Some Third Party Input on the Subject. A PHD in English weighed in…seems to go against the grain.
Anyone care to comment?
His web page is useful too. Have a look at the bottom. You can ask him anything and he’ll answer if he can.
I’m going to say that like is an adjective in that sentence. In a similarly constructed question
bababa your post is right on and correct. I’ve and English degree so trust me! 
Oops! Double post. Sorry!
bababa your post is right on and correct. I’ve and English degree, so trust me!
housecat, I’d be interested in how you arrived at your conclusion. thanks. 
[quote]i read, i assume ski’s question in the grammarlog:
What’s the weather like in April?
What part of speech is like in this sentence.
It’s not a verb which is clear by its location and inability to be substituted.
It’s not a preposition I think, because it is followed by a prepositional phrase. “in March” You can change the question to be: What’s the weather like? Negating the possibility of being a preposition. If it were a preposition then it would have to be followed by a noun.[/quote]
Although, if i had to choose one answer, I would say it’s an adverb modifying the stative verb “to be”, I think it is also very possible that it’s a prepositition. I can see also the reasons for it being a adj. The problem is that the function of like, in this context, is similar, if not the same, in all three cases. why don’t I agree with your reasoning?
in the answer form, one can still say: “I am like this.” (“this is like me” and “this is me”. omitting the word “like” should give a clue to its identity) (cf. The weather is like sunny.) I think this example might make it easier to elucidate the answer.
I don
[quote=“Closet Queen”]I don
The Prof is working within the framework of Chomky’s Transformational Grammar, which holds sway in the States. Hence his logic,
He’s characterized it as an adjective because, within TG, a distinction is drawn between deep structure and surface structure "grammar ". He’s referring to the former.
He’s changed his mind after reviewing the arguments. He concurs now. It’s a preposition.
Thanks for the help all. That question was really irking me.
Just like yesterday 
My feeling is preposition too, and that’s what my dictionary says so why not? I agree that strict rules about this sort fo thing are counter-productive.
Brian
Hey, ski. This is an old rule that has been invalid for decades.
It comes from the old days when the only study of grammar was done in Latin.
So the Latin grammarians would apply Latin grammar rules to barbarian languages like English. Unfortunately, this one little nasty rule that you mention has been hard to undo.
In Latin, you can’t end a sentence with a ‘pre-position’. But in English, you can. Luckily for other Germanic languages, English is the only one that got confused on this dumb rule by dumb middle age scholars. English is just too messy.
This reminds me of people who use the word ‘schizophrenic’ to refer to people with multiple personality disorder.
[quote=“Jack Burton”]housecat, I’d be interested in how you arrived at your conclusion. thanks.
[quote]
The same way bababa did, I reckon!
Bound prepositions aren’t that uncommon: What~like (still in use that way in some areas as Sandman posted), How~to, and such. If we use them in direct qestion forms they aren’t so hard to figure:
Is the weather like a mother-in-law?
Or in answers:
The weather is like a mother-in-law.
It’s when we use other forms that it gets confusing. “What’s the weather like outside?” “What’s the weather like today?” Should also sound more clear.
I agree the rule about not ending the sentence with a preposition is invalid for English today because we can and do do it all the time. This is because we can be clearly understood even if we leave out the object of the preposition. This is common in English, it’s only when the preposition then ends the sentence that some folks balk.