Everyone knows how it feels to have a cold.

[diamondcutter]

Everyone knows how it feels to have a cold. When we have a cold, we may lose our sense of smell, unable to tell one odor from another. We usually get our sense of smell back as soon as the cold is gone.

(from an English textbook for junior high school students in China, published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press)

The first sentence looks strange to me. I wonder if it’s a correct one.

 

[GoesStation]

It's awkward at best.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, GoesStation.

I wonder if you mean that sentence is correct.

 

[jutfrank]

It sounds perfectly fine to me.

 

[GoesStation]

Sorry! The first sentence is fine. It's the second that's awkward.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you lose your sense of smell, your problem is not differentiating between odours but that you can't smell anything at all.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, teachers.

I wonder if I could also say Everyone knows how it feels when you have a cold. I mean if this is a correct sentence and has the same meaning as Everyone knows how it feels to have a cold.

 

[Tdol]

You could use Everyone knows what it feels like to have a cold.