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Note that, push open, meaning to open something by pushing, is a verb-verb compound semantically, with open as the head of the phrase and pushed as its modifier. However, pushed carries tense, which makes it the main verb and the head of the phrase syntactically. Thus: if pushed open is interpreted as a phrasl verb, open becomes a modifier.
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It is definitely a compound phrase, and maybe kohyoongliat should simply regard it as that: one unit, one phoneme.
On the other hand, I enjoy discussions like this!
My two pence worth: 'pushed' is the main verb, the head, carrying the action - that is why it also carries the tense. 'open' is a state verb, carrying the state of the door following the push.
From some distant memory, I have a strong feeling that in an action verb/state verb compound, the action is always the head. Can you confirm that, Cassy?