That seems about right to me. As an idiom, it "feels" like the units are starting to "grammaticalize" (sp?), with "bugs out of me" beginning a slow creep toward phrasal verb status, but maybe that's just me. Isn't that how phrasal verbs form? An adverbial complement goes through the grammaticalization process and becomes a verbal particle? I don't know -- just a guess. I vaguely remember something about a process that was akin to: complement -> clitic -> particle. Or maybe the order is wrong. John On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 7:56 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Dick,**** > > I think it would be very much parallel to “beat the crap out of me.” My > first inclination is to see it as complex transitive. “I sent that man from > my door.” “I drove that problem out of my mind.” The second complement is > adverbial. The direct object (affected participant) ends up in another place > as a result of the action of the verb. If I remember right, though, more > traditional grammars don’t recognize the larger category of adverbial > compliment in complex transitive sentences. It seems so obvious to me.**** > > *“Out of me, this bugs the hell.” *“This bugs the hell.” These sorts > of tests aren’t foolproof, but they do seem to confirm that “out of me” is > complement, not just modifier. It’s a required element in the construction. > **** > > ** ** > > Craig**** > > ** ** > > *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Dick Veit > *Sent:* Tuesday, September 20, 2011 8:17 AM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Parsing requested**** > > ** ** > > In a post yesterday, I used the verb phrase "bugs the hell out of me." Can > we try to parse that? Is "the hell" a direct object? An adverbial? Or is it > just an unanalyzable idiom--after all, it doesn't analyze semantically. > > Dick > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" **** > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ **** > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or > leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/