[General] Do you see or watch?

[just4me87]

Hello everyone,

Do you "see" a movie or do you "watch" it?

What is the difference, if there is any?

Someone told me that in The Cinema/Theater, you see a movie... you don't watch it!

How accurate is that?

Thanks

 

[TheParser]

Hello everyone,

Do you "see" a movie or do you "watch" it?

What is the difference, if there is any?

Someone told me that in The Cinema/Theater, you see a movie... you don't watch it!

How accurate is that?

Thanks

***NOT A TEACHER***I'm pretty sure everyone here in the States would ask, "Have you SEEN 'Avatar' yet?" You might answer: I certainly have. I SAW it last night. Everyone was WATCHING it with 100% attention. But I got bored and stopped WATCHING it. I took a nap. My friends said they loved it and are going to SEE it again tomorrow.

 

[Offroad]

Hello everyone,

Do you "see" a movie or do you "watch" it?

What is the difference, if there is any?

Someone told me that in The Cinema/Theater, you see a movie... you don't watch it!

How accurate is that?

Thanks

To me, there's no difference in meaning.

 

[just4me87]

***NOT A TEACHER***I'm pretty sure everyone here in the States would ask, "Have you SEEN 'Avatar' yet?" You might answer: I certainly have. I SAW it last night. Everyone was WATCHING it with 100% attention. But I got bored and stopped WATCHING it. I took a nap. My friends said they loved it and are going to SEE it again tomorrow.

So are you saying that both can be used interchangeably?

When I run it through my head, it makes more sense to me when I say:
"I am watching the movie" in lieu of "I am seeing the movie".

 

[rlfwood]

When I run it through my head, it makes more sense to me when I say:
"I am watching the movie" in lieu of "I am seeing the movie".

I agree. "Watching" is the act and "seeing" is the result. If you ask me what I'm doing, I'll say, "I'm watching a movie." But if I want to know if you have ever watched the same movie, I would ask "Have you seen that movie?"

 

[TheParser]

So are you saying that both can be used interchangeably?

When I run it through my head, it makes more sense to me when I say:
"I am watching the movie" in lieu of "I am seeing the movie".

***NOT A TEACHER***I can't put my finger on it, but there is a difference between the two. (1) Hopefully, one of the great teachers at this website will answer you. (2) I just remembered that Michael Swan's PRACTICAL ENGLISH USAGE spends two pages explaining the difference. (3) I have only space to quote these words from Mr. Swan: WATCH is used to talk about experiences that are going on (He got into a fight while he was watching a football match); SEE talks about the whole of a performance (Have you ever seen any of Charlie Chaplin's films?). If you will carefully read my previous post, you may detect this difference. Thank you.