What does it sound like to you?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

What does it sound like to you?

I think that “like” is a preposition here.
Probably NES see no any problem with this word order but to me, as a learner, this sentence looks odd. I’d like to see other ways of saying this.

Thanks

2

“What does it sound like to you?” has various shades of meaning. Most literally, it could be asking the other person to name something that he or she thinks makes a similar noise. Alternatively it could be askling for someone’s opinion about the quality of, say, a piece of writing. Or it could be asking the other person what sort of thing they are dealing with, or what sort of thing has probably occurred/happened.

“How does it sound to you?” is similar in some senses but not necessarily interchangeable.

Yes, I think “like” must be a preposition here. The word order is the same as in many other cases:

“I sat on a chair” -> “What did you sit on?”
“It sounds like a violin” -> “What does it sound like?”

3

Can I start the sentence with “like”?

Like what does it sound to you?

Thanks

4

This is theoretically grammatically possible, but it is usually unnatural.

5

Like, what does it sound to you?

Doesn’t it now use an adverb, Dozzy? If you use a comma here, will it still be sounded
unnatural?

6

Even worse than it was before. It’s now grammatically incorrect.

7

Huh, now I’ve got a bit more familiar with the sentence.

I have remembered another example.

What does this look like to you?
What does this sound like to you?

Do I need a coma after like? How does this look like, to you? Probably not.

Additional question.
Is the simple present appropriate tense for this example? Or it should be written as

What is this looking like to you?

Thanks

8

No comma. Also, you have changed to “How does this look like?” (possibly unintentionally) which is not quite right. The choice is “What does this look like?” or “How does this look?”, with or without “to you”.

The simple present is the most usual. The present continuous is also possible as a stylistic variation. The present continuous more vividly refers to activity occurring at the present moment.