I'm aware that both of these constructions are correct:
I cracked open my eyes.
I cracked my eyes open.
Is one construction more common than the other? If so, why?
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Sign up to join this communityI'm aware that both of these constructions are correct:
I cracked open my eyes.
I cracked my eyes open.
Is one construction more common than the other? If so, why?
I was surprised how many hits this NGram search produced. Most are in romantic novels or thrillers: neither are genres where a lot of attention is paid to grammatical accuracy, or idiomatic usage. I would use neither expression.
It seems that "I cracked my eyes open" is somewhat more popular, but the split is only 60/40. When looking at NGrams, that's not a statistically significant difference, especially for an uncommon expression like this one. If it were 70/30 or more, I would start to think that there might be a real difference, but I wouldn't say that there was definitely a preference unless the split was 90/10 or more.
My sense is that both forms are completey idiomatic. JavaLatte's ngram shows this.
I think the important thing to note here is that the noun phrase my eyes is short and simple. If you were using a lengthier or more complex direct object, the likelihood of open coming at the end would be much less. Here are some examples that are grammatical but of decreasing acceptability on pragmatic grounds:
I cracked the door open.
I cracked the door John painted open.
I cracked the door John painted in August open.
I cracked the door John painted in August after I paid him the money I owed him open.