Collins Cobuild

Unit 100
Manner clauses
Main points
You use manner clauses to talk about how something is done.
Manner clauses are introduced by conjunctions such as ‘as’, ‘as if’,
‘as though’, or ‘like’.
A  manner  clause  needs  a  main  clause  to  make  a  complete
sentence. The manner clause always comes after the main clause.
1
 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 made as they were in Roman times.
You  often  use  ‘just’,  ‘exactly’,  or  ‘precisely’  in  front  of  ‘as’  for
emphasis.
It swims on the sea floor just as its ancestors did.
I like to plan my day exactly as I want.
Everything went precisely as she had planned.
2
 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’.

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Almost as if she’d read his thought, she straightened her back and returned
to her seat.
Just act as though everything’s normal.
After ‘as if’ or ‘as though’, you often use a past tense even when you
are talking about the present, to emphasize that the infomation in
the  manner  clause  is  not  true.  In  formal  English,  you  use  ‘were’
instead of ‘was’.   See also Unit 68.
3
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.
I was never allowed to sing the way I wanted to.
They did it in a way that I hadn’t seen before.
We make it move in the way that we want it to.
4
You can use ‘how’ in questions and reported questions to talk about
the method 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.
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.

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