Hmm, I've had to think about this one myself. I tend to agree with you that like is rather colloquial and I would write as. That could be a GB AE difference. I don't know...

Btw I just wanted to let you know how much your English impressed me. Don't want to sound patronising, but credit where credit is due.

Thank you, Emma! It means a lot to me to hear a native speaker compliment me on my use of English, since I'm trying really hard to be as good as possible at it... it really is an awesome language.

It is colloquial, used in speech, but the actors were speaking, weren't they? And Golding was writing fiction, not an academic essay, so his dialogue and description were intended to reflect the spoken language. In fact, that's part of what makes his book good -- you wouldn't want to read it if the people didn't sound natural.

Yes, you need to know how to use 'as' correctly in formal writing. The standard rule is that 'as' is a conjunction, so it's used with a full clause containing a subject and a verb ('as I said,' 'as we can see,' 'as this analysis demonstrates'). In contrast, 'like' is a preposition, so it's used with a noun, pronoun, or phrase ('like them,' 'like the other students,' 'like a bird on the wing').

Your teacher should know the difference, and should correct your written work so that you can learn it too. However, depending on her background, it could actually be easier for you than for her. Many native speakers don't know this rule, so you will see mistakes even occasionally in print (again, in writing other than dialogue, which for purposes of diction counts as speech).

But in the spoken language, or writing intended to reflect it, there's nothing all that wrong with 'like' as a conjunction. I'm careful about usage, but I say it often myself when speaking to family or friends. I sometimes even find myself editing it out of my posts here just to set a better example for learners, but that often feels like going too far in the other direction, because 'as' can sound too formal in casual conversation.

I wouldn't ever use 'cuz' in writing, though. But apart from that, I agree with Emma, your English is very good, and you were right to notice and ask the question. (-:

Fowler's Modern English Usage (3rd ed.) has a whole page on "like" as a conjunction. It (i.e. Burchfield) concludes:
"It would appear that in many kinds of written and spoken English "like" as a conjunction is struggling towards acceptable standard or neutral ground. It is not there yet"

My own quick, imperfect, and biassed summary:
It is used more
1. in comparisons
2. jocularly, in set phrases ("like I said")
3. by the illiterate, Americans, and Australians (:-)

If you worry about this sort of thing, I would definitely buy a copy of Fowler's (3rd ed. by Burchfield); even better: try to get a copy of the 2nd ed. as well)

So it's true what they say about the German sense of irony..

You had better stick to your nasty mother tongue, Dominik!

Thank all of you! I think I have figured it out by now...you just saved the good night's sleep!

@hm -- us
Thank you for taking the time! And I shall not use 'cuz' anymore, promise! :=)

@Mike E.
Thanks for that reference, I'll order a copy tomorrow; I'm lacking a really good grammar book anyway.

@emma
now you r e a l l y got me confused. But as far as the 'nasty' language is concerned, let me counter that one with Hermann Hesse:

Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend
Dem Alter weicht, blüht jede Lebensstufe,
Blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne,
Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.

Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten,
An keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen,
Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen,
Er will uns Stuf' um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen,
Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise,
Mag lähmender Gewöhnung sich entraffen.

Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
Uns neuen Räumen jung entgegen senden,
Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden...
Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde!

Ich habe soeben diesen Faden gelesen und muß zugeben, daß ich verwirrt bin.
Auch wenn es mich nicht betrifft, hätte ich gerne gewußt, was Emma(BE) so an Dominiks Beitrag empört hat.

Meiner Ansicht nach hat sich Dominik für das Kompliment seine Sprachkenntnisse betreffend bedankt, und außerdem festgestellt, daß Englisch eine tolle Sprache ist. Also ich kann hier keinen Sarkasmus feststellen.

Oder gibt es hier einen Unterton, der mir auf Grund meiner schlechten Englischkenntnisse entgeht? (Ist "awesome" vielleicht nicht das beste Wort?) Bitte um Aufklärung, aus reinem Interesse. Danke,

I'm puzzled too -- I thought Emma gave Dominik an honest compliment, and I didn't notice anyone being ironic. Do I need an irony detector too, or Emma, were you referring to something else? Maybe another thread, perhaps where Dominik complimented someone whose German was less good?

Returning to the original topic ("like" vs "as"):

In the US in the 1950s, there was a huge controversy over a cigarette slogan on television and in printed ads: "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should."

Teachers were horrified, there were letters of outrage in the newspapers, and there was even a movement to boycott Winston cigarettes. But the ads just reflected the fact that American usage was already ignoring the like/as distinction, and the clock could not be turned back.

It is still good practice to avoid "like" as a conjunction. But this battle was lost long ago, at least on this side of the pond.

I've just checked out the forum - I didn't write that! I don't know who used my name and tried to pass that comment off as mine but it's pretty childish and very unwelcome!

:)
Actually, Emma, I thought that you were either kidding or someone else passed that comment off as yours anyway ... but I'm relieved, you set that straight, because I really didn't spot any irony in your first post.
I hope you liked the poem...:=)

@ Dominik:

It's quite worrying that somebody finds it acceptable to pass themselves off as somebody else - you never know whether anybody is who they say they are and it ruins the purpose and atmosphere of the site. Ich lerne 7 Jahre Deutsch und werde nie behaupten, dass sie eine 'nasty' Sprache sei!

OH NO, NOT HIM AGAIN!!!
There is a nasty brat haunting this forum by wantonly spreading insults and rude remarks just for the fun of it. As long as he does it under his own nicks (he has a whole set of them, of course) his behaviour is just trollish, but borrowing the nick of a perfectly respectable person like Emma(BE) goes far beyond that.
Should we collect money to buy him an extra-speedy car and then hope that the German Autobahnverkehr takes good care of him?

Yep, HE has been busy again. I've actually come around 180° on the issue of registration. Ok, he could still register and pass himself off as "Emma (BE) disgusted" but than it would be pretty obvious that he wasn't Emma...