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  • 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.

  • And if you'd like to take a quiz to test your knowledge,

  • please go to the website, www.engvid.com, and do the quiz.

  • And please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you'd like to keep in touch with new lessons as they come out.

  • Okay. Well, that's all for now.

  • See you soon. Bye.

Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com,

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