Name: Difference between LOOK, WATCH & SEE - Learn English Grammar
Uploaded: 2018-04-20T21:01:01.000Z
Duration: 9 min 6 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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The imperative

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And welcome back to EnglishClass101.com's
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My name is Alisha, and today I'm going to
give a short explanation of the difference

between “look,” “watch,” and “see.”

Okay, the first verb that I want to talk about
is “look.”

We use “look” when we simply want to explain
that we are moving our eyes to something,

just moving the eyes is to “look” at something.

There's no expectation that the item or the
object we are looking at is going to change.

There's no expectation that some change is
going to happen, we're simply moving our eyes

Finally, when you use “look” and an object
follows the verb, you need to follow “look”

All of these use “at” because an object
follows the verb “look.”

When you use an expression like “look over
there,” there's no object there, so only

when there's an object after the word “look”
you need to use “at” to connect the two.

Okay, so remember, “look” is used when
you're simply moving your eyes to something.

Okay, let's talk then about the verb “watch.”

So we use “watch” when we want to focus
our attention on something.

So focusing your attention can be on something
happening in front of you, like a performance,

it can be movie, TV, but the nuance with “watch”
is you are watching something that is changing

or moving, something is going to happen, there's
an expectation of change or movement, evolution

in some way, we use “watch” in those cases.

Focused attention on something that is changing
or something that is moving is when we use

And finally, “see,” the verb “see”
is used when we just notice something, we

have to notice something, maybe a person has
come into the room and we “see” that person,

we noticed something but we're not necessarily
focusing.

So maybe we “see” it, our eyes catch it,
but we don't focus on that thing, that is

So to recap, we use “look” just to move
our eyes to something.

We use “watch” for focused attention on
something that is moving or something that

And we use “see” when we just notice something
but we don't necessarily focus on it.

Okay, so this is the basic use of these three
verbs, but there are a couple of exceptions.

So here, I have special cases, especially
for performances, so for example, movies,

TV shows, concerts, sporting events, and so
on, these have slightly different rules.

We will only use “watch” or "see" for
these cases, please do not use “look”

in these cases, please use “watch” or
"see.”

If you're having trouble deciding when to
use “watch” or “see,” a good rule,

or a good guideline, is if it's something
outside the house, something outside your

home, your apartment, use the verb "see.”

If you're at home doing something at home,
like watching a movie, for example, use the

So for example, over here, you would see a
movie in a movie theater; see a baseball game;

watch a DVD at home, or watch the awards show
at home.

So these are at home actions, and these are
outside the home action.

So we use "see" and “watch” in these cases.

Okay, but let's try to choose the correct
verb in these example sentences that I've

So first one,
Tonight I'm going to ______ Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones is a popular TV show, so we
should use “watch” because we learned

that “watch” is used for things outside,
oh, I'm sorry, because we learned that “watch”

is used for actions at home, things we do
at home, it's more natural to use “watch.”

Okay, the next sentence,
I want to ______ that new movie.

New movie probably means going to a movie
theater, so we should use the verb “see.”

I want to see that new movie, is the correct
verb here.

So up ahead means in front of you, in front
of the car, in this case, it's car, it's traffic

related, so up ahead, in this case, the speaker
is asking the listener to move his or her

eyes in front of them to go up ahead with
their eyes, so you can use the verb “look.”

So move your eyes up ahead, it's a command.

Okay, next one,
Last night I stayed in and ______ a football

So stayed in means stayed home, I stayed at
home, we use the expression “stayed in”

so I stayed in and “watch,” this is an
at home action.

Past tense, I watched a football game last
night.

Ok, next one,
I can't wait to ______ my favorite band next

So again, this is a performance outside the
house, my favorite band, so we'll use “see”

I can't wait to “see” my favorite band
next week.

When I ______ into the forest, I ______ a
deer.

Okay, there are two verbs in this sentence,
we're going to use “looked,” so when I

moved my eyes into the forest, I moved my
direction, my eyes moved in the direction

A deer entered my eyes, is a weird way to
say it but that's the nuance here.

I happened to notice, I wasn't focusing but
I saw this in my eye, I saw a deer.

Okay, let's look at a really difficult one.

Okay, so similar here, I ______ up, I “looked”
up, I moved my eyes up from my book, so I

was reading, I moved my eyes up from my book.

And ______ you, so here I noticed, I saw,
past tense, I saw you; then here you were

A video on your phone, so maybe we need to
use the verb “watch” because the person

has focused their attention on their phone
on the video.

You were watching, past progressive tense,
you were watching a video on your phone.

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Difference between LOOK, WATCH & SEE - Learn English Grammar

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