This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 127.
This sounds like perfect Business English vocabulary.
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Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com slash connection Hey, Lindsay, what have you got going on this weekend?
Anything fun? Ooh, yeah. It looks like we're going to drive up to the mountains.
We've rented an Airbnb up there. We're going to bring our dog and do some hiking.
That sounds amazing. Summer in Colorado is like perfect weather.
Getting up into the mountains. I love that.
It might snow in the mountains. What? Yeah.
Okay, take that back. That doesn't sound that perfect.
What about you, Aubrey? What have you got going on this weekend?
Yeah, lots of time by the pool these days.
And I'm playing in a softball tournament Saturday.
So that'll be cool. Very cool. Okay. Are you on a winning team?
Like, do you think you're gonna win? I do have a league that's in the fall.
But right now I'm playing there's just like a tournament every Saturday sort of pickup games where they assign the team.
So it's a different team, different team members every Saturday.
But twice in the last month, we have won the team I've been on.
So maybe I'm the secret weapon. Yeah. You might be.
You might be. I love it. How I answered your question, right?
It looks like weird. That's what we're going to get into today, right, Aubrey?
Yes. We had a great question about the difference between sounds like, looks like, and seems like.
This is so interesting. We use these all the time in business English.
So I'm excited to dive into this today. Yeah, this is going to be great.
But first, guys, do one quick thing. Hit follow right now on this podcast, wherever you listen.
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So hit follow now. Yes. Any podcast I don't follow every now and then I'll realize, oh, Oh, yeah.
I've missed episodes. How did that happen?
Exactly. Like the way it works for me, you know, I have 25 that I follow probably.
And every morning we're like, what do I want to listen to today?
Am I walk with my dog? Like those are my choices, the ones I'm following, not the ones I forgot to follow.
And I forgot that they exist. It's only the ones in my deck.
Exactly. Same. Yeah. Yeah. That's huge. So today's question, who's it from?
Yeah. So this was a question on YouTube from Vinicius Alves.
Do you want to read the question for us?
Yeah. Yes. Hello guys. My name is Vinicius from Brazil.
Your podcast is awesome in capital letters.
I have a question for you. When should I, when to use it sounds like, it looks like, and it seems like.
For example, can I say any of these when I get a written information and I try to get the information across?
Thank you so much. Good question from Vinicius.
Yes. Really interesting question. And not only is this tricky, right?
Sounds like, looks like, seems like, might seem like they're pretty interchangeable.
They are a little different. But I love that, Vinicius, it seems like it clearly works in English.
She's thinking about emails maybe and, okay, when we're writing this, how do I get this information across?
Am I giving the wrong impression depending on which one I use?
And that's what really matters, right? Right.
Yeah, this is a perfect question for today's episode.
It's great. So let's break it down. I'm actually kind of excited to think about this.
So what would be sounds like? When do we use that?
Yeah, so sounds like is an impression that you get based on what you hear or what you are told.
We'll use it sounds like. So for example, sounds like you had a great vacation.
If someone's been sort of telling you some details about their vacation, this would be a perfect response.
Yeah, and this is a key skill for connection because after someone has spent five minutes talking about their vacation, you can sum it up and move on, right?
Yes. By reflecting back what you've heard.
Ah, it sounds like you had an awesome vacation.
Let's get into something else, right? So it's just good to be able to reflect what you hear.
It's a true connection skill. Absolutely.
And a good transition into something else, right?
Whereas if all you know how to do is ask a follow-up question, then it might be sort of like, okay, we were talking way too long about this.
You can get into a lot of trouble. And then before you know it, like you've been talking about the person's vacation for an hour because you don't know how to transition to something else.
Not great. Right. So use this one. Sounds like that was a great trip.
What are you doing next weekend? I love it.
Or the next one, right? According to the update in the meeting, it sounds like everyone is going, everything is going smoothly.
So is this something we hear or more something we read?
What do you think? It usually is something we've heard, right?
So in the meeting, there was some kind of verbal update.
And that would make sense to say like, oh, according to that update, sounds like everything's going smoothly.
This is what we use when it's something we've been told.
Yeah, I think that's a good way to lay it out, right?
Something we've heard or we've been told.
Now, number two looks like, when do we use that?
Yeah. And this is an impression that we get based on what we see usually, but there are some exceptions that we'll go into.
So for example, glancing over these reports, it looks like sales are trending upward.
So that's clearly I've been seeing some information and now I have an impression based on what I saw.
Or it looks like everyone dressed up for the conference.
I'm physically seeing everyone being dressed up.
Maybe they're walking in, right? It looks like everyone dressed up.
That's very straightforward. Exactly. Yep.
We use it this way all the time. But just as a note, the exception is that we also use this idiomatically just to mean, I think.
And this is how we used it at the top of the episode when you responded and said, looks like we're going up to the mountains.
You just mean, I think we're going up to the mountains.
Like we're planning to do this. Right. And I definitely in that case, I would not say it sounds like we're going to the mountains unless someone had told me that.
Right. Exactly. That would be the difference.
If someone has just told you some plans, they say, OK, sounds like we're going to the mountains.
Right. That is different. Whereas we use this idiomatically just to mean looks like the plan is right.
It appears that this is what we're doing.
My impression is this is what is planned.
I love it. Okay, let's get into number three.
Seems like. How's that one different? This one might be more confusing, I think.
This is a little tricky, right? This is an impression that is based on what is likely to happen, based on what is probable, right?
What will probably happen or what is apparent, what is obvious.
So for example, you might say, it seems like her director is frustrated.
And what you're saying is this is apparent, like it's obvious to me based on what I'm seeing or hearing.
I've gotten this impression. It seems like someone is frustrated.
Yeah. And so what's the difference here then?
Let's say like, could we also say it looks like her director is frustrated, Aubrey?
Yeah. If you are seeing visibly some kind of sign, like let's say you see the director in a conference room and the door is closed and you can't hear anything.
I would say that, right? Ooh, it looks like her director is frustrated.
Same meaning, right? But that you're kind of talking about what you're seeing.
So it would be strange if you hear what someone's talking about or you're just hearing about the director, you wouldn't say, looks like her director is frustrated because that means you saw something physically with your own eyes, right?
Right. Or if you're behind, I think you mentioned you're behind a door and you can only hear things you can't see the director sounds like.
Oh, I just heard the director scream. Sounds like.
Exactly. If you've heard something, that's when you say, ooh, sounds like the director's frustrated.
And this would work there too, right? You have been given this impression something is obvious to you.
Ooh, seems like her director is frustrated.
Yes, I love that. That's so interesting.
So guys, you can interchange these. You just need to understand which one to use in the right moment.
Exactly right. Another example is these numbers seem like they're leveling out.
So that could either be that you see numbers on a chart or someone's told you about them, but something has become obvious to you.
So you can just say, okay, seems like these are leveling out.
Okay, and if I wanted to interchange that with looks like, what would have to be happening physically?
Yeah, you would need to have seen them on a graph, on a chart, in a report.
Then you could say, looks like they're leveling out.
But if someone has just reported it to you, like in a meeting, has told you that, you wouldn't say looks like.
You'd either say sounds like, okay, sounds like they're leveling out, or seems like would work.
Seems like. Right. Sounds like because you verbally told me and I heard that and seems like because maybe it's become apparent to me for what in whatever way.
Exactly. This reminds me a little bit of the what is that charades you do like you're the game queen.
So you do like the sounds like. Yes. Right.
Either like maybe point to your ear for sounds like or your eyes or something that looks like something.
I'm not very good at that. But yeah, anyways, game queen here.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. All right, Aubrey, what is next here?
Do we have a special grammar note for our listeners?
Yeah, so this is interesting. All three that we taught you, looks like, sounds like, seems like, are all used before noun phrases.
Every example we gave you was followed by a noun phrase, right?
But if we're using them before adjectives or adverbs, we use them without the word like.
For example, that sounds great. He looks tired.
This seems difficult. We have to remove that like.
So this is just a little bit of an interesting, you have to think of it as a chunk.
Sounds like, seems like, if it's following a noun phrase.
And then if you're just describing something and an adjective follows, remove the like.
Yes. And sounds great is a phrase we use all the time in business, right?
We're replying very quickly to each other in emails.
Yeah, we'll meet on Tuesday for recording.
Sounds great. Or looks great, right? Sounds great.
Looks great. Yep, totally. So again, feels casual, seems casual, but depending on your business environment could be totally acceptable and normal, right?
Yeah. It's really interesting to think about just the little nuances because we don't say seems great.
We say sounds great, looks great, but you wouldn't say seems great. that would be weird why it is a little confusing so if if our listeners if you guys have a follow-up question for today send your question to aubrey at allearsenglish.com and we will definitely follow up on this right absolutely yeah so much is so interesting let's do a role play so we can see how they would sound in a conversation okay so here aubrey we are discussing a candidate that we have just interviewed to join our team so here we go yes she seems like she'd be a good fit for the position I agree.
It sounds like she has a lot of experience and works well with the team.
Looking over her resume, it looks like she's familiar with Atom and UltraEdit.
So that's perfect. Nice. Some kind of software program or something, I guess.
Yeah, those are like coding software. Oh, coding software.
Very good. So we used all three. You first said, she seems like she'd be a good fit.
So this is based, you know, we've had this interview.
We both have this impression. It's obvious to us that she would be a good fit.
So this one's perfect. She seems like she'd be a good fit.
Yeah. And in the examples earlier in the episode, we used a lot of it seems like, but it's totally fine, right?
Again, to put she, any pronoun there, right?
Any person, thing, whatever it is. And it's interesting to think about if you're using these others, if you say, she sounds like.
If it's just an impression, we'd say she seems like.
If you say she sounds like or she looks like, you're either talking about how she sounds, maybe her voice, or what she looks like, how she appears.
So if you want to talk about your impression of someone, you want to use she seems like.
Yeah, it's almost like seems like is the broader kind of- The umbrella one.
The umbrella. And then within that, depending on what sense takes in the information, guys, you could use sounds like or looks like.
Like if someone sent in an audio sample and it was just an audio of their voice-
I would say it sounds like she'd be a great podcaster, right?
Exactly. And that's based on something about their voice, right?
You got it. You got it. So then I said, it sounds like she has a lot of experience.
And this is because we have heard her talking about her experience and that she works well with the team.
So this makes sense to say, okay, sounds like she's got a lot of experience.
Yes. And I think that was it. Just those two.
Yeah. Did I miss one more? Yeah. You said it looks like she's familiar.
And so this is you said looking over her resume.
And that's where we'd use looks like because we're looking at her experience that she has written on a resume.
And so we see that there. Oh, looks like she's familiar with this coding software we need.
Right, right. Exactly. So it's pretty straightforward, guys.
And just remember, the seems like is the more umbrella term.
And it's a little more vague, but use them all.
Interchange them. So good. Yeah, it's interesting.
Just as a takeaway, each of these is used slightly differently.
But again, right? Connection, not perfection here.
Totally. Not something that natives are going to be like freaking out if you use one over the other.
But these tips will help you know when to use all three.
Hopefully it's clarifying a little bit so that you're confident to use them because they will make you sound so native and natural at work.
Natives use these all the time. Oh, my gosh.
Yes, I love it. Try to be as natural and native.
We talk a lot in our business English course about being, you know, semi-formal and having formal, informal and semi-formal English.
This all qualifies as that mixing it in, as we talked about in the last episode.
That's that creates a dynamic personality, someone that people want to do business with.
Yes, for sure. If you only chose the formal options every time and said, it appears that or, you know, there's just more formal options that we don't use as often at work.
And it's sort of creating that wall of formality.
And you want to break that down in order to build those connections.
Right. There's a time and place for it appears that maybe that would be in a very buttoned up presentation or a sales meeting or something.
But most of the time we're talking to colleagues, we're building relationships.
So that's the key. I love it. So good. All right.
All very good stuff. I'll talk to you very soon.
You have a good day. You too. See you next time.
All right. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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