10 "LOOK" Phrasal Verbs: "look up", "look for", "look into"...

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So, in this lesson, we will learn ten different phrasal verbs, and all of them start with

the word "look".

Now, "look", of course, means to see with the eyes.

But, what are phrasal verbs?

Phrasal verbs are when we have a verb, in this case, just one verb, "look", followed

by different words, could be different prepositions, or different other words, which form expressions.

So, let's look at what they are, because these are used all over the place.

They're used at home, they're used at work, they're used in school, okay?

And even if you just go out, you will hear these phrasal verbs being used every day,

so it will be very useful for you to learn to understand them, and also to start using

them, because they're not very hard, and also because they may be different in your own

So, let's learn.

So, the first one.

This is the most basic one, alright?

To look at something.

For example, if I had a watch, I could say, "I'm looking at my watch."

So, to focus your eyes on something is to look at something.

Or I'm looking at the ceiling.

I'm looking at the floor, okay?

I'm looking at you, alright?

So, that is just to look at, that is just to focus your eyes on something and see it.

Now, the next one.

To look for something.

Do you know what that means?

That's usually when you can't find something, so you say, "I'm looking for my keys.

Have you seen my keys?

I'm looking for my cell phone.

Have you seen my cell phone?"

So, to look for means to search for something that is lost or that you just can't find at

So, look at, just use your eyes, look for, search for something.

You got those two.

Let's continue.

Now, what is that?

Again, don't worry about the meaning of these words exactly.

Look at the whole phrase, alright?

So, to look after someone, usually, or something means to take care of.

Usually we use this when we're talking about children, okay?

I'm looking after the baby, I'm looking after the kids this evening, alright?

I'm taking care of them, okay?

So, to look after something is to take care of.

So, you've already got three.

Let's continue.

Now, let's look at these two.

These two kind of go together a little bit in terms of the meaning.

So, one is to look ahead, and the other one is to look back.

Now, you see when I said look ahead, I pointed this way, and I said look back means that

So, the regular meaning of these words could be just like that, actually, physically, but

as a phrasal verb, it means something else.

When I say I'm looking ahead, it means I'm looking ahead in terms of the future.

I'm thinking about the future, okay?

And when I say I'm looking back, it means I'm thinking about the past, alright?

You got it, okay?

So, a company, for example, let's suppose it's November, and they're looking ahead at

sales during Christmas in December, alright?

So, they'd say, "When we look ahead, we expect that sales will increase tremendously in December."

Now it's January, and they're analyzing what happened, and they say, "Looking back, we

see that our sales were even higher than we expected in December."

So, looking back, looking at the past.

Looking ahead, thinking about the future.

You've got half of these already.

Do you remember "look after"?

What was "look after"?

To take care of, usually children, okay?

Look for something.

"Hmm, can't find my...

Can't find my watch, can't find my keys, can't find my cell phone."

I'm looking for them, okay?

And "look at", just physically, see with your eyes.

Let's continue.

Number six and number seven, somewhat similar, but the meaning is completely different.

So, the regular meaning of "look up", let's say if you call out to me and say, "Rebecca,

"Oh, look, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman."

Okay, so that's just looking up, alright?

But that's not the meaning when it's a phrasal verb.

When it's a phrasal verb, it has a different meaning, right?

So to look up something, in the old days, usually we looked up something in the directory,

in the telephone book, which barely exists anymore, or to look up...

We can still look up the meaning of a word in a dictionary, okay?

But today, we also use the same phrasal verb to look up information online, because there

are online dictionaries, and besides dictionaries, there's just all kinds of information, right?

So whenever you want to check out something or find out more information, you can look

it up, or you can look up that information online, okay?

That means to search for some information, specifically.

This one, which also starts like that, "look up", but "look up to", this has a completely

different meaning.

This has to do with people, okay?

So when you look up to someone, you respect them, you honor them, okay?

You think highly of them, alright?

So for example, people look up to their parents, people look up to their grandparents, people

may look up to someone who is very successful in society, alright?

You look up to them.

It's not physically that you look up, but in terms of metaphorically, you are respecting

So those two are similar in terms of the words, but different completely in terms of meaning.

Now we have three more, okay?

These are used, as I said, every day.

You'll hear them all over the place, so it's really worth understanding what they mean.

So suppose you work in an office, and your boss says, "Can you look over this report

for me and tell me if everything's okay?"

So, what is your boss asking you to do?

He or she is asking you to look...

Look over something means to check it quickly, you know?

Go through it, check it quickly, not in detail, but go through it quickly and make sure that

everything is okay.

That means to look over something.

Or for example, an essay, many students ask me to look over their essays.

Of course, they don't want me to do a quick job, they want me to do a detailed job.

But generally speaking, to look over something is to just go through it quickly, review it,

and make sure it's okay.

For example, at the end of your...

Let's say you're doing an exam, like the IELTS or the TOEFL, and you've written an essay,

and if you have a couple of minutes, you want to use those few minutes to look over your

essay and see if you made any mistakes and correct anything.

The next one, to look into something.

What does that mean?

A regular meaning would just say there's a box and I want to see what's inside, and I'm

looking into that.

But that's not the meaning here.

The phrasal verb, the phrasal verb meaning is to investigate something.

For example, if there is a crime that's been committed, the police look into the matter,

look into it, they investigate it.

And the last one we have here is to look forward to something.

So, here, this is very common, it's used very often at the end of emails, right?

I'm looking forward to something.

This is a really important one because of two reasons.

One is we use it very often.

The second is that people make a mistake with this all the time, and they write, "I look

forward to meet you."

That's not right.

I look forward to meeting you, I look forward to seeing you, means I really want to, I'm

waiting eagerly, I'm waiting happily to something, so I look forward to meeting you, I look forward

to seeing you, I look forward to speaking with you, I look forward to, what if, discussing

But the important point is whenever you use this expression and this phrasal verb, make

sure to add "ing" here.

It's really important.

So, I'm glad that you've looked at these, now let's practice a little bit with some

exercises to make sure that you've understood.

So, now, let's practice what we've learned.

So, again, there are ten of them.

Now, remember that it depends on the context, alright?

Sometimes we could use one or the other expressions in different ways with different meanings,

but I'm going to give you the context so you know how to answer it.

Let's start with the first one.

So, here, if we say, "I look something my parents", and what we want to say is that

I respect them, I honour them, then what's the word, what's missing there?

So, it should be "I look", "I look up to my parents", okay?

Now, I've written this one with "I look" because it's a bit of a long explanation, but here

in this expression and with this meaning, we need to use "look" which as a stative verb

and not "I'm looking".

We cannot say "I'm looking up to my parents", okay?

But "I look up to my parents" in general because "look" here is used as a stative verb and

so you cannot really use it with that -ing, okay?

For the rest of them, don't worry, alright?

So, let's look at number two.

So, here, "I'm looking something my pen.

I can't find it.

I don't know where it's gone.

Have you seen my pen?"

So, what should it be?

"I'm looking for my pen", okay?

Now, you can always pause the video if you need a little more time to think about the

You can do that or you can stay along with me.

"I'm looking something the report."

I'm checking it, I'm making sure there are no mistakes.

What am I doing?

"I'm looking over the report."

Yes, you got it.

The next one, number four.

"I'm looking something at tomorrow's weather."

Tomorrow's weather, okay?

So, I'm looking something to do with the future, right?

So it should be, "I'm looking ahead at tomorrow's weather", thinking about the future.

"I'm looking something the causes of the fire."

I'm investigating it.

I'm trying to understand what happened, okay?

So, I'm looking into the causes of the fire.

When you look into something, you investigate it to find out what happened, alright?

"I'm looking something to meeting your family."

Remember that one?

I really want to meet them, so we say, "I'm looking forward to meeting your family."

"I'm looking something at my childhood."

I'm looking something.

Alright, so now we're thinking about what?

Not the future, we're thinking about my childhood, which is in the past.

So we say, "I'm looking back at my childhood."

You're with me.

Glad to know that.

The next one, number eight.

"I'm looking something the name of that actor."

I want to tell you the name of that actor because he's really good, and I want you to

watch that movie of his, but I don't remember his name, so I'm going to Google it, and I'm

going to look it up.

So I'm looking up the name of that actor.

"I'm looking something the kids tonight."

Somebody has to take care of the kids, and I'm doing it tonight, alright?

What am I doing?

I'm looking after the kids tonight.

"Kids", of course, is like slang for children, alright?

And the last one, "I'm looking something the beautiful sunset."

Wow, look at that.

That's amazing.

Let's look at, okay?

I'm looking at the beautiful sunset, okay?

It's just literally using your eyes to pay attention to something, alright?

So here, you had ten different phrasal verbs.

I hope you enjoyed it in terms of understanding it, in terms of being able to make sense of

some of the things you might have been hearing at work, and so on, okay?

And also, choose a few that you like and which you can start using, alright?

Because that will also enrich your spoken English, alright?

Now, if you want to go further, please go to our website, www.engvid.com.

Because there, you can do a quiz on this and really master these phrasal verbs, right?

Since you spent the time to watch, might as well really learn them.

And then, also, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and ring the bell, and

that way you will know whenever I have a new video that is released, okay?

Thanks very much for watching.

All the best with your English.