Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[bakum123]

in following sentence, "what is the weather like"
what is the word "like" in the back of the sentenc among 8parts of speech?
that is to say, i'd like to know which one is "like" , adjective or proposition of 8 parts of speech?

please answer me asap.

[buddhaheart]

Without contemplating an answer to the question, �like� in the re-arranged sentence �the weather is like what� functions as a preposition if we treat the �what� as a pronoun. The preposition �like� joins the pronoun �what� (= object of the preposition) to the noun �weather�.

If I answer the question with �the weather is like it�s going to rain�, �like� then functions like a conjunction. It takes the meaning of �as if �. If the weather is like it�s going to rain, it means it (the weather) is as if it�s going to rain.

If the question becomes �what does the weather look like� and the answer is �the weather looks like rain�, �like� behaves even more like a preposition.

A better-worded question would be: How is the weather?