
As if to remind him, the church clock struck
eleven.
11. Manner Clauses
In informal speech, people often use ‘like’
instead of ‘as if’ or ‘as’ to say how a person
feels, looks, or sounds. Some speakers of
English think that this use of ‘like’ is
incorrect.
He felt like he’d won the pools.
You look like you’ve seen a ghost.
You talk just like your father does.
12. Manner Clauses
You can also use ‘like’ in a prepositional
phrase to say how someone does something.
He was sleeping like a baby.
I behaved like an idiot, and I’m sorry.
13. Manner Clauses
You also use ‘the way (that)’, ‘in a way (that)’,
or ‘in the way (that)’ to talk about how
someone does something, or how something
is done.
14. Manner Clauses
I was never allowed to sing the way I wanted
to.
They did it in a way that I had never seen
before.
We make it move in the way that we want it
to.
15. Manner Clauses
You can use ‘how’ in questions and reported
questions to talk about the message used to
do something, and sometimes to indicate your
surprise that it was possible to do it.
‘How did he get in?’ - ‘He broke a window.’
I wondered how he could afford a new car.
16. Manner Clauses
Sometimes you can use ‘how’ to talk about the
manner in which someone does something.
I watched how he did it, then tried to copy
him.
Tell me how he reacted when he saw you.
