Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 552

In this episode, we explore popular English expressions with LOOK and explain how native speakers really use them. You will hear clear examples and simple explanations that make it easy to understand and remember.

This lesson is designed for English learners at intermediate and advanced levels who want to expand vocabulary, improve speaking, and prepare for exams like IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English. By listening, you’ll learn how to use expressions with LOOK in everyday conversations, helping your English sound more natural and confident.

Improve your English step by step with practical expressions that you can start using right away.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome to my podcast where I try to help you to improve your knowledge of the English language so you can have better conversations both in a personal capacity and perhaps in business. So I help you through the use of idioms, phrasal verbs, all sorts of expressions. So what do I have for you in this podcast? Well, in this particular podcast, we're going to look at expressions using the word look, to look. Okay, L-O-O-K, to look. So as always, I'll give you the expression, I'll give you the meaning, and I'll give you an example. Okay, let's start. To have a look. Okay, so to have a look means you promise somebody to cast your eye over something, to read a document, to see what the problem is. For example, your wife says, oh, the washing machine isn't working, the spin isn't going around, and I need to wash the clothes. So he said, don't worry, I'll have a look, meaning you will investigate it. You mightn't be able to fix it. If you're like me, you probably won't be able to fix it, but I will have a look and see. Okay, here's a document that I prepared for the meeting tomorrow. Yeah, just leave it on my desk. I will have a look later. I will have a look later. Okay, so to have a look means to examine, to read, to investigate, to see what a problem is, just to help somebody, to help them out, to have a look. Look through. Well, look through indicates and suggests a little bit more focus and a little bit more detail. Leave the document on my desk and I will look through it, meaning I will read it. You might not read it page by page, but you will scan it or read through some important parts just to make sure that everything is the way you want it or that nothing important has been left out or that something unimportant has been put in. So you will look through the document. Did you watch the video that I sent you? Yeah, I looked through it in a bit of detail. It was quite interesting. Some interesting information to look through something, to look at something in a little bit more detail. To look your best. Well, of course, we all want to look our best whenever we are in the public eye. So actors, actresses, people on TV, they always want to look their best. They have their hair groomed and the clothes clean and pressed and whatever. Okay, so to look your best. Your wife might say to you, well, put on that new jacket and those nice trousers that you like to wear. You know, you like to look your best for a family occasion. So you're going to a birthday party, a celebration, an anniversary, whatever it might be. You want to look your best. You want to look your best for the photograph. You want to look your best for the presentation. You want to look your best when you meet your friends, to look your best, to be the smartest you can be, to be as good as you can be. Everything is in place. The hair is washed, the hair is brushed, the makeup is on, the dress is the right color, matching the eyes, whatever it might be. You wish to look your best. By the look of it. By the look of it means when you see something and you examine it, then you give your opinion. Okay? So you look out of the window, dark clouds, bit of wind, cold. By the look of it, it's going to rain. So you have an idea based on past experience what is likely to happen. So by the look of it, it's going to rain. Or in the opposite way, as I'm looking out of my window now and the sun is shining, there's a little breeze catching the leaves in the trees. The sun is up and the temperature is about 16 at the moment. So by the look of it, it's going to be a warm day. And by the look of it, it's going to be like this for the next few days. So the forecast that you have seen suggests that the weather won't change. So by the look of it, it appears to be. Okay. Or you're walking along the path in the park and you see something on the ground. You're not sure what it is. And when you get closer, by the look of it, it looks like a bird, but the bird has died. By the look of it, it has fallen out of its nest. So maybe it's a young bird, a young fledgling, and it has no feathers on it. So if there was a strong wind last night, the likely thing is that it has fallen out of its nest, okay, by the look of it. So it appears like or it appears that. Okay, and the next one, to look at someone. We can look at someone or something. She was looking at the baby in the pram. So the baby was smiling and laughing and gurgling as babies do. She was looking at the baby in the pram. I looked at the screen trying to figure out where I had to enter to get my refund from Ryanair, which I was looking at recently, trying to find out where and which button I could press to get my refund. Of course, it wasn't available. So I looked at the screen for a long time. Okay, so we don't say she was looking to the baby, and I don't say I looked to the screen. She was looking at the baby. I was looking at the screen to look at someone to not to examine, but to look in their direction. Okay, to look at. Look no further. Yeah, well, when we want to tell somebody that they found the solution, they don't have to investigate anymore because the solution is in front of them. So your friend comes to you and said, oh, I've got a terrible problem. I'm trying to get somebody to help me fix the car because I need to go and pick my wife up at the airport. But how am I going to get there? You say, look no further. I'm here. I'll help you. So you go along and you help your friend with whatever the problem happens to be. So, or again, your wife comes to you to say she wants to have a shelf put up in the room where the washing machine is so she can put the washing powder and things on it. So you say, look no further. Here I am. You're handy man. Look no further, meaning you don't have to investigate anymore. I'm here. Look no further. Next, look down your nose at somebody or something. To look down your nose at somebody. Well, this is not such a nice expression because it means you see yourself or feel that you are in some way superior to that person. So you look down your nose at them. Or you look down your nose at something that, oh, I wouldn't eat in that restaurant. Phew, no chance. It's not, it hasn't got four stars. I would only eat in a four-star restaurant. So you look down your nose, meaning you look at it with a little bit of disdain. Look down your nose at somebody who is begging in the streets, perhaps. Aren't you lucky that it's not you? In the same position as how I would see that. So we shouldn't look down a nose at anybody who is worse off than we are. We should see what we can do to help them. So look down your nose to treat somebody at a lower level or look down on people that are at a lower level than you in your social class. So if you're the upper class, you look down your nose at the middle and lower classes. If you're middle class, you look down your nose at those in the lower class. Okay, and fortunately, if you're the lower class, you have no further to look. Okay, so to look down your nose at somebody or something. Next expression, to look before you leap. Very well used and old expression. I haven't actually heard it for a while. My mother, father, used to say this to me all the time. Look before you leap. So it means a leap is a jump. Okay, so if there's a wall and you decide to jump over the wall, it could be very dangerous because there could be a very steep drop on the other side. So it could be two feet or it could be 20 feet. You don't know. So you should look over the wall to see exactly what is on the other side before you jump it. So when we say to look before you leap, means think, think a little harder. What are the repercussions? What are the outcomes? If you do make that decision, what is going to happen? So look before you leap. Okay, so if somebody comes to you and says they're going to leave their job because they want to travel the world, you say, well, are you sure now? Have you thought this through properly? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Great. The world would be a great place. And I'm going to leave my job. I'm going to travel the world. And then bingo. Okay, so look before you leap. Be careful. Think about the actions or the outcome before you make a decision. And then finally, look someone up and down. This is a really good expression. To look someone up and down literally means you stand there, your eyes go from the top of the head down to their toes, back up again. You know, you're like a machine analyzing them. So to look someone up and down means to try and get a very good image or impression of what that person does, how they sound and what they look like. So we're effectively looking them up and down like an x-ray machine. Usually we do this with strangers, people that we haven't met before. We look them up and down. Or somebody approaches us in the street that we haven't seen before. We look them up and down, trying to work out exactly who they are. Okay, so there are expressions with look. And again, have a look, look through, look your best. By the look of it, look at someone, look no further, look down your nose at somebody or something, look before you leap and look someone up and down. Okay, well, thanks for listening to my podcast. And if you want to contact me, well, of course, you can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Always happy to hear from you and happy to take in your suggestions. That's where the suggestion came for this particular podcast. So keep them coming and I'll keep making the podcast. As always, thanks for joining me and I'll catch up with you again soon.