Am I correct in saying that the verb 'looked' is intransitive in the first phrase, transitive in the second phrase? Is there a name for this type of rhetorical technique playing on the two senses of the verb 'to look'?
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3It’s called syllepsis but I’m pretty sure this is a duplicate question. – Jim Apr 6 '20 at 17:06
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I'm not sure it can be a syllepsis if there is no word missing? (Syllepsis: 'a form of ellipsis, and like ellipsis the sense of the word is repeated, but not the word itself.') – cunning linguist Apr 6 '20 at 17:25
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not sure where you found that def?! lexico.com/en/definition/syllepsis – Jim Apr 6 '20 at 17:31
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Look is a sense verb, and they are mostly intransitive. The first one is a "flip" verb, with the source of the sensation as subject and the perceiver presupposed (to be me). The second one is a volitional agent verb, with the agent/perceiver as subject. At me is a prepositional phrase, not an object. Though if your theory permits, you can reanalyze the sequence look at as a transitive verb (like listen to, another sense verb). The transitive agentive non-volitional sense verb that corresponds to these two senses of look is see. – John Lawler Apr 6 '20 at 17:31
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1Does this answer your question? Using verbs with multiple meanings – Robusto Apr 6 '20 at 17:53
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Apparently, this is an example of antanaclasis:
antanaclasis:
The repetition of a word whose meaning changes in the second instance.
[Rhetoric.byu.edu_Figures of Repetition]
John Lawler's analysis (in his comment) can hardly be improved upon, but flip verbs have been covered on several occasions.
answered Apr 6 '20 at 18:39
