ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: can or could

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:04:00 GMT

I thought Avangi had already answered. Did you want more?

Any of these are possible:

I want to see what I [can / could / will / would] look like ...

Personally, I'd say what I'll look like ...

Re: can or could

Futurehuman11 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:38:43 GMT

Will someone who knows please answer my original question?

Re: can or could

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:12:56 GMT

Good point. I got involved in the grammar of adverbs and prepositions and more or less ignored the practical applications.

What ... look like? is used when you want to know how to identify or recognize someone or something. So yes, your examples are as you say. In the first case you want to know what she looks like -- characteristics that would help you to recognize her on a future occasion. In the second case you know what the woman looks like already. In the second case you want to know how she looks wearing the new dress -- the general effect she makes. In the first, it's not a question of finding out the general effect made by the new acquaintance. (If it were a question of finding out the effect she made, you could still ask a how question or a what question, but they would be How was she?, not How did she look?, or What was she like?, not What did she look like?)

Re: can or could

Kooyeen — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:45:46 GMT

Hi Jim,
from your explanation it seems asking "How does she look?" and "What does she look like?" is basically asking the same thing, but I was told they are not used the same way. I think I was told that the version with "how" is used to ask an opinion about a temporary state. here are two examples:

- I met Jack's girlfriend yesterday.
- (1)How does she look? (2)What does she look like?

This is my new dress. (1)How do I look? (2)What do I look like?

I think in the first example only (2) would be used, and in the second example both would be ok, but (1) maybe would be more common.
Is it so? Thanks.

Re: can or could

Marius Hancu — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:23:16 GMT

I think Jim and Avangi have a point about "like" asking for a comparison and messing up things here.

Re: can or could

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:22:20 GMT

Liveinjapan
Could anyone tell me the difference between the sentences below?

How do I look?

How do I look like?

What do I look like?

how and like are mutually exclusive. You cannot have both in these sorts of expressions. Once you use how, you must suppress like. So *How do I look like is impossible!

how? and like what? mean almost the same thing when the verb is look. But there are important differences. Note the groupings below.

Susan looks [sad]. *Susan looks [how]? [How] does Susan look?

Susan looks like [a clown]. *Susan looks like [what]? [What] does Susan look like?

Susan looks [like a clown]. *Susan looks [like what]? *Susan looks [how]? [How] does Susan look?

_______

[How] does Susan look? She looks [sad].

[How] does Susan look? She looks [like a clown].

[What] does Susan look like? She looks like [a clown].

__________

So How? substitutes for an adverbial expression -- which can be a prepositional phrase "like ..." or a single word adverb or any other appropriate adverbial expression.

And What? (in "like what?") substitutes for a noun -- which can only be the noun that fits after the preposition like.

_________

What makes this difficult if you are imitating the speech of natives is that the missing (fourth) pattern is not quite right logically, but people do use it anyway, treating the combination as an idiom.

[What] does Susan look [like]? She looks [sad].

Re: can or could

Avangi — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:03:11 GMT

Liveinjapan

Could anyone tell me the difference between the sentences below?

How do I look? Asking for an honest opinion, usually as the result of an occurrence (in an accident, just got beat up) or in terms of appropriateness for some event (going to the prom) - But you know you can't always speak the truth.

How do I look like? ungrammatical - incorrect

What do I look like? Technically, asking for a comparison: You look like a monkey. But in practice, "You look greatf!" would be a typical reply.

Re: can or could

Liveinjapan — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:26:29 GMT

Could anyone tell me the difference between the sentences below?

How do I look?

How do I look like?

What do I look like?

Thanks
LiJ

Re: can or could

Marius Hancu — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:13:34 GMT

If in a gym:

I want to see how I['ll] look like after some hard workouts.

Re: can or could

Avangi — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:48:37 GMT

Are we talking about going to the gym?

I hear both, but I'd say "can."

can or could

Futurehuman11 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:08:22 GMT

I want to see what I ('can' or 'could'?) look like with hard work.