Look after look for and look up

Connect each expression to a situation

“Look after” commonly means take care of someone or something: “Can you look after the plants while I am away?” “Look for” means try to find: “I am looking for my keys.” “Look up” can mean search for information in a reference source: “I will look up the word in a dictionary.”

Learn the complete situation rather than translating each small word separately. The plant needs care, the keys are missing and the unfamiliar word needs a reference. Those meanings help you select the expression.

Notice where the object goes

In these uses, look after and look for keep the object after the preposition: “look after them” and “look for it.” The information-search use of look up is separable: “look up the word” and “look the word up” are both possible. With a pronoun, use “look it up,” not “look up it.”

Compare: “I looked for the address in my bag” suggests searching for a note or document there. “I looked the address up online” means using a source to find the information. The place or tool in the sentence helps clarify the action.

Keep meaning tied to context

Phrasal verbs can have additional meanings. “Things are looking up” means the situation is improving, not that someone is consulting a dictionary. Do not force every example into the first meaning you learned. Check the surrounding sentence and a reliable dictionary when the familiar interpretation makes no sense.

Practice a connected story

Write three sentences about preparing for a trip. Someone might look after your cat while you look for a charger and look up the train timetable. Then replace each object with a pronoun where appropriate. Reading the sentences as a short story helps you keep both the meaning and the word order in mind. Ask a partner to explain what action happens in each sentence.

Watch for tricky pairs

Avoid confusion like affect and effect with clear examples.