Do You Know the Differences Between Look, Watch, and See?

 

In today’s Ask a Teacher, our reader Hoang asks:

Question: What is the proper use of look, watch and see?

Answer: Hello, Hoang!

You are asking about the differences between three words which describe what we do with our eyes. I can help.

The Merriam Webster Learners’ Dictionary says the differences are related¹ to your action and attention.

“See” means to notice or become aware of someone or something by using your eyes.

“Look” means to direct your eyes in a particular direction.

“Watch” means to look at someone or something for an amount of time and pay attention to what is happening.

Two of these verbs can also act as nouns³, but today I will talk about the three words as verbs.

So, let me tell you a little more about each verb.

Watch

I will start with the verb “watch.” At a coffee shop, a friend may say,

I’m going outside for a minute. Would you please watch my bag?

The friend wants you to pay attention to the bag for a period of time.

Films, performances, games and people all are things you can watch.

In this case, the verb has an object - the bag. You can also use this verb without an object, as in this conversation:

Do you want to play basketball with us?

No, I’ll just watch.

Look

The verb “look” is different from “watch.” When you look at someone or something, you simply direct your eyes at that person or thing. It can be for a short time, and it might not involve much thought.

One other difference between the words “watch” and “look” is that “look” is often followed by an adverb or preposition⁴.

When you dance, don't look down.

She looked at the bill before she paid it.

See

You do not need to use a preposition or an adverb with the verb “see.” Sentences with “see” may have an object, or they may not.

With an object - I see a cat in the window.

Without an object - It will rain today - just wait and see.

Are you paying attention?

In short:

If you are talking about something that your eyes simply observe, you can use “see.”

If you are directing your eyes at something, use “look.”

And if you are paying attention to something, like a game or television program, for a period of time use “watch.”

I hope this helps you use "look,” “watch” and “see!"

And that’s Ask a Teacher!

I’m Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

proper - adj. (grammar) exactly correct

notice – v. to become aware of (something or someone) by seeing, hearing, and so on

aware – adj. feeling, experiencing, or noticing something (such as a sound, sensation⁵, or emotion) — often + of

adverb – n. a word that describes a verb, an adjective⁶, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree

preposition – n. a word or group of words that is used with a noun², pronoun⁷, or noun phrase to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object

object - n. (grammatical) a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or completes the meaning of a preposition

conversation - n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people

1 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

2 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

3 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

5 sensation   

n.感觉，感知力，激动，轰动

参考例句：

• He lost all sensation in his legs through cramp.他的腿部因抽筋而失去知觉。
• Seeing him again after so many years was a strange sensation.那么多年以后又见到他，是一种不可思议的感觉。

6 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

7 pronoun   

n.代词

参考例句：

• The relative pronoun is often dropped if it is the subject.关系代名词做受词时常被省略。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。