Craig,

My first reaction was that this use of "like" was adjectival, but since you want a traditional treatment I checked the OED Online and Merriam  Webster Dictionary Online.  Both treat as an adjective, although MW doesn't have an example with BE.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Hancock
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 2:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: like

    I am curious about how traditional grammar handles "like" in a sentence like "One of these things is not like the others." (I know; Sesame Street).
   My instinct is to say "like the others" is prepositional phrase, complement to "is", therefore referring back (adjectivally?) to "One of these things." Would that be standard?
   If it can be easily replaced by "resembles" (or "doesn't resemble"), does that mean "be like" is shading into a verb like status with "the others" as object? Are we OK with flexible boundaries around our categories?

Craig

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