Could "Look" Be A transiitive Verb?
He looked me in the face.
Does look above be used transitively as in He struck me on the head / He punched me in the side / He caught me by the wrist? If not, could it be that me as in he looked me in the face is not an object but an adverbial complement?
He struck me on the head
-> subject + transitive verb + object + adverbial complement
He looked me in the face
-> subject + intransitive verb + adverbial complement (1) + adverbial complement (2)
Top answer
"Look" is transitive in all your examples by virtue of having "me" as direct object. The PPs "on the head", in the side" and "by the wrist" are adjuncts (your adverbial). He looked me in the face / eye is something of an idiom, but I would still take "me" as object of "looked" and the PP as an adjunct.
- "Look" is transitive in all your examples by virtue of having "me" as direct object.
- The PPs "on the head", in the side" and "by the wrist" are adjuncts (your adverbial).
- He looked me in the face / eye is something of an idiom, but I would still take "me" as object of "looked" and the PP as an adjunct.
- Incidentally, there is no such thing as an 'adverbial complement'.
- Complement and adverbial are different functions, so you have one or the other.
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"Look" is transitive in all your examples by virtue of having "me" as direct object.
The PPs "on the head", in the side" and "by the wrist" are adjuncts (your adverbial). He looked me in the face/eye is something of an idiom, but I would still take "me" as object of "looked" and the PP as an adjunct.
Incidentally, there is n
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