confusing words

Would has various different uses:

• politeness

  • Would you like to have a coffee?

  • Would you mind introducing customer information to us?

• Past, to talk about repeated events

  • When I was young I would go swimming every Saturday.

  • When I was head of department I would have meetings every day.

• Hypothetical situations

  • What would you say if you met Barack Obama?

  • I think it would be helpful to the treasury department.

  • If I lived in New York, I would have much more chance of meeting famous people.

This is something I covered with a client the other day, something which causes problems at all levels of ability. When it comes to verbs that take BOTH -ing AND inf. after them, but with a change in meaning, the following four are perhaps the most important.

• Remember
  • I remember swimming in the Thames when I was a boy.
  • Didn’t you remember to buy milk, I asked you twice!

• Forget
  • Damn! I forgot to take my library books back.
  • I can’t believe you can remember that! I’d completely forgotten bumping into Tony Blair last year.
• Try
  • I tried to pass my driving test last year. = I attempted to and therefore failed
  • I tried cooking her dinner, but still failed to impress her.
• Stop
  • Can we stop (the car) to take some photos, the view is magnificent!
  • Will you stop talking with your mouth full, it’s disgusting to watch!

All these verbs are related to sight and vision

1. See is the most common of the three verbs and is usually followed by an OBJECT:
   They’ve seen MANY PEOPLE wearing hats.
   John saw ANDREA at the party.
   But it doesn’t always have an OBJECT:
   I can’t see well, so I need to wear glasses.
   See (meaning vision – there are other meanings of see) doesn’t usually take the progressive form, but look (at) can:
   We’ve been looking at churches all day!
   We’ve been seeing churches all day!
2. Watch is used when animals or people look at something (or something happening) over a period of time:
   I’ve been watching the cricket, what have you been doing?
   Last night we watched a film.
3. Look (at) means ‘using eyes for a particular reason.’
   “I want you to look straight into my eyes.”
   He wasn’t looking where he was going.
   Look also refers to appearance when what you are looking at is the SUBJECT:
   SHE looks great in that red dress.
   THE HOUSE has been looking awful for the last few months.

So in summary I’d say that see is the most common option while look (at) and watch are both similar to each other, except that watch is used when describing actions that take place over a longer period of time.

look-see-watch.