I have a question about the difference in meaning between "look outside at" and "look outside to". Suppose Mike is sitting in the inside of a cafe. The cafe has a glass store front so people inside could outside. Also, the cafe store front faces a parking lot. Suppose the Mike seated in the cafe:
- Mike looked out at the parking lot.
- Mike looked out to the parking lot.
Sentences similar to 1 & 2 could be found on the web. How are "looked out at" and "looked out to" interpret differently?
Best Answer
"To look at [some thing]" means to specifically pay attention to that thing.
"To look to [some thing]" has various meanings, but in this context it means to look in the direction of that thing.
So if I say I'm looking at the parking lot, I mean that the parking lot itself is my focus. However if I just look to the parking lot, I'm just looking over toward that area with no special focus.
Similarly:
As a side note, to look to a person has a different meaning, "to hope or expect to get help, advice, etc. from someone":
Edit: In a recent comment I wrote:
I used to rather than at, partly because I was still thinking about this question, but also to imply that the statistics aren't the only thing the traders look at -- they look at the statistics and other related data.