Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com,
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.
"Is it okay if we look round the shop?"
And they say: "Yes", usually, because
they want to sell you something.
Yeah. Okay. There are
some shops apparently
where they don't like people
coming in, and they say:
"Oh no. I don't think we've
got anything for you."
Very strange. But anyway. May
we look round the shop? Okay.
Next one: "He was looking
through some books."
Okay? So maybe he's got
a pile of books, trying
to decide which one to read maybe and just
looking through that one, looking through
that one and that one, trying to decide: "Which
one shall I read next?" So you're looking
through one at a time. Okay? And
then finally in this section:
"I look up to my boss." Okay?
So again we have two prepositions here: "look
up to". To look up to someone is if you...
If you admire them, respect them, you think
they really do a good job. You would like
to be... Do your job as well as they do theirs.
They inspire you, they impress you, you like
working with them. So: I look up to my boss.
I think he's really great. Okay? Right. So
that's the first part
of the lesson, and
now we'll move on to look at
some nouns and other uses.
Okay, so let's continue with the
word "look" as a noun. Okay? So:
"a look", "the look",
a noun. So, for example: "He
gave her a strange look."
Meaning he looked
at her in a strange
way. But you can give someone a look,
like that kind of thing. Okay.
Strange look. He gave
her a strange look.
Okay? And similarly, the
way your face looks:
"She has that look
on her face." Okay?
"That look", which means: "Ah.
I know what she's thinking."
You know, a particular look. Maybe a friend who
every now and again likes to go out shopping and
spend a lot of money because
they're a bit bored maybe,
so: "Ah. I know she's got
that look on her face.
She's going to go off shopping in a
minute and spend hundreds of pounds.
I know that look."
Okay, so that's the idea with that one.
And finally here:
"Can I have a look?"
So "a look". If some friends are looking
at some photographs from somebody's
holiday and they haven't sort of asked you:
"Would you like to see?" But you... You want
to see what the pictures are like, and so you
come up and you say: "Can I have a look?"
So, that's what you say. "A look".
Can I have a look? Right.
Okay. So that's as a noun.
Okay, so moving on to the final examples, other
uses of the word "look" and where they're
sometimes combined with a longer word used in a
particular way. So, for example, if somebody
says about somebody: "She's a looker!" it means
she's very beautiful, very pretty. She's a looker.
Okay? That's quite a colloquial, slang
way of saying it. A little bit more
formal, this means the same thing: "She's
good-looking." She looks good. She looks beautiful.
Pretty. She's good-looking. Okay? So they
mean the same thing, but this one is very
informal, this one is more formal.
Okay?
And then, sadly, she's not been very well
or she's got... She's now 10 years older or
something: "She's
losing her looks."
So losing your looks is when
you have been very beautiful
or very pretty, but then as you
get older or if you've been ill,
you can lose your
good-lookingness.
Okay? So, losing. Losing your looks.
Okay.
And then a word that uses "look" in it: "a
lookout post". "Can you see the lookout post?"
This is some post where it's quite high up,
you maybe go up a ladder or something and
you stand at the top. It could be like on a
beach where the... The people who rescue
people who are having difficulties in the
sea, they run out and save them. So there's
the lookout post sometimes on the beach.
So: "Can you see the lookout post?" So
"lookout post" is where you look out from. You
look out from that position, so that's why it's
called lookout, always one word.
And then also using this word "lookout"
in a slightly different way:
"I'm on the lookout for a
good second-hand car."
So that means I'm looking out for.
Like we had:
"Can you look out for the postman?" this has now
turned into a noun. I'm on the lookout. I'm searching
for a good second-hand car. "Second-hand"
is when someone else has already used the
car, but they're now selling it to another
person. So, second-hand car, but a good one
that's still
reasonable to drive.
Okay, so I hope
that's been helpful.
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Okay. Well, that's all for now.
See you soon. Bye.
