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Confusing Words - Look, See, Watch and Listen & Hear

Average: 4.1 (8 votes)
Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:15 — Chris McCarthy

Simple words are often easy to confuse.

Today I want you to explain me about the difference between look, see & watch and then listen & hear.

Use the comments section to explain what's the difference in meaning and give some example sentences. To get you thinking, I have created a ten-question quiz for you to try.

So who is going to be the first person to write a explanation?

I know you can do it!

Chris

Link: Confusing Words

 

  • 1 - Did you ___ that strange sound? What do you think it was?



  • 2 - I got bored and stopped ___ to what she was saying.



  • 3 - Take a ___ at this report. Do you agree with the results?




  • 4 - Let's go to the cinema and ___ a movie.




  • 5 - Have you ___ that new U2 song?



  • 6 - I couldn't ___ the speech because I was too far away.



  • 7 - I ___ a beautiful painting in the museum.




  • 8 - We ___ a noise outside.



  • 9 - Turn the light on. I can't ___ anything.




  • 10 - ___ to music is a great way to relax.








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Comments

Sat, 11/21/2009 - 16:20 — Yura

My Explanation

No mistakes - but it is rather difficult to explain - why? Worried Sometimes the preposition TO helps me with LISTEN...And now I try to explain Chris the difference: Wink
LOOK -a quick glance AT smth;
SEE - to look at smth and understand what it is;
WATCH -to look for a long time(TV, movie, nature...);
LISTEN - to hear and understand;
HEAR - not to be deaf.
I would like to know the right explanation. Wink
Thank you. Nice Lesson. Smile

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 15:33 — Natela

Nice explanation:)

It's brief, easy to understand and correct:)

Sat, 11/21/2009 - 17:58 — Feeedz

I guss I could try !

Good evening, Ms.Chris,
I would like to explain these words in my way and I'll be looking forward to your reply.

Look: we usally use it when take a quick view to a currunt thing on current time, ( look at that pretty dress , take a look at my new hand bag ) .
See: it's used when we talk about our sense to see things by the eye ! (I can't see anything throw the window it's too dark out there )
Watch: I guss we use watch when we are focusing on one thing at a time, (watch my new dance scene, would you like to watch the news on TV tonight)

Listen: it has the same job of Watch, yet it's used with sounds , when we listen to something we focus on it and we try analyze it (have you listend to Avril's new album? )
Hear: we use it when we hear something that we usually don't understand or something not expected like the noise, also we can use it when mean the sense to hear things by our ears . I'm sorry but I cant find an example !! Timeout

Sun, 11/22/2009 - 07:10 — mahmudi_javad

hi chris please tell me

hi chris
please tell me completely about this

Sun, 11/22/2009 - 09:33 — Euge

Well, as I understood, you

Well, as I understood, we can say "to watch" only if dynamic objects are observed. If static objects are observed, a painting for example, we can not say "to watch". Is it true?

Sun, 11/22/2009 - 10:00 — mnovak

Useful

I did all Ok and I thimk this is very useful exercise.Thank you.

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 02:41 — geofatma

i did well

I got 10 out of 10, and i think the difference among see.look &watch is :
SEE : if you see sth, you notice it with your eyes,whether or not you want to ( eg: i saw some terrible things in the street. )

LOOK : when you look at something, you deliberately turn your eyes toward it ( eg: look at that rainbow.)

WATCH: you look at somthing that is happening or moving for a period of time. ( i'm watching TV now.)

HEAR & LISTEN

HEAR : if you hear sth, you know that a sound has been made,and can often recognize it. (eg: did you hear the noise?)

LISTEN: if you listen to sth or someone, you pay attention to the sounds. (eg: she listens to music when she is driving.)

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 08:04 — queenmother

confusing words

All right, but I'm not able to explain...
I'll try :
LOOK = when you look at sth. for a reason,with an intention (look at that strange girl )

SEE = when sth. comes into your sigh that you weren't looking for (did you see that car?) you weren't looking for it , it just appeared.

WATCH = to look at sth. carefully, usually sth. which is moving also TV ( moving images )

HEAR = to be informed about sth. (have you heard the news ? ) or to hear sth. that you recognise by your ears. (noise )

LISTEN TO = to hear and understand sth. or someone's advice. (his advice must be listened to. Listen to me dear, your idea is off the wall )

Thank you Chris, useful lesson !

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 15:11 — Natela

addition to explanation

Yes, the intention is also very important to consider when trying to choose between "look, see and watch "

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 08:01 — grivna

10/10

Thanks it was a good and very helpful exercise!

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 08:15 — grivna

Explanations

Look - use eyes for a quick look. Have a look, take a look. Looking might be without seeing what it is, or without understanding.
"He was looking at the picture with admiration, although, he could not see all the details very well (because of tears, of course!)."

See - use eyes to understand what the object really is, to understand something.
"I see (I understand)."

Watch - using eyes for a long time (watch movies, videos etc.)

Listen - trying to use ears to hear something. We can listen to the music. It can be used in the progressive way: "I was listening to the music when she came in."

Hear - when you use your ears and understand something about it.
"I heard a noise. I heard the news." It rarely might be used in the progressive way.

It seems rather difficult task to explain the meaning of those words, I must admit.

Chris, please, help me to know if I am right in thinking so ?!

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 15:18 — Natela

Hear and Listen

Well, Grivna, as far as I understand, when you hear something it doesn't exactly mean that you can understand the meaning of what reaches your ears.

To hear smth. means to accept information, to pass it through one's ears but maybe without understanding and realizing it.

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 13:44 — justharry

Great lesson..............

It was not accessible to me yet.............thax

Mon, 11/23/2009 - 20:14 — bayan2

Peace of cake!10/10 O.K.

Peace of cake!10/10

O.K. I'll try...

Look - that is a physical action , you have to turn your eyes for looking.

See - that is ability to perceive with eyes ,that is a sense .

Watch - only TV or movie,to pay attention to your seeing on movement. It is not casually that a second meaning for this word is a watch . We pay attention on a time and the time always moves.

Hear - that is ability to perceive with ears , that is a sense.

Listen - that is an act of attention and understanding .

Thank you for the lesson, Chris.

Wed, 11/25/2009 - 13:37 — Nino Mindiashvili

thanks, it was very nice

thanks, it was very nice lesson and not diffucult but to explain it is not easy ok I'll try

look: when we want smb to take attantion for something (look, there is fire in the flat)
watch: this is long and strong action of seeing (watch movies, news, football)
see: we use it when we mean concrete action, condition (i saw ann yesterday, he would like to see his car, which will be a present for graduating of university.
listen: when you are listening to smb-smth directly (i always listen to my teacher carefully)
hear: we use when we hear something, it maybe is widly news (did you hear news about prime-minester)

Fri, 11/27/2009 - 09:53 — Smita

I did this.

I did this.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 21:15 — msaadnegm

different words

i have answered all of them correctly
if you practise more, you will find them more easy

Wed, 12/02/2009 - 10:36 — shabaz_865

hi chris

awaiting your reply about result, .............