Comparing "as A" and "as B" While poking around the internet, I came across this sentence from a non-native speaker, which sounded off:


  她是朋友比爱人更好。


Intended meaning:


  She is better as a friend than as a lover [for the person saying this sentence].


Firstly, my assessment of this - that this isn't correct phrasing - correct?

Secondly, this prompted me to wonder how I would actually phrase such a sentence in Chinese. As a semi-native speaker, I'm familiar with use of 比 and similar words to use in comparison, but I'm not sure what exactly would be suitable here. While searching for a word corresponding to the English "as" (for instance in "as general of the army"), I found 作为, which seems suitable, but I am not sure if I could use it in a comparison, given that the Nciku examples are all along the lines of "As [A], [B]" or "[A] as [B], [C]", where A, B, and C are placeholders for additional "information".

With my current knowledge, I would attempt to phrase it like:


  她作为（我）朋友比作为（我）爱人更适合。


Is this usage correct, and if not, how could it be better phrased?
Your usage is quite right. And you can also say:


  比起爱人，（把）她作为朋友更合适。