Different Ways of Looking in English

Different Ways of Looking in English

Hello English learners. Would you like to improve and enrich your vocabulary? Well, in today’s lesson, we will learn 10 different ways of looking in English with a lot of example sentences, so you can remember how to use the new vocabulary in context. 

The vocabulary we are going to look at is as follows:

• Glance
• Glimpse
• Stare
• Scowl
• Observe
• Peek
• Peep
• Skim
• Spot
• View

Glance

To glance means to look somewhere quickly. It can be a noun or a verb.

• The man in the waiting room glanced nervously at his watch.
• Robin was a great mechanic. He could tell at a glance what was wrong with the car.
• Laura didn’t have much time, so she just glanced at her emails to check if there was something important.

Different ways of looking in English

Glimpse

The word glimpse is a noun. It refers to looking at something or someone for a short time without seeing them completely. It is often used in a collocation, catch a glimpse of.

• Ryan caught a glimpse of his Facebook feed before he left for work.
• While running in the park, he caught a glimpse of a new restaurant.
• One glimpse at his friend was enough to tell him that he’s gone too far.

  

Stare

If you stare at someone or something, then you look at it intensely without moving your eyes.

• Sara was staring blankly into the piece of paper in front of her.
• You know it’s impolite to stare at people, so stop doing it.
• Joanne didn’t want to answer his question, she just gave him a cold stare.

Different ways of looking in English

Scowl

To scowl means to look at someone or something angrily with a contracting expression on your face. It can also be a noun.

• She couldn’t help but scowl when she entered a brightly lit room.
• John looked at Fiona with a scowl on his face.
• Simon’s eyebrows came together into a scowl when he realised his car had been broken.

Observe

If you observe something, you watch it in order to notice something.

• Scientists have observed a new comet passing by our planet.                                                                 
• The police are observing his movements all around the clock.
• When crossing the road here, observe carefully to see whether the truck is coming.

Different ways of looking in English

Peek

To peek means to look at something quickly, especially secretly. It is often used in a collocation “take a peek”.

• Gary peeked through the window to see if his parents were there.
• She opened the cupboard and peeked inside.
• Tara took a quick peek around the restaurant to check if someone was watching.

Peep

If you peep, you try to look at something without being seen.

• The cat peeped at them through the bush.
• Whenever we played hide-and-seek, Jannie was peeping through her fingers.
• When he saw the door open, he peeped in to see what was going on.

Different ways of looking in English

Skim

To skim means to look at something quickly in order to find something or get the general point.

• Brenda skimmed through her essay to check if there were any mistakes.
• He skimmed the list to check out if anyone was missing.
• Will you please skim through the report and check if there are any loose ends?

Spot

To spot means to notice something or someone.

• He was walking along the beach when he spotted a turtle laying eggs.
• After some observation, Sean finally spotted a free seat on the bus.
• Celia was spotted holding hands with another man last night.

Different ways of looking in English

View

To view means to watch something from a particular spot.

• Mildred sat by the window in order to view the road.
• She viewed the islands from the plane.
• They could view the whales from the ship.

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