A question about そうに

Bunpro
#1

So according to

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there’s no combination of い adjective and a noun.
Then, there’s this sentence: image
and the following particle is に like 犬 is a verb/adverb/adjective, but it’s a noun.
So am I missing something or a noun should be listed on the possible い adjective combination?

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#2

That the particle is に doesn’t mean that 犬 is a verb, it means that the そうに phrase applies to the verb, which is 撫でた.

That being said there might be dogs who are 優しそうな犬 so you have a point about the use case with nouns not being mentioned even though that’s valid too.

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#3

Ohhh so the verb doesn’t have to be immediately after そう. I’m pretty sure another grammar point had a mention on its page that the combination of said grammar point could be later on in the sentence, so I wonder why it was not mentioned here as well.
Anyway, thanks!

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