The cat's fur feels like cotton. - adjective or adverb

[freijorn]

Hello everyone, my source says in the sentence "The cat's fur feels like cotton." the linking verb "feel" connects to the adjective phrase "like cotton." Hovewer, I think it's incorrect.

I think the phrase "like cotton." modifies the verb "feel" and it is an adverbial and prepositional phrase.
Moreover, the phrase "like cotton." answers the question "how."

Also, I think the sentence "his house is like a barn" is modified by an adverbial phrase too.

Are my statements correct?

 

[Phaedrus]

I think the phrase "like cotton." modifies the verb "feel" and it is an adverbial and prepositional phrase.
Moreover, the phrase "like cotton." answers the question "how."

As you formulate your views about this complicated matter, you might consider the fact that native speakers have a related informal construction:

The cat's fur feels like it is cotton.

And that is equivalent in meaning to this more formal version:

The cat's fur feels as though it is cotton. / The cat's fur feels as if it were cotton.

If we say that the "like"-phrase is adverbial, or that the related "as though"- and "as if"-constructions are adverbial, we should be able to front them, but we can't:

[strike]Like cotton, the cat's fur feels.
Like it is cotton, the cat's fur feels.
As if it were cotton, the cat's fur feels.[/strike]

The semantics of "feel" relates, too, to these constructions:

We feel the cat's fur to be cotton.

In other words, the cat's fur isn't doing any feeling in the sentence "The cat's fur feels like cotton." You can even insert a "to"-prepositional phrase:

The cat's fur feels to us like cotton.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not sure this will be of any help with your parsing the sentence but, for me, "My cat's fur feels like cotton" means "My cat's fur feels similar to cotton". I wouldn't be suggesting that I actually think my cat's fur feels as if it is cotton. It would be different if someone got me to close my eyes and feel a piece of material, and then they asked me what it was. Then, if I said "It feels like cotton", I would be saying "I think it is cotton".

my source says

This is not sufficient. Please provide the title of the book and the name(s) of the author(s).

 

[PaulMatthews]

Hello everyone, my source says in the sentence "The cat's fur feels like cotton." the linking verb "feel" connects to the adjective phrase "like cotton." However, I think it's incorrect.

I think the phrase "like cotton." modifies the verb "feel" and it is an adverbial and prepositional phrase.
Moreover, the phrase "like cotton." answers the question "how."

Also, I think the sentence "his house is like a barn" is modified by an adverbial phrase too.

Are my statements correct?

No: "like cotton" is neither a preposition phrase nor a modifier.

“Like” is here an adjective (meaning “resemble”), thus “like cotton” is an adjective phrase.

The “like” phrase is predicative complement of “feel”, a verb of sensory perception.

The same applies to “His house is like a barn”, where “like a barn” is again an adjective phrase functioning as predicative complement of “be”.

Note that the preposition “like” occurs as head of an adjunct, as in “Like his father, Ed became a teacher”.

 

[Rover_KE]

My cat's fur feels like silk.

(See Caring for Your Cat by Kitty Litter.)

 

[Phaedrus]

No: "like cotton" is neither a preposition phrase nor a modifier.

“Like” is here an adjective (meaning “resemble”), thus “like cotton” is an adjective phrase.

The “like” phrase is predicative complement of “feel”, a verb of sensory perception.

Note that the preposition “like” occurs as head of an adjunct, as in “Like his father, Ed became a teacher”.

If "like" were an adjective, as opposed to a prepositional phrase, in sentences like the one in question, it's strange that it can't be intensified like other adjectives:

My cat's fur feels very soft.
My cat's fur feels so soft.

*[strike]My cat's fur feels very like cotton.[/strike]
*[strike]My cat's fur feels so like cotton.[/strike]

On the other hand, "like cotton" can, like many prepositional phrases, be modified (or specified) by "just":

*[strike]My cat's fur feels just soft.[/strike]
My cat's fur feels just like cotton.

Thus, I can't see the wisdom in dogmatically asserting, without any argument, that "like cotton" is an adjective phrase rather than a prepositional phrase.

The same applies to “His house is like a barn”, where “like a barn” is again an adjective phrase functioning as predicative complement of “be”.

Considering that prepositional phrases appear as complements to "be" (e.g., "His house is by the lake"), the ability for "like cotton" to function thus is not a good reason for thinking it is an adjective phrase rather than a prepositional phrase.

“Like” is here an adjective (meaning “resemble”)

"Resemble" is an interesting choice of synonym for an adjective, insofar as "resemble" is a verb, not an adjective. If "like" were an adjective in "My cat's fur is like cotton," the closest synonym would be "similar to": "My cat's fur feels similar to cotton."

However, that is not what the sentence "My cat's fur feels like cotton" means. The sentence means "My cat's fur feels similarly to how cotton feels."