"Babysit" as transitive

Lynne Murphy lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK
Wed Aug 21 13:09:03 UTC 2002


--On Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:02 am -0400 Anne Marie Hamilton
<AHami93942 at AOL.COM> wrote:

> I was a kid in the 70s, and it was usually 'babysit X' rather than
> 'babysit for X,' but I have heard both.

Haven't been following the thread very well, so excuse me if I'm
repeating...

I _could_ say either, but there are some differences:

I'm babysitting my brother.  = I'm taking care of brother.
I'm babysitting for my brother.  = it's my bro's kids (or other kids he
should be taking care of)

Similarly, I'd say
I'm babysitting for the Smiths.
I'm babysitting Janey Smith.

Lynne


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA Applied Linguistics

School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9QH
>>From UK:  (01273) 678844  fax: (01273) 671320
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