Learn English Vocabulary & Phrasal Verbs with “LOOK“

The verb “look“ is used in many ways in English. In this lesson, you’ll learn the different meanings that “look“ can have, as well as phrasal verbs that have the word “look“ in them. You probably didn’t realize how this one word can express so many ideas! I’ll explain and give you examples of how these expressions are used. Want to unlock your conversational English? Look no further! TRANSCRIPT Hi. I’m Gill at , and this lesson is on the use of the word “look“. And I’d like to thank King Future who requested this topic on the engVid’s Facebook page, so thank you very much. I hope you’re watching. Thanks for suggesting it, because it’s an interesting word. And we’re going to be looking at five different ways of using the word “look“. We have three here. These are all verbal uses. We also have the use of “look“ as a noun and also combined with other words in the second part of the lesson. So, okay, let’s have a look at how to use the word “look“. Okay? So, first one is the obvious one, to use your eyes. Look. Look at that. Look at that picture on the wall. Look both ways... When you’re crossing the road, look both ways before crossing. Okay? Just to make sure there are no cars coming, look both ways before crossing. And: “Look at that! Look at that!“ just telling someone: “What’s that? Look at that.“ Or: “Look at that picture.“ Okay. So just the simple “look“, using your eyes. Second way, a bit different, this means to appear like something, to appear something. So: She looks tired today. She appears tired today. She seems to be tired today. Okay. So that’s to appear. She looks tired today. Or, more happily: That cake looks nice. I’d like a piece of that. My favourite chocolate cake looks very nice. So, that cake looks nice. It’s a sort of a hint that you would like a piece. Okay. Right, so then moving on, phrasal verbs where you combine “look“ with a preposition to create a new meaning. So, we have 10 phrasal verbs here to illustrate how it can be used. So, first of all: “I’ll look after you.“ Okay? So “look“ with “after“, it means to take care of somebody. Don’t worry. I’ll look after you. Okay. Right. And then a fairly simple one, if you go into a shoe shop and they say: “Can I help?“ And you say: “I’d like to look at some shoes, please.“ Okay, so very simply, to look at some shoes. If you’re buying anything in a shop, you ask to look at something. Okay? Slightly different meaning: “She’s always looking back at her childhood.“ Okay? Looking back in time, in history. She’s maybe 70 years old now. She’s always remembering her childhood, looking back and telling people about it. So, looking back in history. Okay? Another one: “I’m looking for my hat.“ So if there’s something you’re trying to find, you’re looking for it. Okay? Then instead of “looking back“, we have “looking forward“: “We’re looking forward to our holiday.“ All right? We’re anticipating. We really want to go soon. We want to have a nice holiday. We’re really looking forward to it. It’s in a lovely place, lots of sunshine, and nice food and everything. Okay. Right. Now, the next one maybe this is one you get on the holiday, and you say: “Oh. Isn’t this lovely? The house looks onto the sea.“ So you’re staying in a house, you look out of the window and there is the sea straight ahead of you. So the house looks onto the sea. You can see the sea straight through the window. Right. Now, if you’re waiting for the postman... And sometimes, you know, the postman in this country anyway, they don’t knock, they don’t ring, they just... They fill in a card, thinking that you’re not at home and they say: “We tried to deliver something for you while you were out“, and they fill in this card and they put it through the letterbox, and they haven’t even tried to ring or knock. And you go to the front door or sometime later, you see: “Oh. What’s this card?“ You pick it up. “What? The postman was here? He didn’t ring.“ So, next day I better get that postman, I’m going to tell him what I think of him. Well, not really. Probably best not to get into an argument, but anyway, you might say to your friend who’s with you at home: “Will you look out for the postman, please?“ Okay? “To look out for“, so we’ve got two prepositions there. If you look out for somebody, you don’t want to miss them. If you see them through the window, you go to the door quickly and say: “Oh. Could I have a word, please, about that card you put through yesterday? I was in, actually.“ Okay. Would you look out for the postman? Next. Okay, you go into a shop and maybe it feels a little bit... You’re not sure that you can look around. Maybe it’s a very expensive shop, an antique shop or something, and you’re not sure it’s okay to just look round, so: “May we look round the shop?“ Okay. You say it to the assistant there.