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Mr.Maru: Happy New Year Sparky!
Sparky: Thanks! Happy New Year to you, too!
Mr.Maru: Did you watch the countdown on TV?
Sparky: Yes. I looked at the countdown. I watched the ball drop.
Mr.Maru: Ahh, so you saw the countdown and the ball drop.
Sparky: Yes. That's right.
Mr.Maru: What are you doing this weekend?
Sparky: I'm seeing a football game on TV. Do you want to see it with me?
Mr.Maru: Yes, Sparky. I'd love to watch the football game with you.
How do you use see, look, and watch? These three words have very similar meanings. Let's talk about some examples and ways to use them.
 How to use 'see'
We use the word 'see' when an object 'comes to our eyes'. We might be paying attention or we might not. We see something, someone, or an object automatically or unintentionally. The object comes into our field of vision. For example,
I saw a man selling peanuts on the corner. (I didn't go to the corner to look for a man selling peanuts. I was walking down the street and saw this man selling peanuts.)
Did you see my dictionary? (I know you were not using or looking at my dictionary, but maybe while doing something else you saw the dictionary.)
Be careful! The word 'see' can be used to talk about complete experiences. For example,
I saw 'Avatar' last night. (I completely watched 'Avatar' last night.)
He saw the ball drop and then went to bed. (The ball completely dropped. He completely watched it dropped and then went to bed.)
 How to use 'look'
We use the word 'look' when we are intentionally looking at something. We want the object to come to our eyes. We are concentrating and paying attention to the object. You can see something without wanting to see it, but you can only look at something you want to see. For example,
He looked at the clock. There was 5 more minutes left. (He wanted to look at the clock, because he wanted to know what time it was.)
The boy looked left and then looked right before crossing the street. (The boy wanted to look both right and left because he wanted to check for traffic before crossing the street.)
Be careful! The word 'look' needs the preposition 'at' with an object. For example,
He looked at photo album and laughed.
The man and the woman looked at each other with love in their eyes.
 How to use 'watch'
We use the word 'watch' when we are looking at something or someone that is moving or is going to move. We watch something that is happening or going to happen. We can watch things change or develop. For example,
They were watching the football game when the phone rang. (They were focusing on the changing images of the football game on the TV when the phone rang.)
We are watching the situation in the middle east carefully. (The situation in the middle east is probably going to change, so we are going to keep paying attention to it.)
Be careful! We 'watch' TV, but we 'watch' or 'see' a movie. For example,
I watched the Oscars last night. I can't believe 'Avatar' won movie of the year.
I saw/watched 'Avatar' last night. It was good.
Do you understand? Let's take a short quiz
1) I _______ fireworks on the 4th of July.
a) looked at
b) watched
c) saw
2) They ________ the beautiful painting in the museum.
a) looked at
b) watched
c) saw
3) I _______ a strange man in the park.
a) looked at
b) watched
c) saw
Answers
1) B) – Fireworks are moving, so we use 'watched'.
2) A) – The painting is not moving or changing and we want to see the painting.
3) C) – We did not want to see a strange man in the park.
Thanks for stopping by for our first Teacher Stumpers of the New Year! Happy 2010 to all my readers and thanks for making this blog so successful.
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You always help me a lot.
Take care and keep posting.