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The particular example I am thinking of here is: "This sounds like a noble pursuit." I was wondering if it would be grammatically correct to drop the like: hence, "this sounds a noble pursuit."

It sounds correct in my head and out loud (much to the confusion of my co-workers) but I don't think there's any grammatical precedent. Is it actually correct? If not, are there times when I can drop the 'like'? What would those times be?

Jackalope
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    The important thing is that this construction only occurs in complements of sense verbs (look, sound, feel, smell, taste, seem, for instance). – John Lawler Feb 11 '20 at 23:03
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    "This sounds a noble pursuit" sounds fine to me, though I might say "this seems a noble pursuit". (I speak Australian English, if it matters.) – nnnnnn Feb 12 '20 at 00:52
  • @nnnnnn John Lawler's comment above is relevant. "Seem" is another of his "sense verbs" which behaves in the same way as "sounds". – WS2 Feb 12 '20 at 07:28
  • You're welcome. Links to sense verb stuff are here. – John Lawler Feb 12 '20 at 17:02
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    "I could say I did what I had to when I left you to go pirating, but it would taste a lie to say it wasn't what I wanted." - Bootstrap Bill Turner, Pirates of the Caribbean – Micah Windsor May 25 '20 at 17:10
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    Not sure Pirates of the Caribbean can be taken as an example of modern English usage. – Stuart F Apr 20 '23 at 08:39
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    How can one be sure this isn't 'to be deletion'? "This sounds to be a noble pursuit." cf "He appears Ø sane.' – Edwin Ashworth Apr 20 '23 at 11:10

2 Answers2

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While you might see "like" dropped in literary works (to sound more poetic?), you would never drop the "like" in regular, every-day spoken or written American English.

swmcdonnell
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You can correctly say either "this sounds like a noble pursuit", or "this sounds a noble pursuit", but it's not a case of dropping a word (or, in grammatical terms, "ellipsis"): rather those are two different ways to say the same thing.

"This sounds a noble pursuit" is a copular construction (like "this idea seems bad", or "I am a police officer") -- where the two things on the opposite sides of the verb are identical.

equin0x80
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    Hello, equin0x80. They are certainly 'different ways to say the same thing', but why should that rule out (perhaps first occurring so far back in history that the when isn't clear) ellipsis? One could argue that the original could be 'this sounds to be a noble pursuit' rather than 'this sounds like/as if it is a noble pursuit'. // If the claim that deletion is maintained, it is necessary to give a respected reference in support. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 20 '23 at 11:34
  • "This looks like gold" and "This looks to be gold" certainly don't mean the same thing, Are you sure what "This looks gold" means? Is it really gold? – Stuart F Sep 17 '23 at 14:22