These questions ask you to choose a look phrasal verb from the kind and direction of attention involved. Decide whether the person is caring, searching, examining, exploring, remembering, planning or simply watching.
Trace where the attention goes
First identify the target: a person receiving care, something missing, a problem, one visible object, a collection of documents, a whole place, a time direction or an unfolding event. Then identify the depth of attention. A quick check differs from a deliberate investigation, and searching for a target differs from scanning material that may contain it. Finally, check grammar: say look after him, look into it and look for them, but look it over.
| Attention pattern | Form and a fresh example |
|---|---|
| Provide care | look after — Mina looks after her grandfather. |
| Investigate a problem | look into — The council will look into the complaint. |
| Try to find a target | look for — I am looking for my keys. |
| Direct the eyes or attention towards one thing | look at — Dev looked at the map. |
| Give an urgent warning | look out — Look out! The branch is falling. |
| Give something a quick general check | look over — Please look the estimate over. |
| Read or scan a collection of documents | look through — Ana looked through the old letters. |
| Explore a place visually | look around — We looked around the gallery. |
| Think about the future | look ahead — Let us look ahead to next winter. |
| Think about the past | look back — He looked back on his early career. |
| Watch without taking part | look on — A small crowd looked on. |
| Turn the eyes from something | look away — Kim looked away from the flash. |
Meaning traps to avoid
| Tempting mix-up | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Treating visual attention as care | Looking at someone only directs attention towards that person. Looking after someone means taking responsibility for their care. |
| Using look for, look through and look into interchangeably | For introduces the missing target, through introduces material being scanned, and into introduces a matter being investigated. |
| Using look around for one specific visual target | Around covers a place as a whole. At focuses the eyes on one thing, while for starts a search for something not yet located. |
| Replacing an urgent warning with a time direction | Look out warns of immediate danger. Look ahead directs thought towards the future, while look back directs thought towards the past. |
| Confusing passive watching with checking | Look on means observe without joining in. Look over means examine something briefly, and look into means investigate it more deliberately. |
Try it
Several invoices showed the same unexplained charge, so the auditor investigated it. Complete with the correct past-tense phrasal verb based on look, using it to refer to the charge: She ___ immediately.
Before buying a used bicycle, Nia gave it a quick general inspection from handlebars to tyres. Complete with the past-tense phrasal verb based on look that specifically means examine quickly, using it to refer to the bicycle: She ___ once.
The welding arc was painfully bright, so the visitor turned his eyes from it. Which sentence uses the fitting look phrasal verb?
- The visitor looked away from the welding arc.
- The visitor looked on.
- The visitor looked around the workshop for an exit.
- The visitor looked ahead to the end of the tour.