Look At: (4)

Grammar Tense Structure:

• Present Tense: look / looks at
• Past Tense: looked at
• Past Participle: looked at
• Present Participle: looking at

1: When you focus your eyes on people or things, you look at them.

non-separable phrasal verb

• Romeo looked at her and told her he loved her.
• Look at me when I talk to you!

2: When you examine something or a situation and decide what to do about it, you look at it.

non-separable phrasal verb

• The mechanic looked at my car but couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
• It might be serious; you should have the doctor look at it.

3: When you think a certain way or have an opinion about something, that is the way you look at it.

non-separable phrasal verb

• The way I look at it, underfunding by the government has caused this problem.
• What should be done about this situation depends on how you look at it.

4: When you say that people are looking at an amount of money or a length of time, you mean that this is how much they think something will cost or how long something will take.

non-separable phrasal verb: informal — always continuous

• The start player suffered a serious injury and was looking at months and months of physical therapy.
• Putting four new tyres on the jeep isn’t going to be cheap. You’re looking at at least £200 each!