<How could they be parsed as having a noun phrase? "Stare" is not a noun. "at" is not a noun. >
Did you mean to say "And finally, neither "state at" nor "look at" can possibly be parsed as BEING noun phrases"? I do not understand your use of "having" in the above.
Did you mean to say "And finally, neither "state at" nor "look at" can possibly be parsed as BEING noun phrases"? I do not understand your use of "having" in the above.