Cigarette or smoke ?

[strange boy]

Which sentence is correct?

A: I don't want to smell like smoke.

B: I don't want to smell like cigarette.

Thanks in advance

 

[Rover_KE]

Neither is correct.

'I don't want to smell of smoke.'

 

[teechar]

or
I don't want to smell of cigarettes.

 

[strange boy]

Are you trying to say that the sentences i made are incorrect?

 

[strange boy]

Is it correct to say: I don't want to smell like cigarettes?

 

[Matthew Wai]

The second is incorrect.

Why is it incorrect? I found 'It smells like rotten eggs' in http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/smell_2 Definition#2.

 

[Raymott]

Is it correct to say: I don't want to smell like cigarettes?

Yes. That's quite normal in AusE.

 

[Raymott]

Why is it incorrect? I found 'It smells like rotten eggs' in http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/smell_2 Definition#2.

'Egg' isn't 'eggs'. 'Cigarette' is not 'cigarettes'. Perhaps that's the reason.

 

[Tdol]

Yes. That's quite normal in AusE.

It sounds a bit odd in BrE- smell of cigarettes is the natural form to me.

 

[Skrej]

Both are okay in AmE IF you change 'cigarette' to 'cigarettes'.

In AmE we say 'smell like X', where X is either a non-count noun (e.g. smoke) or a plural count noun (e.g. cigarettes).

You could also say 'smell like a(an) X', where X is a singular count noun, but it's probably more common to use the plural form.

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE, we sometimes say that a smoker "smells like an ashtray".

 

[Skrej]

We say that in AmE as well, as well as 'smells like a smokestack' or a 'smells like a chimney'.

 

[Tdol]

We use smoke like a chimney for a heavy smoker in BrE. I can't recall hearing it used with smell.