How do you see "look at" in the sentence below?

He stared at the moon.

1. (simple) verb + prepositional phrase (consisting of Prep + NP, in turn).
2. (complex) verb (consisting of V + Prep) and NP (as object).

I guess you were asking about phrasal verbs or verbs with objects.

He stared at the moon. stare (verb) + prepositional phrase. We have phrasal verbs when used with out/down like stare somebody out/down.

Likewise, in He looked at the moon look + prepositional phrase if you just mean he directed his eyes in order to see the moon.

However, look at (phrasal verb) + objects as in the following sentences:

1. Management is looking at ways of cutting costs. (look at = think about something carefully so that you can make a decision about it)
2. If I'd had children I might have looked at things differently. (look at = to consider something in a particular way )
3. Can you look at my essay sometime? (look at = to read something in order to check it or form an opinion about it )
4. Did you get the doctor to look at your knee? (look at = If someone, usually an expert, looks at something, they examine it )

These examples are taken from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Hope this can help.

quote:

I guess you were asking about phrasal verbs or verbs with objects.

I was asking more about prepositional verbs than phrasal ones. Some see "stare at" as the former while other see it as V + PP.

e.g.

stare at/the moon
stare/at the moon

As for phrasal verbs vs prepositional verbs:

He tore off the price tag. (phrasal verb)
The tearing off of the price tag was recorded on camera.

He stared at the moon. (prepositional verb)
*His staring at of the moon was strange to see.

he tore it off
*he looked it at

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <MikeyC>,

quote:

Likewise, in He looked at the moon look + prepositional phrase if you just mean he directed his eyes in order to see the moon.

However, look at (phrasal verb) + objects as in the following sentences:

<<Likewise, in He looked at the moon look + prepositional phrase if you just mean he directed his eyes in order to see the moon.

However, look at (phrasal verb) + objects as in the following sentences:>>

So the difference between "look at" as a unit and as two seperate words is that the former is idiomatic, in the wider sense of that word. Am I right?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <MikeyC>,

I see 'look at' as a prepositional verb.

We have had some interesting discussions on this subject, MikeyC. Here is one: http://thegrammarexchange.info...=401109904#401109904