English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Is it correct to say similar with or similar to or similar like? Consider the following sentences
He has similar behavior with his friends (He has a behavior similar with his friend)
He has similar behavior to his friends (He has a behavior similar to his friend)
He has similar behavior like his friend
We always say similar to. In this definition of similar, it is expressly written that "As should not be used after similar".
Wilson held a similar position to Jones (not a similar position as Jones);
For me: He has similar behavior with his friends = "similar" here is just an adjective and is not connected with the word "with". Just because I say "he has similar behaviour when he is with me", it doesn't mean there is a structure "similar when"
"He has similar behavior to his friends = "similar to" is correct (his behaviour and his friends' behaviour are similar)
He has similar behavior like his friend = I wouldn't use this as "similar" and "like" have the same kind of meaning here, it's repetition. ("He has similar behaviour to his friends" OR "his behaviour is like his friends' behaviour).
The structure is SIMILAR TO Hope this helps.
The deciding factor is whether the figure of speech is convergent or divergent. Therefore, we have similar to and different from.
