See or look.

Some years ago in the British government there was a particularly remarkable man who held a senior post in it... I have described him as 'remarkable' because he had reached this high government position despite the fact that he had been bli nd from birth. He would attend meetings and speak in parliament always accompani ed by his faithful guide dog. As you can imagine, there were occasions when other speakers addressing him woul d say something that was seemingly quite innocent but would cause embarrassment when applied to him, asking questions like: Don't you see minister that this is wrong? He always took this sort of remark in good humour. I mention this because 'see' in our next pair has several meanings. In the question above 'see' has th e sense of 'understand' or 'realise'. Apart from its first meaning of observing something with your eyes as in: When the weather is good you can see the mountai ns through my bedroom window, we can quite easily use it as follows: We are seeing the Richardsons next week for dinner, which means we are going to visit the Richardsons next week and they are giving us dinner. This of course is an example of using an apparent stative verb (the action is involuntary) in the continuous form and using 'see' in one of its other meanings. Likewise: John an d Mary are seeing each other at the moment means John and Mary are dating each o ther, are boy friend and girlfriend... Now the other side of the mirror, as it w ere, is the verb 'look' the other member of this pair. On its own, that is witho ut any preposition and as an intransitive verb, it suggests 'appear' 'have the a ppearance of. It occurs like this: The country is experiencing a downturn in the economy and t he future looks bad. In a continuous form: What's the matter with you today? You are looking very miserable. Also possible: Don't worry about that expression on his face, he always looks miserable! And then of course the noun: 'look(s) '. Good looks in a person can help a lot in getting what you want. We can describe this person as 'good looking' indicating 'attractive', for men and women. When t he verb is transitive we have to add the preposition 'at'. This follows the same pattern as 'listen' and 'listen to'. You can 'see' a painting because it is bef ore your eyes but if you want to see exactly what is in the painting, you have t o 'look at' it: Although I have seen that picture many times, this is the first time I have really looked at it. If you don't see what I've been talking about, may I suggest you look at it agai n? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% When I speak, write or read my language, English, I feel at home. The words make me feel comfortable or at least most of them do. There are those too exotic( st range or unusual, from another part of world) for my taste that I treat with res pect but when I see them coming, I avert ( turn away or aside) my eyes. They are too splendid (having great beauty). I make a mental note to look them up in a g ood dictionary. You never know, someone will ask me what they mean one day. Othe rs on the other hand have that welcoming look. They are eager to be used. They a re like dogs wagging their tails at me and begging for a chance to be taken for a walk. Then there are times when a word escapes me. I know it in my head but it won't reveal itself. I'll have to make do with another and there's bound to be another coming along. It's like waiting for a bus at a bus stop in the centre of London. A bright red shiny one will drive along any minute. It might not be jus t the one I wanted but it'll take me on a journey anyhow... And there is so much to choose from.

When the Romans were busy educating the important people in England and teaching them Latin and then some hundreds of years later when the Norman French were te aching the important people's descendants, French, the peasants were eavesdroppi ng and picking up the odd Latin or French crumb. They hadn't a clue what they me ant but they liked the sound of them They sounded foreign. They told their child ren: You remember that one; it'll come in useful one day. And it did and when En glish started to wake up, it didn't know where to turn. It had a veritable host of words to choose from. And they all had to be used in a particular way. Use it in the wrong way and you commit a faux pas - now there's a couple of foreign wo rds for you. You can also say you made a blunder and that word is from Middle En glish but even then it probably came from somewhere in Scandinavia. There is suc h a heritage that choosing the right word is difficult even when it's your nativ e language. Although I can never aspire to reach the heights, scale the mountains, climb the hills (I'll stop there!), I sometimes dream a bit and try and ape my betters. I f I'm feeling really imaginative, I'll momentarily become a mini Shakespeare. If Latin happens to suit my mood, I'll try and be a John Milton but I have to admi t that is rare. When I want to go to town with descriptive enthusiasm, I'll play the role of a Charles Dickens. And if the sun is shining and I'm feeling in a g ood mood, I'll fall under the influence of my good friend, P G Wodehouse. But I shouldn't forget that if I'm being transatlantic, I can chance my arm and dip in to American English and have a nice day. But of course it's quite different for our learners of English. They don't have the advantages I have. They have to learn from the beginning, from scratch. The odd English word may well have popped up now and again before their eyes but it' s a different kettle of fish when it actually comes down to writing and speaking the language. This is where I invite you to come into this language pool called English. You don't have to dive in. You can paddle on the edges and see how you go. Soon you'll start wading and before you know where you are you'll be borne up by the sheer force of the water. Don't worry, there are no piranhas here that will gobble you up. You might meet the occasional whale but if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. One day you might feel like having a chat with one of them but leave it for later. You will bump into a very lively and colourful bunch of fish that call themselve s idioms. They're a bit slippery and you won't always find them to your taste. S ample one. You never know, you might like it. One variety that you'll see a lot of and they'll really irritate you I'm sure, are the fish that go by the name of prepositions. They lead you a dance but approach them with caution. Watch them at work and try to work out what it is they are doing. You'll soon figure it out and before long you are bound to follow what they are up to. So come on in, the water's lovely. It's not too cold, honestly. We'll make sure on this site that you won't drown and before you know what's hit you, you'll be swimming like a fi sh. exotic strange or unusual, from another part of world splendid having great beauty avert turn away or aside propitious adj. - Presenting favorable circumstances; auspicious. favorable. Kin dly; gracious. alias- An assumed name eg. Suthendraraja alias Santhan drape v. draped, draping, drapes To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the cof fin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. See Synonyms at clothe.