So let's start with a physical description.
I can see a crystal clear blue sea and puffy white clouds disappearing over the horizon.
So this is a great way to talk about what is in front of you, whether you're on the phone with a family
member or you're talking to them on the phone, looking out over the landscape, describing this, or
if you see it in your imagination and you're talking about what you see in your mind, in your imagination.
For either one, I can see.
And then we just say what we see.
Very simply, describe what you see in your imagination or in front of you.
And so we don't need to focus too much on the details.
I add a lot of adjectives here, crystal clear, blue, puffy white, because that gives it a more vivid
feeling.
That makes it more clear.
That helps me put it in the other person's mind.
But if you look at the next one, I can see a lot of potential in her work.
But then look at the next one.
I can see a lot of potential in her work.
So I hope she keeps taking classes.
What is this describing?
This isn't describing a scene or even something in my imagination.
No, it is describing an opinion I have about something.
It's describing a viewpoint that I have.
It's describing something that I see in a slightly different way.
To be able to see someone's potential means you think someone is capable or able to do more than they're
doing now based on what they're doing at the moment.
So you look at what they're doing at the moment and then you kind of imagine what the future might be.
And in fact, we often use this when we talk about our opinions, especially our opinions of things
going on at the moment, which may change over time.
If someone is very good at, for example, investing money, an investor, they could say something
like this.
I can see this company really growing in the next five years.
I can see this company.
So it's kind of they're like, imagine.
But also, you're describing how you feel about it in the present.
So it's it's really actually a useful a useful thing to talk about this non-physical thing.
Now, you've also probably heard I can see your point.
I can see what you mean.
I can see what you're saying.
These are still describing an opinion, but it's more like saying, I understand.
I can see what you mean.
I can see your point.
I see your point.
What point?
Well, your point is an opinion that you have.
And if I understand your opinion that I can say.
I can see that.
Sometimes we just say that.
I can see that instead of saying, I can see your point.
I can see where you're coming from.
There are a lot of different expressions like this using these senses, which is why I encourage you
to research more, find more, because that's not the focus of of this lesson.
So that's how we use see and there are other ways of using it.
We're talking about different kinds of description, but we're still describing something in a way.
Now, what about the other senses?
I can hear water dripping from somewhere, but I can't figure out where.
Well, that's what you hear.
So this is pretty direct.
This is pretty literal.
So this is non-literal using sea to talk about non-physical things, things that are not in front of
your eyes.
And this would be an example of something literally my ears are actually hearing that sound so I can
hear.
What is that?
I can hear water dripping from somewhere.
I've looked all over the house.
The sound is driving me crazy.
Drip, drip, drip.
But I can't figure out where it's coming from.
So very literal.
But certainly we can use I can hear in a non-literal way as well.
I can hear what you're thinking.
I can't actually hear what you're thinking.
But I've said something and I know you well enough to know probably what you're thinking when you hear
me say things like that.
So I say, I can hear you thinking.
Not literal.
I can't actually hear you thinking.
But it's an expression.
And there are so many like it.
I can feel something round under the sofa that feels like a tennis ball I can feel.
So I'm reaching under the sofa.
What is that?
It's round, so I feel something round.
That's a description of what I feel.
Okay.
I can feel something round that feels like.
So feels like.
Is also extremely common to make a comparison.
This expression.
Feels like to make a comparison.
It's actually a very powerful way to say that two things seem similar in some kind of way.
It may not smell like a tennis ball.
It may not look like a tennis ball.
But it feels like a tennis ball.
Whatever it is that's round under the sofa.
It feels like that.
That doesn't mean it is that.
That means it feels like that.
It's a comparison to help another person understand what I'm talking about.
Sort of feels like a mix between the Beatles and Aerosmith.
Well, that would be a description of a band.
Feels like.
Yeah, that's my impression.
We often use Feel to describe our impressions, but you could certainly say also in that example.
Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like a mix between those two bands and sounds like there would be similar
to feels like it's a comparison.
Looks like sounds like feels like smells like tastes like.
These are always sense.
Plus like to make comparisons that are useful to clarify things.
And it doesn't have to be perfect.
This tastes like a mix between a banana and a mango.
Or it tastes like a mango.
But it's not a mango.
But it tastes like a mango.
It tastes like a mango.
Doesn't mean it is a mango.
That means it just tastes like a mango.
Oh, smells like dirty socks.
They are not dirty socks, but it smells like dirty socks.
I'm making a comparison.
Extremely useful.
Extremely useful for descriptions.
But while this is literal because I actually feel something under the sofa, this one is not quite literal.
Not as literal.
I'm not physically feeling something.
This is more related to empathy.
Emotion.
I'm going to write that up here.
Empathy and emotion.
When we say I feel bad, I feel great, I feel okay, right?
We're talking about not our physical body.
Perhaps, maybe we are, but also our emotions, our emotional condition.
But when we say, I can feel there's something wrong with him, but I can't figure out what it is there.
We're not talking about my emotions there.
I'm talking about being able to sense that something is going on with this person, even though we're
not quite sure what that is.
But this feel doesn't mean that I feel their face and then say, I have something wrong with you.
This you must be in a bad mood.
What's going on?
No, maybe I just saw a message and I can tell from the message.
I can feel that something is going on with you.
So I call you and say, Hey, is everything okay?
That is empathy, right?
When we have a sensor, we call it an intuition.
Intuition we often use feel.
I feel like something is going on.
I feel like today things are just going to go perfectly smoothly.
I know things have been rough, tough, bad recently in the past.
But today is our lucky day, I hope, right?
I can feel it.
What do I feel now?
It's my emotion, it's my intuition.
It's my judgment.
We use feel for this kind of thing.
So feel perhaps is more often used in the non-literal way, or at least non-physical way, and feel
physically like a tennis ball under the sofa or something that feels like a tennis ball under the sofa
is probably less common than the empathy usage, the intuition meaning of I can feel, I can feel.
Have you ever seen the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi?
The bad guy, Darth Sidious?
He's trying to get Luke Skywalker to become bad, and he says, I can feel your anger.
He's using the force to feel it.
That is his intuition or his power.
But it's not about physical feeling.
Well, physical in himself.
He's not checking Luke Skywalker's pulse to feel his anger, although that might be one way to do it.
I can feel a storm coming in my bones, so this is a physical feeling.
Perhaps some people say that when there's a rainstorm coming or some kind of storm, that they they
feel that in their joints, their joints start to ache in their bones.
I've heard that.
I don't know if it's real.
I don't know if it's true.
Maybe it is, maybe not.
But if they have that feeling, then this would be a common thing to say.
So this would be to talk about physical, just physical sensations.
And you would also use that when you're talking to the doctor.
So.
Tell me about your your hand.
What's going on?
Well, I can feel when I bend my elbow, I can feel a sharp pain when it's fully extended.
So a very common thing to describe your physical sensations would be to use feel.
And I think that pretty well covers how we use these sense words with can to describe things.
Just remember, some of these are non-literal, some of these are literal.
And I know we didn't talk about smell and taste, but they really are the same.
And again, if you want to learn more of these, there are many expressions and many different ways
to use them in different situations.
So I would encourage you to continue exploring these sense words.
Now we're going to look at a few more examples also using see, but in a slightly different way.
So let's do that.