こと in かわいいこと天使のごとし


I don't understand the purpose of こと in かわいいこと天使のごとし. It seems to function
like "and."

[![img](https://i.stack.imgur.com/n1sDa.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/n1sDa.jpg)




> でも寝顔はかわいいこと天使のごとし。  
>  Her sleeping face is cute like an angel.

Basically this こと is a nominalizer which turns かわいい ("cute", adjective) into a
noun ("cuteness"). So the かわいいこと天使のごとし part in isolation can be translated
literally as "(her) cuteness (is) angel-like".

Still, the topic of the entire sentence is 寝顔, not かわいいこと. In modern Japanese,
this `<adjective> \+ こと + <noun> \+ のごとし` can be taken as a special
construction that behaves like a long predicate meaning `<adjective> like a
<noun>`. This is one of those [set expressions that cannot be analyzed using
the modern standard grammar](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/42724/5010).
This `<adjective> \+ こと + <noun> \+ のごとし` pattern is repeatedly used in
[風林火山](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C5%ABrinkazan), a famous battle
standard by Takeda Shingen (full text and translation to modern Japanese are
available [here](https://kanbun.info/koji/furin.html)).

**EDIT:** Note that ～こと～のごとし should usually be avoided in an informal
situation like the one shown in the picture. 天使のごときかわいさだ and 天使のごとくかわいい are
already fairly literary, but かわいいこと天使のごとし sounds even more pompous and kind of
feels as if a Shakespeare play suddenly started.




> でも寝顔はかわいいこと天使のごとし。  
>  Her sleeping face is cute like an angel.

Basically this こと is a nominalizer which turns かわいい ("cute", adjective) into a
noun ("cuteness"). So the かわいいこと天使のごとし part in isolation can be translated
literally as "(her) cuteness (is) angel-like".

Still, the topic of the entire sentence is 寝顔, not かわいいこと. In modern Japanese,
this `<adjective> \+ こと + <noun> \+ のごとし` can be taken as a special
construction that behaves like a long predicate meaning `<adjective> like a
<noun>`. This is one of those [set expressions that cannot be analyzed using
the modern standard grammar](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/42724/5010).
This `<adjective> \+ こと + <noun> \+ のごとし` pattern is repeatedly used in
[風林火山](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C5%ABrinkazan), a famous battle
standard by Takeda Shingen (full text and translation to modern Japanese are
available [here](https://kanbun.info/koji/furin.html)).

**EDIT:** Note that ～こと～のごとし should usually be avoided in an informal
situation like the one shown in the picture. 天使のごときかわいさだ and 天使のごとくかわいい are
already fairly literary, but かわいいこと天使のごとし sounds even more pompous and kind of
feels as if a Shakespeare play suddenly started.

