Speaker 1: What should I do this weekend? Go see the cherry blossoms,
or watch a movie, or maybe I should go to
the museum and look at their collection of modern art.
There's so much to see, watch, and look at these days,
isn't there.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight twelve. Should
we look watch or see, see, watch and look or
one of those sets of words that can tend to
drive English learners crazy. All three of these words have
to do with using our eyes, but the way we
use them is totally different. Today, let's take a deep
dive into how you can exactly use sea, watch, and
look in your everyday English conversations. Let's start with C.
We use C when something comes into our eyes without
us trying. It's not active. We're not doing anything. Our
eyes just notice something. CE is what your eyes do
naturally when they're open and functioning. Like in the morning,
when I open the curtains, I can see the mountains.
What a view that is? And hey, did you see
that rainbow this morning? It was amazing. My coworker told
me that he can't see well without his glasses. By
the way, we also use c when we talk about
public performances, like when you go to a theater you
see a movie. You can go to see a concert
at an arena, and even see a soccer game at
the stadium, like last weekend we went to see a
baseball game. We saw the Yankees play Boston. What an
amazing game. Have you ever seen a Broadway musical? If
you come to New York, you should go see Hamilton.
So whether you see the stars at night or see
a game in the stadium, you don't necessarily need to
focus too much because the view is wide and it's
pretty effortless for your eyes and your brain. But sometimes
your eyes and your brain need to focus, and in
those cases we use watch. We use watch when we
look at something that is moving or changing, usually for
a period of time, like my neighbor was watching her
kids play in the backyard. She watched them. Watch implies
that you are focusing your attention on something like when
we were kids, we watched a lot of TV. You
watch things that are dynamic. You watch things that change
your move over time. I like to sit by the
window and watch the rain. Watching often involves your choice
and your intention, So you decide to watch something and
you keep your attention on it for a certain amount
of time, like my buddy Steve spends his Saturday afternoons
watching baseball and drinking beer in his living room. And
in a similar way, we have look. Look is similar
to watch because look also involves your choice and your intention.
You decide to look at something and you keep your
attention on it for a certain amount of time. But
there is a clear difference between watch and look. You
watch something that moves or changes, like a YouTube video,
but you look at something that doesn't move, like a
photo or art. My friend Lucy likes to go to
the museum and look at modern art. She likes to
look at the paintings. She has intention and focus, and
those paintings aren't moving. And as you may have noticed,
we use look at look at me. So so in summary,
you see things that come into your eyes without your intention.
You also see public performances like musicals and sporting events.
You watch that movie with your intention, and you look
at things that don't move. Also with your intention, you
can see something unintentionally, but you look at or watch
something intentionally. Like you can see a bird fly by,
but you watch a bird build its nest. You might
see a photo on a wall, but you look at
the details of the photo. You can watch a movie
on TV, but you can also see a movie in
a theater. I hope those examples are clear. Keep in
mind that the best way to remember English like this
and any other word or phrase in English, is to
take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence
that's true for you or true in your world, and
then memorize your sentences. And did you know You can
get more practice using your English when you join my
podcast Learner's study group. There you can make new friends,
join us for live group lessons every week where we
practice these podcasts lessons together. Plus you get access to
the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future. And on
top of that, each episode has exercises where you can
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.
To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose podcast lesson eight twelve. Remember learning another language is
not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here to
help you on your journey.
Speaker 2: This podcast was brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy,
Happy English.