Look
We use the verb look to mean ‘turn our eyes in a particular direction to see something’. It is followed by at to refer to the person or thing which we see:
- He’s looking at me.
- Not:
He’s looking me. - Look*, there’s a massive spider!*
- Don’t look now.
- [In a shop]
- A: Can I help you?
- B: No thank you, I’m just looking.
We don’t use look with if or whether. We use see instead:
- Can you see if there are any biscuits in the cupboard?
- Not:
Can you look if there are…
Look is used to form a number of phrasal and prepositional verbs (look for, after, look up, etc.). A good dictionary will give you information on these verbs.
- Look at, see or watch?
Look as a linking verb
We often use look as a linking verb like appear, be, become, seem. As a linking verb, look does not take an object and it is followed by a phrase or clause which gives more information about the subject (a complement):
- That picture looks old.
- That jacket looks very expensive.
Look as a linking verb is sometimes followed by like, as if or as though:
look like + noun phrase
- He looks like someone famous.
- It looks like a nice day outside.
look as if/as though + clause
- She looks as if she is going to cry.
- They looked as though they had seen a ghost.
- Linking verbs
Look as a discourse marker
We sometimes use look as a discourse marker but it needs to be used carefully as it is very strong. We use it when we are explaining something or making a point, especially when we are annoyed or speaking very forcefully:
- [in a political debate]
- Look*, too many people have died in this war.*
- [a boss talking to an employee]
- Look*, Mark, you have been late for work every day this week. Is there a reason?*
- Discourse markers (so, right, okay)