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  1. He looked at me like I was a kid.

  2. He looked at me like he was a kid.

Which of the above sentences would you take to mean the same as this sentence: "He looked at me like a kid." And why?

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Your third sentence is ambiguous. It could mean the same as either of the first two. Why? Because you don't specify who it is who is "like a kid".

Usually this sort of sentence is obvious from context. Like if I said, "The student played the piano like an expert", presumably I mean that the student was like an expert, and not that the piano was like an expert, because inanimate objects can't normally be expert at anything. But if I said, "The student played the piano like a drum", I probably mean that the piano was like a drum, that is, that the student was banging on it like it was a drum. It wouldn't make sense to say that the student was like a drum.

But, "He looked at me like a kid", either "he" or "me" could be "like a kid". Either reading is possible. It might be clear from context. Like if you said, "Bob was 30 years older than me. He looked at me like a kid.", you probably mean that he thought of you as a kid because you were so much younger. ETc.

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