»
L
A
T
E
R
A
L
«
Going further I: Seek-Search-Look for
14 noviembre, 2019 por María del Pilar Zamora Lara

Hello guys,

Are you not sure about the differences between ‘seek’ , ‘look for’ and ‘search’ ? Click on the picture below and you will understand their differences.

Another useful link to see differences between «search» and «seek»

Another helpful link to see differences between «search», «seek» and «look for».

 

Tip: The best tip I can give you to learn the differences is pay attention to the use of these verbs in sentences you could read in a text, in an exercise, in a listening, etc. That is the reason why I always insist that it is crucial to be exposed to the language as much as possible. That is the only way to know if something can be right or wrong without focusing on rules excessively. The rules explaining the differences are good, but sometimes not enough and confusing, and unfortunately, there are not many exercises on the Internet  to do concerning the differences between «seek», «search» and «look for».  Patience and Cheer up! 


4 respuestas  
Nerea dijo:
17 noviembre, 2019 a las 10:14 pm

I made up some sentences in order to practise. Are they ok?

– Happiness is not something that you can search. However, happiness should be inside you, enjoying the little things.
– I searched my laptop’s folders.
– I am seeking the way of improve my English.
– We should seek the way to avoid environment pollution.
– Seeking the true love doesn’t work out, it doesn’t exist.
– I am looking for the last album recorded by Fito

   
    María del Pilar Zamora Lara dijo:
    20 noviembre, 2019 a las 9:45 am

    Hi Nerea,

    Could you explain in a comment why you consider these sentences or just a few are correct taking into account the information the link gives? I will start:

    «Happiness is not something that you can search. However, happiness should be inside you, enjoying the little things» I believe the use of «search» in this sentence is correct, yet I would use «search for». Here you have a link explaining the difference between «search for» and «search».
    Regards,
    Pilar

       
      Nerea dijo:
      22 noviembre, 2019 a las 4:31 pm

      Well, despite the fact that it is really difficult for me to understand them clearly, I am going to try to do my best.
      – I searched my laptop’s folders—- I consider it is ok because I am searching information which is in my folder.

      – I am seeking the way of improve my English.— I deem it is no ok. It should have been: I am searching the way to improve my English. «Search» is also used when you have to find the answer to a problem.

      -We should seek the way to avoid environment pollution.—- I reckon it is no ok. It is the same case as the previous sentence.

      -Seeking the true love doesn’t work out, it doesn’t exist. I think It is ok, because «love» is not something material, it is intangible. And according to an exercise which I made in this link that you gave us: https://www.tolearnenglish.com/cgi2/myexam/voir2r.php?id=10404, happines also goes with seek. Human beings have always been seeking for happiness.

      – I am looking for the last album recorded by Fito. I think It is ok because I want or need this cd.

      Sorry for my mistakes to explain the exercise…. It is not easy to explain….

         
        María del Pilar Zamora Lara dijo:
        24 noviembre, 2019 a las 7:57 pm

        Hello,

        Let’s correct your answers!

        Regarding the sentence «I searched my laptop´s folders», the use of «search» is correct and you mean that you are looking for something carefully on your folders.

        Concerning the sentence «I’m seeking the way of improve my English», firstly, I must say that you can say «the way of doing something» or «the way to do something», so you can say «the way of improving my English or the way to improve my English». What about the use of «seek»? Well, you can say «I am seeking the way to improve my English/the way of improving my English», as one of the possible meanings of «seek» is «to search for something or try to find or obtain something». Consequently, you can use «seek» or «search for» in this example.

        As for the sentence «We should seek the way…», I must say that it’s correct as it´s a sentence similar to the previous one. Remember the following tip: you can say «seek the way/search for the way».

        With respect to «Seeking the true love doesn´t work out, it doesn´t exist», I must say that there are some mistakes. One mistake is related to the article «the» since we do not use «the» with abstract nouns and «love» is an abstract noun. Another mistake is in relation to «work out». In this sentence «work out» doesn´t make sense. Finally, there is a punctuation mistake as after «work out» there must be a full stop, and you wrote a comma and then a new sentence, which is wrong. Therefore, you should have written «Seeking true love doesn´t work. True love doesn´t exist». As for the use of «seek» in this sentence, as you said, it is correct because we are talking about searching for something abstract. Just to let you know that in this example we could also use «search for» > «Searching for true love doesn´t work. True love doesn´t exist». Remember the following tip: «seek/search for + abstract noun».

        Finally, concerning the last sentence «I am looking for…», as you said, the use of «look for» is correct as it´s the verb generally used when trying to find something lost.

        By way of conclusion, I would say that it is not easy to see the differences between these verbs as sometimes they can be interchangeable, but also they can be different. I recommend that you should pay attention to the different sentences with these verbs you could come across when reading, listening and doing exercises.

        Thanks for your effort!

        Regards,
        Pilar

           

Deja una respuesta

Debes conectarte para dejar una respuesta.
»  Sustancia:WordPress   »  Estilo:Ahren Ahimsa