SEE Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar
hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome
to know your verbs in this episode we’re
going to talk about the verb see so
let’s get started
so the basic definition of C is to
perceive with your eyes so this really
means to use your eyes to get
information you use your eyes to look at
things to maybe understand things to
gain knowledge by looking at things by
using your eyes focusing your eyes on
things you can learn things or gain
information gain knowledge so this is to
perceive but the basic the basic
definition though is just to perceive
with your eyes to use your eyes to
perceive to gain information to gain
knowledge okay let’s see the
conjugations for the verb C C C’s saw
seen seeing
let’s talk about a few additional
meanings of the verb see first one to
form a mental picture of to form a
mental picture of means to use your mind
to create an image so see has the
meaning of creating an image in your
mind for example I can see my childhood
home clearly it was one story and had a
big yard what do you see when you close
your eyes so in these example sentences
we’re not actually using our eyes to see
something in this use of the word see we
are imagining it and in our minds we are
making a picture so we’re not actually
using our eyes to see these items
instead maybe there are things we saw in
the past and we are imagining them
mentally we are creating a mental image
of something so when I say I can see my
house clearly my childhood house it
means in my mind I can form a clear
image of the house in my mind in the
question what do you see it means when
you close your eyes
what’s the mental image that appears in
your mind so see is used to create
mental images to refer to creating
mental images here next is to examine or
to watch so in this use of the verb see
there’s sort of the nuance of an
expectation we want to use our eyes to
watch something as it changes or to
examine a change as it happens to
examine a behavior let’s see how the
team does in today’s match I can’t wait
to see what the neighbors do when they
realize we bought a pool in the example
of let’s see how the team does in
today’s match we are talking about using
our eyes our actual eyes perhaps if we
are actually watching the match if we go
to the game where we see the match on TV
perhaps we are using our eyes however if
we don’t go to the match and we read the
score from the game
or we hear on the radio something about
the game or we hear the results of the
game we can still use the verb si si has
this nuance of examining something so
we’re expecting some results so let’s
see in this case doesn’t only mean using
your eyes to examine it can mean to
examine maybe the results of an hour are
the results of something to examine the
outcome of something in the second
example sentence let’s see how the
neighbors react don’t we see the same
thing so it’s the same it’s the same
sort of nuance we are expecting a
reaction we are going to watch for a
reaction from the neighbors when they
realize we bought a pool so we want to
examine their reaction we want to
examine an outcome we can use the verb
see though maybe we use our ears like if
the neighbor says oh my gosh they bought
a pool that’s sort of examining your
you’re waiting for a reaction there we
can still use the verb let’s see the
expression let’s see to talk about that
so let’s see what happens next for
example next one to make sure to make
sure please see that this task is
finished he saw that all the
arrangements had been made in these
sentences the verb si is used to mean
make sure or to confirm something to
ensure something in the first one please
see that this task is finished we could
replace the verb see with make sure
please make sure that this task is
finished
so that’s a very clear sentence please
see is just a shortened way of saying
make sure please see that this task is
finished please ensure that this task is
finished we can replace the verb here
the second example sentence is the same
he saw that all the arrangements had
been made so he made sure that all the
arrangements had been made in these
example sentences si is replacing the
expression make sure or ensure so we can
use C to mean the same thing it’s just a
shorter way of say
make sure next to find acceptable or
attractive what do you see in him what
do you see in her I don’t understand
what you see in this restaurant
it’s terrible what are the qualities you
perceive in that person or the qualities
that you can detect in that situation
what are the good points you identify
there we can use the word see to sort of
communicate that quickly and easily so
what do you see in him what do you see
in her is a much shorter way of saying
what do you find attractive about him or
her what do you find appealing about him
or her or what characteristics of that
person attract you to that person saying
what do you see in him what do you see
in her is a much shorter way of saying
what qualities do you find attractive in
that person the same thing in the
restaurant example I don’t understand
what you see in this restaurant means I
don’t understand what it is that you
like about this restaurant I think it’s
bad so instead we shorten it to I don’t
understand what you see in this
restaurant so see means finding
something attractive or interesting or
appealing in some way
now let’s talk about some variations so
some slight changes or some additions to
the verb see that changed the meaning
first is see-through see-through
see-through means to understand the true
nature of something to understand the
real characteristics of something he saw
through my attempts to work with him and
asked me on a date my boss saw through
my lie and scolded me for faking
sickness so here we see the use in the
past tense in the first example sentence
he saw through my attempts to work with
him meaning he saw the true nature of
what I was doing so he saw through my
attempts to work with him and asked me
on a date so in the situation maybe the
person the speaker was trying to spend
time with the he in this situation and
was asking maybe to work together a lot
but he in the situation saw through saw
to the true nature of the speaker’s
request saw the true characteristics or
the actual desire there and asked the
speaker on a date so in this sentence we
understand that there was a different
motivation so something below the
surface of the of the initial action
that was happening so the the other
person in the situation understood the
other motivation the motivation below
the surface motivation and so we use saw
through or see through to communicate
that so I he saw through my attempts to
work with him and he understood there
was something else I wanted to do in the
second example sentence my boss saw
through my lie and scolded me for faking
sickness so again we see in past tense
my boss saw through my lie so saw that I
was lying in other words saw through my
lie so saw the true character of my lie
saw the true nature of my statement and
scolded me so my boss understood I lied
and scolded me for faking sickness so I
got in trouble
as I was faking an illness faking
sickness my boss saw through my behavior
saw the true character understood the
true nature of my of my statement next
is see eye to eye see eye to eye this
means to have a common viewpoint or to
agree we don’t see eye to eye most of
the time I’m glad we see eye to eye
about this so maybe this one is an easy
one to visualize so to see eye to eye
with someone else means you agree with
them you share a viewpoint with them so
you can kind of imagine maybe two people
standing across from one another and if
they see eye to eye
maybe they match their line of sight
matches much in the way that their
viewpoints or their opinions match
exactly exactly so they have kind of the
same viewpoint they can see eye to eye
so they’re there their eyesight maybe
matches their opinions match so to see
eye to eye and we can say I’m glad we
see eye to eye about this meaning I’m
happy we agree about this or in a
negative we don’t see eye to eye most of
the time means we don’t agree most of
the time or we have different opinions
most of the time all right so I hope
that this video helped you level up your
knowledge of the verb see a little bit
if you have any questions or comments or
if you know another way of using the
verb see let us know in the comments
section below the video thanks very much
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for more good stuff thanks for watching
this episode of know your verbs and
we’ll see you again soon bye bye
we’ll see you again soon we end every
video on this channel almost with see
you again soon but of course I don’t
actually see you you see me we imagine
you we have we form mental images in our
minds of all of you watching in the
camera there all those hundreds of
thousands of you guys that’s kind of
terrifying see that was fun
you