Phrasal Verb Fun

look out, look out for
On a ship a long time ago, before satellites and so forth, there was a man
high up on the main mast whose job was to look out over the sea. He was
the look-out. He was looking
out
for land and for danger.
Now, when someone shouts, 'LOOK OUT!' prepare for danger NOW!
'Look out! We're going to have an accident!'
'If you don't look out, the boss will fire you.'
'My mum says if I don't look out, I'll fail my exams.'
When you cross this street, look out for bad drivers.
Watch out
is similar but usually less urgent.
LOOK OUT
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
LOOK OUT FOR
Three-word verb
No problem.
look over
You look
over
a landscape from a high place like a mountain or a balloon.
You can see the big picture but not the details. When you look over a
problem, you are doing the same thing.
Hetty hated maths. Every time she looked over her homework, she would

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go into a dream.
Although
watch over
is similar, look over often means to look quickly.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.
look through
Apart from the obvious idea of looking through a telescope, we use this
for quickly reading
through
- in the sense of being in the experience of - a
magazine without really reading it. It’s similar to
go through
, but with less
effort.
At the hairdresser's, Mrs Arkwright used to look through the society
magazines. She didn't read them, of course. She just looked at the
photos and discussed high society gossip with her friends.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.
look up
In the old days, reference books and holy books were big, heavy things
that were really valuable. There were often chained on special stands, so
that thieves couldn't take them. You had to stand
up
to consult them.
To find anything in a book like this, you had to look up the information. You
had to look it up.
Now we use this to mean 'search for information' in any reference book,
such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, phone books, bus timetables, and
so on. It is why you use Google.
'What's the capital of Burkina Faso?'
'Look it up.'
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
look up to
Many many years ago there were only three kinds of people: those who
fought, those who worked, and those who prayed. The best people, the
kings and lords and ladies, all rode about their land on horseback. And
frequently they would see their peasants, on foot, working hard.
The poor peasants would, literally, look up to them.
Up
to the lords and
ladies.
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.

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