look up to: meaning and explanation
If you look up to someone then you respect and admire them. If someone is your role model then you can say that you look up to them.
e.g. The staff look up to her because she works incredibly hard, not just because she is their boss.
e.g. I think William was a poor choice as team captain. None of the players look up to him.
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Micro-listening #1
Accent: North America
About the sentence
…anymore…
Anymore in the sentence has the meaning any longer. It can be used as one word or two words (any more).
Micro-listening #2
Accent: Ireland
About the sentence
…even though…
Even though is a good way to express contrasts.
You can use ‘even though’ as an alternative to ‘but’, but note that we use ‘even though’ to introduce the background information to a contrast, whereas we use ‘but’ to introduce the contrast itself.
e.g. It was raining, but I went for a walk.
e.g. Even though it was raining, I went for a walk.
Micro-listening #3
Accent: Northern England
About the sentence
…Whether it’s a parent, a teacher or a celebrity…
Notice the use of whether in this sentence. This word has several uses. One of these is used to mean it makes no difference if.
e.g: You’re going to spend the weekend studying for your exams, whether you like it or not (It doesn’t matter if you like it or not, you’re going to spend the weekend studying).
e.g: Whether the sun is shining or it’s pouring with rain, I always enjoy going out for long walks on Sunday (I always enjoy going for a walk on Sundays, and it doesn’t matter what the weather is like).
Extra practice
Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:
- Who do you look up to and why?
- Do you think it’s true that young people tend to look up to celebrities these days? What do you think of this?
- Does anyone look up to you?
