Would you say this usage is correct?
Campbell’s Chunky - Soup That Eats Like a Meal
And can you post a few similar examples?
This construction has a name, but I can’t remember it right now. You can use it with a limited group of verbs. It’s a bit unusual to use it with the verb “eat”, which is why the Campbell’s slogan gets stuck in people’s minds.
Here are some more examples:
Headlines:
“Judge says gossip’s complaint reads like a Spillane novel.”
“Enron’s ethics code reads like fiction.”
“Phillip Shue case reads like a novel.”
“Ex-spy’s poisoning reads like a thriller”
Sentences:
“Good code reads like prose once it has been broken up into methods, functions, procedures, etc.”
“This article on the Texas GOP reads like it should be from The Onion (dallasnews.com).”
“The New York Times reads like a gossip sheet.”
“It cooks like bacon.” (Referring to a vegetarian bacon substitute.)
“It cooks like any regular pasta.”
“It cooks like rice, but cooks in half the time and expands to four times its size.”
“It cooks like sweetcorn.”
“And it cooks like chicken too.”
Is it “the middle voice”?
Thanks for the examples, Jamie.
They sound like Russian constructions and remind me of ergative verbs (the door opened, the soup thickened, etc.)
They are ergative in a way, or another term would be “non-accusative”.
Perhaps
Tom
This should be, “The car can seat 10 people.”
This has been much discussed in another forum. Here are two characteristic threads:
(We never did discover why Molly broke the china.)
MrP
Another example:
The product sells well.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting around a table[YSaerTTEW443543]
Or why Mr P broke wind. 