What's the difference between the following sentences: "he looks happy." "he looks like he's happy." "he seems happy."

3 answers

The first and third sentences are about the same, both simple sentences; the only difference is the use of different verbs, "looks" and "seems." They give the sentence slight changes in meaning, but the structure is identical: subject, verb, predicate adjective.

The second sentence is a complex sentence with an error in it. It's complex because it has two clauses ("he looks" and "like he's happy"), one independent and one dependent. The error is that "like" is used incorrectly. That word is not a subordinating conjunction, which is what is needed here. Change "like" to "as if," and it'll be correct.
http://www.answers.com/like
(Scroll down to see all the different CORRECT ways "like" can be used; at the bottom of the list, you'll see "conj. Usage Problem" which means it's not correctly used as a conjunction.

If you have further questions about these sentences, please repost.

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thank you so much!!! you really helped!
You're very welcome!

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