2019-10-06 ‘See’, ‘look’ and ‘watch’ – Learners’ Questions

This week’s question

What’s the difference between ‘see’, ‘look’ and ‘watch’? – Shanu

Answer this

How many verb forms does the verb ‘lie’ have?

Language points

See – perceive
See can mean ‘perceive’ or ‘receive information via your eyes’. See in this meaning is a state verb (so no seeing!)

• If you look here, you will see me!

See – imagine 
See can mean ‘imagine’. You can see something happening, see someone as something or see yourself as something.

• Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
• In five years’ time, I see myself as a serious news reporter.

Look – direct your eyes
Look means ‘direct your eyes to see something’.

• If you look here, you will see me!

Look – appear
Look can mean ‘appear’. It’s usually followed by an adjective. Combine look with ‘at’, ‘into’ or ‘over’ to mean ‘examine’ or ‘investigate’.

• That book looks interesting.
• Your meal looks delicious.
• Police are looking into reports of fraud at a local bank.

Watch – observe
Watch can mean ‘fix your vision on something to observe it’. 

• You are watching me.

Watch – be careful of something
Watch can mean ‘be careful of something’. We watch for something, watch out for something or watch + question word.  

• Watch what you say about him. He sees everything.

Watch – guard
Watch can mean ‘guard’ or ‘protect’. We can also use watch over. 

• Please watch my bag while I go to the toilet!

The answer

It has two sets of verb forms: 1 – ‘lie’, ‘lay’ and ‘lain’. 2 – ‘lie’, ‘lied’ and ‘lied’. Be careful! They have different meanings.