Is it correct?

[Marxweb]

Please tell me if 'look it in awe' correct or not, thank you.

[Steve Hayes]

On Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:50:53 -0800 (PST), Marxweb <mar...@yahoo.com.tw>
wrote:

>Please tell me if 'look it in awe' correct or not, thank you.

Not.


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[Jerry Friedman]

On Nov 16, 8:50 am, Marxweb <marx...@yahoo.com.tw> wrote:
> Please tell me if  'look it in awe' correct or not, thank you.

No, but "look at it in awe" is.

--
Jerry Friedman

[John Lawler]

Yeah. "Look" is technically an intransitive verb, but since the
point of using "look" instead of "see" is to highlight the object
being seen, it's very normal to want to have an object of "look".

This kind of desire, like practically every other kinky desire,
is serviced in English by prepositions. Which preposition?
It depends on the verb. "Look", in particular, takes its
objects marked with "at", though in a sentence like

They look at the book with awe

it seems just as likely that the "at" should be thought
of as a transitivizing suffix on the verb "look"
(cf eye dialect "lookit"), as that it is the head of a
preposition phrase "at the man", which probably
isn't even a constituent, since it doesn't move.

What she looked at was the book.
The book was what she looked at.
*At the book was what she looked.

This is the behavior of a locative phrase,
indicating the direction of sight; hence
"where" is OK with PP fronting:

At the book was where she looked.

So as long as you treat it syntactically like
a locative PP, you can use "at" to indicate
the perceived object with "look". The
Volitional Transitive verb for hearing shows
the same phenomenon: "listen" is officially
intransitive, but uses "to" for aurally perceived
phenomena.

She listened to the song.
The song is what she listened to.
*To the song was what/where she listened.

though in this case "where" doesn't work so well
since sound isn't as directional a sense as vision.

-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler
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