hear vs listen to

Question

please, tell me the different of hear and listen to in speaking or in grammar, because I have a student who always asks me about it and I don't know the answer

Forum: General English grammar questions (EFL / ESL)
Posted: Apr 24, 3:06 PM [GMT 1]
Post Subject: [url="/English/Post/bbpwz/Post.htm#92910"]Adj clause or noun clause[/url]
Post author: [url="/user/cmhl/profile.htm"]WANG CHUN[/url]

Hello
I don't know they are adj clause or noun clause.
Thank you for your answer.

1. Desert plants differ in (the ways that )they adapt themselves to arid places.

2. Direct mail and direct email are (two ways that) companies are able to mass target potential customers.

Davkett · Accepted Answer

These words hear and listen are so closely related that a context is needed to distinguish any nuances intended.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Your very first post had to be a hard one, did it? Welcome to the forum.

As Davkett wrote, they are very closely related.

One difference people will cite is that if you HEAR something, you pay attention - it makes it through to your consciounsess - but you can LISTEN without paying much attention. So I can listen to music, without really hearing the lyrics. Or I can listen to a speaker, but not really hear his message.

But to make it more fun (!), you can use listen the same way. More than once, I have said sharply to my children "Are you listening to me?!" and in that case, I was using that meaning of "hear" described above.

Davkett is very wise

- provide context and we can better help you.

Punisher · Answer

hi Cla_gama

the only difference between these two words as I know is just in the meaning.

hear is to know that a sound is being made, using your ears. e.g. hey can you hear me? this question means that either the sound is clear on not clear.

listen is to pay attintion to what you can hear. e.g. boy, you must listen carefully to what I say. that means you can hear me but you must pay attintion.

I hope this will help you.

But if it didn't, just go and check the words in any dictionary.

CalifJim · Answer

Welcome to English Forums!

Verbs of perception come in several flavors.

eye: see look look

ear: hear listen sound

Passively, a relationship between perceiver and perceived is just happening effortlessly:
I see the house. The house is visible to me. I am not blind; my eyes are functioning; there is enough light on the house to see.
I hear the music. The music is audible to me. I am not deaf; my ears are functioning; the music is loud enough to hear.

Actively, attentively, the perceiver acts with some effort, often to gain some understanding of what is being perceived:
I am looking at the house. I am examining the house by directing my gaze upon it.
I am listening to the conversation. I am directing my hearing toward the conversation, paying attention to the conversation so that I may hear it.

An inanimate as subject which triggers the perception:
The house looks pretty. It has a pleasant appearance.
The song sounds sad. It has a sound which makes me feel sad.

CJ

Davkett · Answer

When William Blake says, "A wise man sees a different tree than a fool" a whole other level of complexity is introduced into a discussion like this--one that is more real than poetic. Artists and musicians know that two people can be looking at and listening to the same thing, and each is seeing and hearing something different.

Truly passive registration of sights and sounds needs almost more scientific words than seeing and hearing. Either that or William Blake's eye and ear perceptions need better words.

That's why I say context is essential for a clearer understanding of the difference in meaning. A dictionary is of little help.

Active and passive distinctions are certainly in play...but so is this:

If your eye is full of Light, so too is your whole body. If your eye is full of Darkness, your body too is full of Darkness.

CalifJim · Answer

two people can be looking at and listening to the same thing, and each is seeing and hearing something different.

Indeed, it is so. Just ask people what they see when they look at cloud formations. I explain this by saying that the effortful tasks of looking and listening (the searching-for-meaning-and-understanding part of the equation) are very influenced by each person's history, background, even mood or condition of health. All these factors play into what conclusion the perceiver will come to about what he is looking at or listening to. Once a conclusion is reached on the basis of looking or listening, the perceiver can state that he has seen or heard something. All the factors built into his particular way of looking or listening are latently present in what he says he sees or hears. Yet all of this "coming to an understanding of what is looked at or listened to" happens so fast, in a way he is not completely conscious of, that the perceiver generally feels that seeing and hearing are effortless.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

thanks a lot calif, now I have an answer to my student question (sorry I've just connected to this web)

Anonymous · Answer

thanks it really helped

Anonymous · Answer

thank you very much Davkett, please allow me to ask you another English confussion word next time!

Davkett · Answer

There are a host of excellent members at your service.  You may want to make a screen name for yourself and enjoy the forums on a regular basis.  Welcome.

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