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Tomasz Klepinowski Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
seems as if/looks as if
There are two sentences.
1. It seems as if children today are only interested in playing with gadgets.
2, The clouds are very low today. It looks as if it's going to rain.
In the first example, my coursebook EXcluded looks as if, saying that seems as if is the only option (amongst these two).
Whereas in the very next exercise there's example 2 using 'looks as if' in pretty same construction (see sentence 2). How is it? Would 'seems as if' be also suitable for sentence 2? If so, then why isn't 'looks as if' suitable for sentence 1?
1. It seems as if children today are only interested in playing with gadgets.
2, The clouds are very low today. It looks as if it's going to rain.
In the first example, my coursebook EXcluded looks as if, saying that seems as if is the only option (amongst these two).
Whereas in the very next exercise there's example 2 using 'looks as if' in pretty same construction (see sentence 2). How is it? Would 'seems as if' be also suitable for sentence 2? If so, then why isn't 'looks as if' suitable for sentence 1?
Top answer
'Looks as if' is often interchangeable with 'seems as if' when there is a visual element (physical or metaphorical). In #1, no one is looking at the children; the speaker is only pondering collected information. Contrariwise, in #2 the clouds are so obviously a visual element that only 'looks as if' seems the mot juste .
- 'Looks as if' is often interchangeable with 'seems as if' when there is a visual element (physical or metaphorical).
- In #1, no one is looking at the children; the speaker is only pondering collected information.
- Contrariwise, in #2 the clouds are so obviously a visual element that only 'looks as if' seems the mot juste .
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2 Answers
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'Looks as if' is often interchangeable with 'seems as if' when there is a visual element (physical or metaphorical). In #1, no one is looking at the children; the speaker is only pondering collected information. Contrariwise, in #2 the clouds are so obviously a visual element that only 'looks as if' seems the mot juste.
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