Consider this sentence: The damage extended 400 yards either side of the island.
Should 400 yards be considered as the object of 'extended', an adverbial of extent, or subject complement to 'the damage'?
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1The 400 yards are not extended by the damage, so they can't be the direct object. – Andrew Leach Feb 06 '21 at 16:21
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More on the passivisation test at Why is this marked ungrammatical? *'A new CD-player was wanted by Ed' And thoughts on whether transitivity / intransitivity is a workable classification scheme (de Swart; Meyer ...): 'Give it me' / 'Write me' / ... – Edwin Ashworth Feb 06 '21 at 16:37
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2I think it would be sensible to analyse an extent NP like this not as an object but as an adjunct on two counts: (1) we can insert "for" (The damage extended for 400 yards either side of the island). (2) It cannot be made the subject of a passive: *400 yards was extended by the damage either side of the island). – BillJ Feb 06 '21 at 18:31