莫平的英文私塾

本篇照例排除 look 其他用法，包括當作連綴動詞使用的「看起來＋補語（形容詞/名詞）」與引申的抽象意義如「研究（look into）」、「仰望（look up to）」等，只討論與「視覺的看」有關的用法。

look 與 watch/see 最大的不同，就是它是個「不及物動詞」，後面若沒有介系詞，不能接受詞。Look 強調的，是眼睛朝某個方向看，其方向由後面所接的介系詞（有受詞）或介副詞（無受詞）來決定。請看常用介系詞/介副詞與其例句：

─ look ahead: The hunter looked ahead and saw nothing.（看向前方）

─ look at: Johnny looked at me and gave me a big smile.（直視目標物）

─ look around: The mailman looked around and saw four Rottweilers approaching him from all sides.（掃瞄四周）

─ look back: Roy looked back to see if there was anyone following him.（向後看）

─ look into: The explorers looked into the hole on the ground, trying to figure out how deep it was.（看到裡頭去）

─ look out for: I strongly recommend you look out for that rare bird in our aviary. You won’t find it anywhere else in the northeastern part of the country.（為尋找而仔細看）

─ look through: The policeman looked through the window and saw nobody in the house.（看透某物體）

─ look up: Kate looked up and saw her mother standing in front of her desk.（抬頭往上看）

以上某些片語有其他非關視覺的用法，暫不討論。

有沒有發現 look 幾乎都得接上方向說明才能用呢？就算是如下的祈使句：
─ Look! There’s an ice cream stand up ahead. Let’s get some ice cream.
也是「look +方向」的省略用法，此句其實是 look ahead。