caught him by the arm=caught his arm?

[maoyueh]

Among the following pairs of sentences, can I change A's to B's? Thank you a lot.

1. A. He patted his son on the head.
B. He patted his son's head.
2. A. He caught him by the arm.
B. He caught his arm.
3. A. He grabbed the snake by the neck.
B. He grabbed the snake's neck.
4. A. She kissed me on the cheeks.
B. She kissed my cheeks.
5. A. She struck him across the face.
B. She struck his face.
6. A. I pulled her by the sleeve.
B. I pulled her sleeve.

[Tdol]

Yes, though in number 4, you turn a normal sentence into one that sounds a bit weird to me. And in some, the meaning of focus changes- 6, for instance- pulling someone's sleeve is not the same as pulling someone by the sleeve, which would be used as a way of controlling their movements or stopping them.

Do snakes have necks? 3 sounds a bit odd to me too.

[BobK]

....
Do snakes have necks? 3 sounds a bit odd to me too.

I'm not an expert, but I thInk the place to grab a snake is 'behind the head'. But, if you like, you could use them same example with any creature that had a neck. Would 'duck-billed platypus' work for you?

b

[Tdol]

Yes, but again the meaning is slightly different to me.