Phrasal Verbs with Look: 12 Meanings You Actually Need
Look is the verb of : your eyes, and then your mind, pointed at something. Every phrasal verb in the family is a different way of pointing. Look for points your attention around a room until the keys appear. Look after points it at someone who needs care. Look into points it deep inside a problem, and look forward to points it at a date in the future and smiles.
This family also holds three of the most useful - phrasal verbs in English: look forward to, look up to and look down on. They never split, and the last word is a preposition, which has one grammatical sting explained below.
The 12 phrasal verbs with look
Most of the family is inseparable; look up (information) and look over are the separable ones. The rule is in the separable phrasal verbs guide.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Separable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| look after | She looks after her grandmother. | ||
| look for | I am looking for a flat near the station. | ||
| look up | ; | Look the word up in a dictionary. | |
| look up to | He looks up to his older brother. | , | |
| look down on | She looks down on people without degrees. | , | |
| look forward to | I am looking forward to the weekend. | , | |
| look into | The airline is looking into the complaint. | ||
| look out | ( ) | Look out! The floor is wet. | |
| look over | Can you look over my CV? | ||
| look through | I looked through the files for her name. | ||
| look round | We looked round the old town all morning. | ||
| look back on | I look back on that year with pride. | , |
The three you must know
. The everyday British verb for caring: children, pets, plants, a neighbour's house, your own health. Who is looking after the kids? Look after yourself. It is inseparable, and it is warmer and more common in speech than take care of. If you work with children, in health, or in hospitality, you will use it hourly.
. The politest way in English to say a future thing makes you happy, which is why it closes a million emails: I look forward to hearing from you. The grammar matters: to is a preposition here, not part of an infinitive, so the verb after it takes -ing. I look forward to seeing you, never to see you. The same trap is covered in gerund and infinitive, and this verb is where most people fall into it.
. For information, and separable: look up the word, look the word up, look it up. With a pronoun the middle position is required. The subjectless meaning is worth having too: things are looking up means the situation is improving, and no object is involved at all.
British and American differences
- is the natural British verb for caring; American English more often says take care of. Both are understood everywhere.
- / . For visiting a place, round is the usual British choice (look round the museum) and around the usual American one. The meaning does not change.
- someone (visit briefly to check they are well) is a homely British extra worth recognising: I will look in on Gran on my way home.
Common mistakes
- Look forward to see you. The single most common error in learner emails. After to, use -ing: look forward to seeing you.
- Splitting - verbs. He looks his brother up to is impossible. Look up to, look down on, look forward to and look back on never separate.
- Look after for searching. I am looking after my keys says you are caring for your keys. Searching is looking for.
- Look out with an object. As a warning it takes none: Look out! To name the danger, add for: look out for ice on the steps.
More phrasal verb families
The system behind all of these is in the phrasal verbs guide, with many more sentences in the phrasal verbs examples list.