At  1:03 PM 10/1/97 -0400, EDWARD VAVRA wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>              <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       EDWARD VAVRA <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Semicolons, etc.
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I was taught that the semicolon is best used to
>separate main clauses with contrasting ideas --
>
>He went swimming; she did the dishes.
>
>The colon and dash, I was taught, are used to
>separate main clauses in which the second clause
>amplifies or specifies information in the first (the colon
>being more formal than the dash) --
>
>He drank a lot -- he had three vodkas and eight beers.
>
>Are these "rules" still accepted and being taught, or
>am I an old fuddy-duddy?
>
>Also, I recently shocked someone by saying that "ain't"
>will eventually be accepted as acceptable English and
>that "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" will
>become standard usage.  Your comments, please.
>
>Thanks,
>Ed V.
 
        It's hard to believe that anyone still worries about like as a
conjunction.  Webster's Dictionary of American Usage, after citing dozens
of examples, concludes:  "These examples should suffice to show that
conjunctive like is wide used in standard English prose, and that it is
used in some constructions where it goes unnoticed--as it is in the
citation from Simon 1980; Simon in the same book takes anothr writer to
task for using conjunctive like. ....
        To summarize the controversy:  like has been in use as a
conjunction for more than 600 years.  Its beginnings are literary, but the
available eidence shows that it was fairly rare until the 19th century.  A
noticeable increase in use during the 19th century provoked th censure we
are so familiar with.  Still, the usage has never been less than standard,
even if primarily spoken.
        The belief that like is a preposition but not a conuunction has
entered the folklore of usage.  Handbooks, schoolbooks, newspaper pundits,
and well-meaning friends for generations to come will tell you all about
it.  Be prepared.
 
        This lengthy quote (page 602) certainly applies to many of our
so-called rules.