A question about "as"

Question

I would like to say that "A" does "B" in the same way as "C" does "B". Can I directly say:

As "C" does "B", "A" does "B".

It looks a little strange to me, since the "as" may mean "when" here.

Answer 1

In this context it seems more that with the line of

As "C" does "B", "A" does "B"

it implies when C does B then A does B, if you want the sentence to refer to A doing B the same way C does B it would go:

"A" does "B" the same way as "C" does "B"

this would imply A does B the same way as C does B.

Answer 2

As C does B, A does B

There is a problem with your formulation of this relationship.

You have three terms here, which you have called A, B, and C. A and C have the same relationship to what you call ‘B’. Both, presumably, do it or cause it in some way (or perhaps in exactly the same way). What is not clear is whether A and C are themselves things/persons that ‘do’ B or whether they are events/processes that ‘do’ (i.e. cause) B.

Depending on which of these you are trying to express, you need to choose your variables more carefully to distinguish cause from outcome or ‘doer’ from ‘done’. For example, choose ‘A’ and ‘B’ for your doers and for your done use lower case italic ‘e’ (effect). Now you can say

As A does (causes) e, B does e

That is still not the standard way of expressing it. Usually we find

As A does e, so B does e

This formulation shows the symmetrical relationships more perspicuously. Usually, however, this is reserved for cases where there are two ‘things done’ as well as two ‘doers’

As A does e so B does f

Without the second ‘thing done, your formulation looks unnecessarily involved. Why not just say this?

A does e in the same way as B does.

It would have been so much easier if you had provided the example of a real sentence, though.