Phrasal Verb Fun

look back, look back at,
look back on, look back to
Back
, after a verb, nearly always has the sense of 'return'
When we look back, we are remembering the past, often with affection.
Hilary looked back to her time in school. 'Oh,' she said. 'Were my
schooldays the happiest days of my life?'
LOOK BACK AT,
LOOK BACK ON,
LOOK BACK TO all mean exactly the same.
LOOK BACK is a
two-word verb without an object
No problem.
LOOK BACK AT, LOOK BACK ON, LOOK BACK TO are
three-word verbs
. No problem either..
look down on
Many, many years ago in Europe there were only three kinds of people:
those who fought, those who worked, and those who prayed. The best
people, the lords and ladies, all rode about their land on horseback. And
frequently they would see their peasants, on foot,
down
in the fields,
working hard. The best people then, like the best people now, despised
everyone else. They literally looked down on them.
The poor peasants, full of respect, (the lord always had his sword) would
literally
look up to
him.
By the way, Mohammed Ali has told us what he wants on his gravestone
HE NEVER LOOKED DOWN ON THOSE WHO LOOKED UP TO HIM
Three-word verb
No problem.
look for
Elizabeth is looking for a husband. She wants to get married before she
is thirty.
One of the commonest meanings of
for
is the reason why you do
something. When you look for something, you are looking in order to find
it. You are searching. And that is exactly what it means. It is very different
from
watch for
.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.
look forward to

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Every December our children look forward to Christmas very much.
Look
forward
clearly means looking in the direction you are going, but that
is not the whole story. It is never used literally. We use it in the sense of
expectation, anticipation, and it is only optimistic. We only look forward to
pleasure.
They're looking forward to opening their presents from Santa Claus.
Nobody looks forward to going to the dentist.
Grammar note
LOOK FORWARD TO SOMETHING and LOOK FORWARD TO DOING SOMETHING. Notice
that TO followed by a -ING form is rare in English. It will be in your next exam.
Three-word verb
. No problem.
look into
It was apparently a sad suicide, but when Sherlock Holmes looked into
the matter, it was clear that it was a case of murder.
When you look into something, it means to look carefully into it, to
investigate it.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.