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Nayeem19 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Sound or sound like ?

0 " Summarising Oakeshott in this way is bound to make him sound a hothouse English plant . " 02br
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00Is it typical British usage to use only sound here ? 02br
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00 Why not " ....to make him sound like a hothouse English plant . " ? 0-
  

Top answer

0 Hello Nayeem 02br 02br 00I'm not sure about what your sentence means exactly, but I think 'sound' (if it is used as a verb) should be followed by 01 00, not directly by 01a 00, be it AmE or BrE. 02br 02br 00paco 02br 02a 0-

— Paco2004

  • 0 Hello Nayeem 02br 02br 00I'm not sure about what your sentence means exactly, but I think 'sound' (if it is used as a verb) should be followed by 01 00, not directly by 01a 00, be it AmE or BrE.
  • 02br 02br 00paco 02br 02a 0-
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18 Answers
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0 Hello Nayeem 02br
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00I'm not sure about what your sentence means exactly, but I think 'sound' (if it is used as a verb) should be followed by 0100, not directly by 01a00, be it AmE or BrE. 02br
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00paco 02br
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0 Certainly in BrE it would be "sound like". 02br
01blockquote
00to make him sound a hothouse English plant12blockquote
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00This 01b00sounds like02b00the poor chap is a plant doctor, and trying to listen to a plant's chest! 050010id1
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0 It certainly sounds strange to me. 02br
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00MrP 0-
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0 Have you ever listened to the chest of a hothouse English plant Mr. P. (whatever is a "hothouse English plant??) It is indeed a very strange experience. 0-
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0 Can't we allow this construction as a literary device forming a parallel with "appear", "seem", and perhaps others, or do you feel that these, too, always require "like"? 02br
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00It makes him seem an idiot. (?) 02br
00It makes him appear a fool. (?) 02br
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00CJ 0-
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0All my life I've hearing " sounds like " . Obviousl , I was a bit surprised to see 02br
00that type of sentence construction in the Economist magazine . I thought it 02br
00was typical British English then . 02br
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00Should I presume that both sounds like and sound like are acceptable in the sentence given before ? 02br
00 Oakeshott
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0 Hi Jim, 02br
01blockquote
00Can't we allow this construction as a literary device forming a parallel with "appear", "seem", and perhaps others, or do you feel that these, too, always require "like"? 12br
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10It makes him seem an idiot. (?) 12br
10It makes him appear a fool. (?)12blockquote
12br
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0 A wild guess: 02br
00a hothouse plant: a rare and wonderful flower that has to be taken care of, fragile, fearing cold temp's. 02br
00an English hothouse plant: a luscious English belle? 02br
00Some wouldn't mind listening to her chest, bu no wonder you have never tried, Abbie... 0-
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0 'Sounds like a hothouse plant': I took it to mean that Oakeshott could easily sound rather 'precious' or 'effete' (in terms of his ideas or style) from the 'summary' that precedes this extract. 02br
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00MrP 0-
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0 Aha.. Now I can get vaguely what the sentence is intended to mean. 02br
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00If Oakeshott's personality is summarized in this way, one will inevitably take him as if he were a person like a hothouse plant. 02br
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00Is it right? 02br
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00paco 0-
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