Magda : Good morning, Mrs. Smiles. It's wet, isn't it? Mrs. Smiles : Yes, it is, isn't it? How are you today? All right? You haven't been studying too hard, have you? You look a bit pale. Magda : I don't, do I? Well, I haven't been out much lately. I don't like this weather a bit. Why, we haven't had a dry day for weeks, have we? Mrs. Smiles : No, I don't think we have. Let's see, you'll be going back home next month, won't you? Magda : Oh no, I'm not going back yet. My sister's coming over first. Mrs. Smiles : Oh, is she? You're looking forward to that, I expect. How long is it since you saw her? Magda : Nearly a year now. Yes, I am looking forward to it very much. Mrs. Smiles : She's coming over here to study? Magda : Yes, that's right. I shan't go back home until she's settled down. I don't think I ought to, ought I? Mrs. Smiles : Well, no, she's younger than you are, is she? Magda : Yes, she's only eighteen. Mrs. Smiles says, "You're looking forward to that." This means, Magda was _____ her sister's arrival.
- (a)expecting with pleasure
- (b)preparing hard for
- (c)thinking greatly about
- (d)watching with joy
Correct — A, 'expecting with pleasure'. To look forward to something is to await it with pleasure, and Magda supplies the pleasure in her own words a moment later — 'Yes, I am looking forward to it very much.'
- (b)preparing hard for — The phrase is about anticipation, not about the work of getting ready for something.
- (c)thinking greatly about — It leaves out the pleasure, which is the heart of the phrase.
- (d)watching with joy — 'Watching' describes something going on now, while the sister has not yet arrived.
'Look forward to' means to await something with pleasure. The 'to' in it is a preposition, so a noun or an -ing form follows it, never a plain verb.
The item is answered twice over — once by the phrase itself and once by Magda's reply, which adds 'very much'. Each wrong choice is a partial reading of the phrase: one keeps only the reference to the future, one keeps only the mental activity, and one keeps only the pleasure while shifting the time to the present.
- 'I look forward to meeting you' is correct; 'I look forward to meet you' is not.
- The phrase is a common formal closing in letters and in email.
- Await, anticipate and expect are its plainer relatives, though only this phrase carries the pleasure built in.
- Choosing an option that keeps the future reference but drops the pleasure.
- Treating the 'to' of 'look forward to' as an infinitive marker.
Asked as a comprehension item on the meaning of a phrase used in the dialogue.
I ________ you to be at the party this evening.
- (a) look forward to
- (b) hope
- (c) expect
- (d) think
Answer(c) expect
The same phrase set as one of the choices in a selecting-words item, where it fails because a noun or an -ing form has to follow it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill the blank — We look forward to ______ from you.
- (a)hear
- (b)hearing
- (c)heard
- (d)have heard
Answer(b) hearing — the 'to' here is a preposition, so an -ing form follows.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'She is looking forward to the holidays' means she is
- (a)dreading them
- (b)awaiting them with pleasure
- (c)watching them
- (d)planning them
Answer(b) awaiting them with pleasure — that is the sense the phrase carries.