Hi there, somebody told me that you are seeking advice to improve your English language skills.
Well you don't need to search, all you need do is subscribe to our channel and you'll
find a lot of lessons. Yes friends in today's lesson, we are going to take a look at the
difference between seek, search and find. now they are verbs that have got to do with
searching, looking for, discovering, yes and you often get confused as to when do we use
seek, when do we use search and of course when do we use find.
Okay so first let's take a look at seek. Okay now when you seek something, you do it when
you are looking for an object that you really can't see, okay. You can't really see and
feel the object. Okay it's intangible. Okay so when you look for an object that you can't
see, you are seeking. so in the beginning of the lesson, I told you or rather I asked
you, are you seeking, I believe that you are seeking guidance to improving your English
language skills, that means you are looking but you cannot see guidance, you can't touch
guidance, right? And so I use the word, seeking. Okay now being a verb, it has three forms,
right. So you have seek, you have sought and the third form is sought. Okay, so seek, sought,
sought, fine. Now let's take a look at how do you use search? Police searched for evidence.
Okay when I say police searched for evidence that means they are actually looking thoroughly
somewhere, okay. So when you are looking for something thoroughly, you use the verb search.
Search is also a verb.it has three forms; you have search, searched, searched. So the
police searched for evidence that means they were actually actively searching for something.
okay a lot of people get confused and use police are finding, okay they are not finding,
they are searching.so when you are looking for something, like you open your cupboard
you ransack, you remove all your clothes because you are searching for that secret love letter
that you have kept.so you are searching, you are not finding it, okay. So that's searching.
Now let's come to find, find means you actually discover something or you become aware about
something. I found a good cafe that means I discovered, okay. Just imagine if I am walking
on the road and I turn to a street and wow that's a new cafe. So I found a good cafe.
It’s a discovery, I discovered, it's here. It’s a new cafe, it’s a good one. So I
discovered it, so I found it. Okay find is a verb, you have three forms, find, found,
found. Alright friends so remember seek is when you are looking for some object that
you actually can’t see or touch. Search is when you are actually searching, you are
looking for something. It could be an object that you can see and touch. Find is actually
a discovery that you make. You discover something or you become aware about something, okay
friends.
So that's the basic difference between these three verbs. Now let's a look at so, me more
examples. We sought legal advice. Now advice is something that I can't see, can you see
advice? No but you can take advice, right? So when you sought, I've used the past tense,
we sought legal advice. You are in midst of a case and I decided we had an issue at work
so I decided to seek legal advice and I sought it. Okay that means I got legal advice. So
you do not say we searched or we found. No you sought it, right? He is searching for
his lost key. Now imagine you see your father in the morning looking all over, looking under
the table, around the couch, goes in the kitchen. He’s a little annoyed, he's irritated and
you are like, dad what are you searching for? And he says I'm searching for my lost key.
I can’t go to work without it. So when he is searching, that's his action. He is looking
thoroughly somewhere and he is looking for an object that he can see or he can feel,
right? So that why he says, searching. Now again the most common error people make is
I'm finding my keys. You are not finding your keys, you are actually searching. You don't
have it, you don't where it is. You’re not finding, this is a big no. do not make this
mistake. You are searching, so you are looking around, looking for my keys. You are looking
all over the place, right? now imagine you are sitting in office and you are lost in
deep thoughts, say your colleague is lost in deep thoughts and you went up and then
say, hey what are you doing, you are supposed to finish the report and he tells you, I find
myself thinking about my ex quite often. I find myself. You know now a days I find myself
thinking about her too much. I just concentrate on my work. Please don't. Well I find myself
means; in this case, he has become aware, he is conscious about the fact that he is
thinking about her a lot. So you can't say I searched myself thinking about her. No I
sought myself, no. I find myself, okay. Now imagine you are arguing with someone and you
say something and the argument grows bigger and nastier and uglier and you feel, oh God
I find myself in a bigger mess. Okay that means you have become aware of the fact that
you are in a bigger mess. Right, that's when you say, I find myself. Okay or sometimes
your friend is too quiet, you say, I find you quite aloof these days, what's wrong?
So you are aware that he is quite aloof. So you find him quite different these days, right
friends.
Okay a few examples, the company is seeking ways to improve services. That means the company
is looking for ways to improve services. Now can you see ways? No, so maybe they are analyzing,
they are brainstorming and they are doing it because they are seeking ways to improve
their service. So here you can't say they are searching for ways because you can’t
touch and see ways, can you? No use the verb seek because you are talking about an object,
you can't see or touch. So next what happens is, the company is searching for a new ad
agency. So go to Google and they type in the top ten best advertising agencies in New York
and there you have a list. What are they doing? They are searching, so they are looking for,
right they are looking for. Again I'm reminding you; don't say the company's finding a new
ad agency, no they are searching for a new ad agency. And after a lot of searching, yes
they finally found a new ad agency. The search is over and you have finally discovered what
you really want or rather what you were looking for. The company has finally found a new ad
agency. Okay friends, so this is the difference between seek, search, find. Remember it's
all got to with looking. Seek, you are looking for an object that you can't see or touch.
So you are seeking. So like you are seeking guidance to improve your English speaking
skills. Search is for objects that you can touch or feel. So you search for something.
You are searching for your friends in the crowd, that's search. Find is actually after
the search is over; you finally find what you want. So it could be discover or sometime
you become aware about a situation. right so that is how you use these verbs and well
just to see if you got it correct, I do have a small test for you, take it and let me know
your scores. Right, well if you haven't subscribed to our channel, please do so because you will
find a lot of lovely lessons out there. I’ll be back soon with a new lesson, till then
take care and bye.