Given that a girl wants a private tutor, but she does not understand the difference between these two sentences:
I hope you can be my private tutor at night after my day school is over.
I hope you can act as my private tutor at night after my day school is over.
Answer
If anything, act as is more formal. It is often used in describing situations wherein someone is taking on responsibilities: (Google any of these, with or without "his/her" between as and the following noun. Act as legal counsel. Act as guardian. Act as estate executor. )
The expression may be used to acknowledge that the actor has other roles/functions also, so that acting as someone will either mean the role is temporary or it is in addition to other duties. When my supervisor takes the day off at work, then one of my coworkers will act as section chief.
I have worked as a tutor in the past, and neither of these constructions sounds at all unusual. I would probably chose act as, but either phrasing is totally acceptable.
(West Coast American English. )
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