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What is the difference  between ‘see’, ‘look’ and ‘watch’?

What is the difference between ‘see’, ‘look’ and ‘watch’?

May 23, 2013 By Nestor 5 Comments

Many English learners have a problem understanding the difference between the verbs see, look and watch. Which verb you use depends on what the object of your eyes is doing (is it still? is it moving?) and whether you are ‘looking at’ it with or without intention.

Let’s look at some examples:

look

I spent two hours looking at paintings.
I looked at my watch to check the time.
Don’t look at John! He doesn’t like it.

In these examples, we say look because paintings, your watch and John are not moving. We do not use look when we talk about observing moving objects.

watch

I watched TV all evening.
I like watching the children play.
I watch the sun rise every morning.

In these examples, all the objects are moving. A TV set doesn’t move, of course, but the images on the screen do. We use watch when we look at a moving object carefully, to observe it.

In the picture above, they are watching TV.

see

I didn’t see you at the party last night.
I saw a car crash this morning. It was horrible.
I can’t see you. It’s too dark.

We usually use see when something comes into our sight or view by chance. We were not looking for it.

Filed Under: Confusing words in English

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen says

    September 24, 2013 at 1:57 am

    I would like to thank you for making me understand the different ways of using verbs.

    Reply
  2. Gurmeet says

    January 6, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    thanks a lot for make me understad the difference among see watch and look

    Reply
  3. kossai says

    January 20, 2014 at 7:37 am

    thanks
    now i know whats the different between look and watch

    Reply
  4. habib says

    October 9, 2014 at 2:18 pm

    thank you, It is so useful for me.

    Reply
  5. Marino says

    October 26, 2014 at 8:00 pm

    Good job… thanks!!!

    Reply

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