1. Phrasal Verbs: “to look”
"Look Out!"
If you happen to report to the authorities you've seen a U.F.O (Unidentified Flying
Object), very often you are looked on as if you're someone who needs looking after.
In other words they don't believe you. People are usually reluctant to believe the
extraordinary. You happen to have a room in a hotel looking on to the lake in
Scotland where there's supposed to be a monster and you're just looking out of the
window and there is the monster. You're looking at it now. You point at it and tell
everyone to look out of the window because you've seen it. What do they do? They
look away. They've heard it all before. I suppose it's not surprising because whenever
you look at photographs of so-called monsters and beasts, they're never very clear.
People sometimes look into the matter but there never seems to be any proof.
Whenever I read in the newspaper about someone who has allegedly had a mystical or
strange encounter with a person or thing and is looking for support or is looking
forward to finding someone who will accept their story, I look back to a time some
years ago when something similar happened to me.
At the time I was living in a house which had a small alley at the side. When you
walked down the path you passed a window in the house next door and you tried to
look ahead of you to avoid looking through the window and seeing what was going
on. This house had been empty for some time but now seemed to be occupied. One
night as the light was on in the room I couldn't resist looking through the window and
saw a very short woman waving at me. She opened the window, introduced herself
and invited me to look in on her one day soon. I looked her up and down because she
seemed so small and spoke in a strange cracked voice. I forgot all about the invitation
when one morning in the high street I noticed a woman seeming to come towards me.
I took no notice because I assumed she was about to speak to the person next to me. I
obviously didn't know her. To my surprise she addressed her remarks to me: "'I've
been looking out for you. You looked right through me as though I wasn't there."
Several shoppers round about looked on wondering what was happening. "We spoke
through the window — I'm from next door." I apologized, agreed to come round the
following afternoon and said I was looking forward to meeting the rest of the family. I
looked round to take a closer look at the woman but there was no sign of her. The
reason why I wanted to look her over again was that she seemed to be twice the
height. The face was the same and the voice. My imagination was telling me that
possibly she was a witch.
Although I was a little apprehensive about the visit, I had agreed to look her up and
duly called the next day. As I looked about the hall, I noticed signs of the zodiac cut
into the floor and a large broom leaning in the corner. "The rest of the family" I had
referred to in the high street consisted of seven black cats. Fortunately my hostess
remained the same size as we chatted over a cup of tea. She said how delighted she
was that I had agreed to visit her as she had the feeling that the other neighbours
looked down on her. After an hour and a half I looked her straight in the face, made
some excuse about an appointment and left hoping that I hadn't been put under a spell
for telling a lie. When I got home, I looked up the word "witch" in my encyclopedia
and was amazed to find that one of abilities a witch has is to change size. From then
on I tended to walk down the left side of my house after that near my other neighbour,
Mrs Tendett. Some weeks later she hailed me as I came home: "Things are looking
up", she exclaimed. "That empty house on the other side has apparently been sold at
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2. Phrasal Verbs: “to look”
last." It didn't seem a good idea to inform Mrs Tendett that I had had tea in the
"empty" house with a witch, especially as she had always looked up to me for some
reason. I didn't make a particular point of looking out for my new neighbours but
when I did meet them they seemed a normal enough young couple. What disturbed
me slightly was the name. To make sure I had heard it right, I looked it up in the
telephone directory: Mr and Mrs Broom.
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4. Phrasal Verbs: “to look”
needs looking after
needs medical attention
looking onto the lake
with a view on the lake
just looking out of the window
just looking through the window
You are looking at it now
You can see it now
They look away
They look in the other direction
look at photographs
see photographs
look into the matter
investigate the matter
looking for support
hoping for support
looking forward to finding
awaiting with pleasure the idea of finding
I look back to a time
I reminisce about a time
to look ahead of you.
look in front of you
looking through the window
looking through the window to the other side
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5. Phrasal Verbs: “to look”
look in on her
visit her
I looked her up and down
I examined what she looked like
looking out for you
trying to find you
looked right through me
ignored me
looked on
watched
looked round
turned to look
look her over again
check what she looked like again
look her up
pay her a visit
looked about the hall
had a good look at the hall
looked down on her
despised her
looked her straight in the face
looked at her face to face
looked up the word
checked the meaning of the word
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6. Phrasal Verbs: “to look”
things are looking up
things are improving
looked up to me
respected me
looking out for my neighbours
trying to see my neighbours
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