Happy New Year, darling students !
I thought we could start the new year with a blog post
on some commonly confused words. This post was inspired by my dear student,
Marina – we shared a session about this topic a few days ago.
I think that I did mention to her that I most often hear
mistakes when students use the following words: Look, See and watch
:
Do you know the difference between see, look at, and watch?
Do you catch yourself making the same mistakes time and time again?
Let’s fix that !
See is a sense, something we refer to as an inactive
word. Imagine yourself lying in bed - when
you open your eyes and notice items round you, you do it without thinking.
Example - I see my yellow curtains, I can see the bed, I can
see my guitar , a chest of drawers, apples, a microwave and I can see my floor ! ( I do not need to
concentrate! )
Look at, involves concentration – you have to direct
your attention to what you want to observe - it is an active word. You must
want to do it.
Example - Look at the computer screen. Look at
the pdf I sent you – focus on it.
When we use look with an object, we say look + at + object, for example: Look at the sky ! Look at how pretty the sky is ! Look at the gorgeous South African mountains.
Watch is a tad more interesting, we think of things that
move! It is also an active word. Some typical things that we watch are :
Television, movies/ films, videos, a show, a play etc.
We watch things that are going to move, or change in
some way. And we watch the movements and changes.
Example- Let's watch television. Watch the children –
they are playing in the garden. Watch coral the cat running - she looks so funny!
Would you like to practice using these words? Schedule a lesson with me !
