'It looks like rain' vs 'It looks like raining'

[Santana]

Hi,

Can you tell me which one is correct?

* It looks like rain.
* It looks like raining.

Is there any difference of meaning?

Thanks a lot

Santana

[Yankee]

Hi Santana

"It looks like rain" is the correct one and it would have the same meaning as "It looks like it's going to rain."

Amy

[Santana]

Thanks:

But, Amy , if we look at some artificial huge shower and we want to compare it with rain, i.e, "it seems is if it is raining" then the sentence would be correct or not?

*IT LOOKS LIKE RAINING

PLEASE REPLY

THANK YOU

[Yankee]

Hi Santana

I was afraid you might have some tricky meaning up your sleeve...

But, I still don't like the "It looks like raining" sentence.

If I wanted to describe a huge, artificial shower, then I would say:
"It looks (just) like rain"
-- or --
"It looks (just) like it's raining."

OR if it's an extremely gigantic artificial shower, maybe:
"It looks exactly like a massive cloudburst."

Amy