Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - as

I. [c red]CONJUNCTION AND PREPOSITION USES Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Please look at category 12 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword. 1. If something happens as something else happens, it happens at the same time. Another policeman has been injured as fighting continued this morning... All the jury’s eyes were on him as he continued... The play started as I got there. CONJ 2. You use the structure as...as when you are comparing things. I never went through a final exam that was as difficult as that one... There was no obvious reason why this could not be as good a film as the original. PHRASE • As is also a conjunction. Being a mother isn’t as bad as I thought at first!... I don’t think he was ever as fit as he should have been. PHRASE 3. You use as...as to emphasize amounts of something. You can look forward to a significant cash return by saving from as little as ?10 a month... She gets as many as eight thousand letters a month. PHRASE c darkgreen]emphasis 4. You use as when you are indicating what someone or something is or is thought to be, or what function they have. He has worked as a diplomat in the US, Sudan and Saudi Arabia... The news apparently came as a complete surprise... I had natural ability as a footballer. PREP 5. If you do something as a child or as a teenager, for example, you do it when you are a child or a teenager. She loved singing as a child and started vocal training at 12. PREP 6. You use as to say how something happens or is done, or to indicate that something happens or is done in the same way as something else. I’ll behave toward them as I would like to be treated... Today, as usual, he was wearing a three-piece suit... The book was banned in the US, as were two subsequent books. CONJ 7. You use as in expressions like as a result and as a consequence to indicate how two situations or events are related to each other. As a result of the growing fears about home security, more people are arranging for someone to stay in their home when they’re away... PREP 8. You use as to introduce short clauses which comment on the truth of what you are saying. As you can see, we’re still working... We were sitting, as I remember, in a riverside restaurant. CONJ 9. You can use as to mean ‘because’ when you are explaining the reason for something. Enjoy the first hour of the day. This is important as it sets the mood for the rest of the day. = since CONJ 10. You say as it were in order to make what you are saying sound less definite. I’d understood the words, but I didn’t, as it were, understand the question. PHRASE: PHR with cl c darkgreen]vagueness 11. You use expressions such as as it is, as it turns out, and as things stand when you are making a contrast between a possible situation and what actually happened or is the case. I want to work at home on a Tuesday but as it turns out sometimes it’s a Wednesday or a Thursday. PHRASE 12. as against: see against as ever: see ever as a matter of fact: see fact as follows: see follow as long as: see long as opposed to: see opposed as regards: see regard as soon as: see soon as such: see such as well: see well as well as: see well as yet: see yet II. [c red]USED WITH OTHER PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use as for and as to at the beginning of a sentence in order to introduce a slightly different subject that is still connected to the previous one. I feel that there’s a lot of pressure put on policemen. And as for putting guns in their hands, I don’t think that’s a very good idea at all. PREP-PHRASE: PREP n/-ing 2. You use as to to indicate what something refers to. They should make decisions as to whether the student needs more help... PREP-PHRASE: PREP wh 3. If you say that something will happen as of, or in British English as from, a particular date or time, you mean that it will happen from that time on. The border, effectively closed since 1981, will be opened as of January the 1st... She is to retire as from 1 October. PREP-PHRASE 4. You use as if and as though when you are giving a possible explanation for something or saying that something appears to be the case when it is not. Anne shrugged, as if she didn’t know... PHRASE AS A MATTER OF COURSE see course