About remain
Could you help me with the usage of "remain" and "remain as". Can the two phrase be used interchangeably? Or whats the difference between them? For example , can I say "we remain friends" or "we remain as friends " It remains as the most popular tourist attraction Or it remains the most popular tourist attraction Thanks a lot!

Question

About remain
Could  you  help  me with the usage of "remain" and "remain as".    Can the two phrase be used interchangeably? Or whats the difference  between them? For example , can I  say "we remain friends" or "we remain  as friends " It remains as the most popular tourist  attraction   Or it remains the most popular tourist attraction Thanks a lot!

Answer

I think that in your example ""as" is being used as a synonym for "like".

We remain like friends.

Answer

They are the same...      no difference.

Answer

Remain can be used in the context of states. For example, i would like to remain alone. The state is of being alone. Other states could be: happy, free, occupied etc. Remain as, has a similar meaning, but, "remain as (state)" is not correct.  You will see "remain as" when the write/speaker wants to give further information. For example, i want to remain as happy as possible. I want to remain free VS i want to remain as a free person. I want to remain american VS i want to remain as an american citizen. There is a subtle difference that is difficult to explain, but 'remain as' will usually be used to give more specificity to the sentence.