Discourse particles

1 Like

See separate article on like

Besides the colloquial use of like as a preposition, more colloquial uses of like have become popular in English in recent decades. These uses comprise two basic linguistic functions:

6. REPORTING VERB (QUOTATIVE)

Like and go in slang are used for directly or indirectly quoting, just like say, said, tell. But like and go can also report what one is thinking at the time in the story. Whether it meanssay or thought is often clear from the context; both meanings are often used in the same narrative in very informal speech. I went to the clerk to ask him where the beer was, and he's like, "I don't know, I'm new here," so I'm like, yeah, sure, like, you should know this, man!

7. DISCOURSE PARTICLE

This is a type of word used often in colloquial English and slang. It doesn't really affect the meaning, but it makes your speech flow more smoothly and sound more natural and "cool". It can be used before a noun phrase, adjective, adverb, predicate, or even a whole clause or sentence. Other common discourse particles or discourse markers are well, like, you know, and the sentence-final though. Like and It's like are also used at the beginning of a sentence. We use the discourse marker like in several ways.

2 New information

We use like sometimes to explain further or illustrate what we just said, to provide more facts or details to explain something. This is often done along with the emphasis, contrast, or softening functions below.

1) My roommate never cleans when I ask him to. Like, I asked him yesterday to clean, and he never did it. He's just too lazy. It's like, he just like sits around all day watching football and like doing nothing.

2) A. And then you know, like myself, I don't show a lot of emotion, and my dad is like the same way — he hates to apologize and it's like he rarely ever does it – he like leaves it up in the air.

B. Do you think that when you're a parent you'll be different?

A. Well, I think so because I'm a bit more willing to like sacrifice and give, instead of just feeling that I'm right.

3) This guy is so cool. I mean, he's like the coolest fellow you could meet. Like, he's really nice and sweet, and always helps me. It's like, he's just the neatest guy in the world.

3 Emphasis and contrast

We sometimes use like also to emphasize or stress what is important, or to show contrast, for example, to clarify a point, or to bring up a point or item again that was mentioned earlier in the conversation.

1. No, not that way. You know what I mean? Like going around it on the map.
2. I think a lot has to do with humor, 'cuz like my best friend, we laugh at the dumbest things that no one else would laugh at.

4 Softener, approximation

We can soften statements to make them a little more polite, or to indicate a figurative expression – roughly equivalent to like to mean "somewhat, kind of, approximately, about, so to speak."

1. Like, could you loan me like, $200?
2. I missed like 40 questions on the exam.
3. That guy is so ugly. His face could like sink a thousand ships.
4. He would follow around like every day until I had to call the police.