looked

[tkacka15]

You see the change in his painting when expressionism took over, and he discovered you could paint how you felt, not how you looked. [Michael Rosen.]

She looked daggers at him.

Is "looked" a verb describing the use of the power of sight or the action of being perceived, regarded or judged by others in the above sentences?

Thank you.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In my opinion, it means that she was angry. It is not about the power of sight; it is about the facial expression that was viewed by others.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Tkacka:

Of course, I don't have the guts to answer your question.

But I did some googling and thought the following would interest you as much as it did me.

First, a definition of a cognate object.

The book says an "intransitive verb ... may sometimes be followed by a noun already implied more or less in the verb."

One example: "He slept [a verb] a sound sleep [cognate object]." [Even a dummy like me can see that "sleep" is implied in the verb "slept."]

Now look here:

Sometimes a cognate object is just understood.

The book tells us that "They shouted applause" is short for "They shouted a shout of applause." *** "He played the fool" is a shorter version of "He played the part of a fool."

I bet that you now know what the shorter version of "He looked daggers at me" is.

The book's answer: "He looked me a look of daggars."

Source: A Google result with this title: P. 42-43 Manual of English Grammar and Composition

*****

I also found an easier explanation.

"The officer looked daggars at me" = "The officer looked angrily at me."

The cognate object (daggars) modifies the predicate verb (looked) as the adverb "angrily" would do.

Source: A CONCISE ENGLISH GRAMMAR(1918) by Kittredge and Farley.

 

[emsr2d2]

Was "daggers" misspelt as "daggars" in both the books you quoted, TheParser?