Monday, May 9, 2011

Common Errors: "Know" vs. "Meet," "See," and "Visit"

Good evening, everyone! Welcome back to Mistake Monday. This week's Common Error is actually really common, but it's also very easy to fix. The four words we'll talk about --know, meet, see, and visit-- are used in similar ways, but they're not 100% interchangeable. Let's look:

Common Error: "Know" vs. "Meet," "See," and "Visit"
DON’T say this:I want to travel to France to know the Eiffel Tower.
I have never known New York, but I've heard it's an amazing city.
The Spring Social Meeting is a great way to know new people.
WHY?If you know someone or something, it means that you have knowledge or information about them.

If you meet a person, you see him or her for the first time. This situation can be called an introduction, since you introduce one person to another person.

If you visit a place or person, you interact with them in some way.

If you see a person or place, it's similar to visit; normally you interact with them, but you may just observe them.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:-"I want to travel to France to see/visit the Eiffel Tower." 
-"I have never visited/been to/gone to New York, but I've heard it's an amazing city."
-"The Spring Social Meeting is a great way to meet new people."
-"Do you know Paul? He's a really nice guy." OR "Have you met Paul?"
-"I don't know French, but I do know German."

So, hopefully you'll know what to say now if you meet someone new or visit a new place. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
Posted by Sitzman at 9:30 PM
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 25, 2013 at 2:08 PM

    According to the post...it´s not possible to say
    "knowing London with Wizard School"...instead we have to say "visiting/sightseeing London with Wizard" ok!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SitzmanMay 25, 2013 at 8:28 PM

    Hi Gerson,

    Thanks for the comment! Yes, basically. People will certainly understand you if you say "know London," but in that context, it's more likely that "know" means to "have information that you learned previously." But since your context sounds more like a tour, I'd say "discover London with Wizard School," or "learn about London with Wizard School."

    Hope that helps. Tell me if you have any more comments.

    As a side note, this version of the blog is not the "new" one, but if you go to www.sitzmanabc.com you can see the current version of Sitzman ABC. Also, check out www.facebook.com/sitzmanabc and "Like" the page to get updates via Facebook.

    Thanks!
    Sitzman

    ReplyDelete
  3. FernandaSeptember 13, 2017 at 6:59 PM

    I can say that I know my city well, can't I?
    Then the idea would be that I know the name of the streets, the things that happen in it, and so on. Wouldn't that be correct?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SitzmanSeptember 13, 2017 at 7:25 PM

      Hi Unknown,

      Yep, you can definitely say that. And like you said, I would assume that you know ABOUT the city. So that's not a problem. The problem that I notice more often is when my students use the word "know" to talk about their first experience in a place. That's an understandable error, since they're translating the Spanish word "conocer," but it sounds weird in English.

      Thanks for the comment!

      Delete

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-Ryan

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