Date； 2006.09.29(Fri)
Scene, Sight
People who are learning English often have questions about similar words. That’s natural. If they ask a native speaker about them, they usually expect to get a definite answer: an answer that clearly shows the difference. That’s natural too. But it’s not always that simple. Take for example the difference between a “scene” and a “sight”.
First, I want to give you a little back ground. I was talking with another teacher, and he told me that one of his students told him in class that he, the student had gone to a park and seen a family having a picnic. There was a mother, a father and two children who were playing happily on Sunday afternoon, The student said, “it was a touching scene.” the teacher correct her, “it was a touching sight.” Naturally the student wanted to know what the difference was, but the teacher had a difficult time explaining it. He said “it was just a feeling,” and then later he asks me which one I would choose. I thought either one was OK. However If I had to choose one, “scene” would be my choice. The reason is the activity, “the children playing”. I think there’s movement, there’s action in scenes. Movies are made up of scenes. “Scene” can also refer to a place, like the scene of crime. But even then, it’s a place where something happened. It’s the place where the crime was committed.
If you take a trip, sightseeing is probably something you do. Here is an example. “They went to London and saw the sights.” They went to places worth seeing. I think that a “sight” is something like a photograph, but that a “scene” is more like a movie picture. I don’t know if this will help you to understand the difference between them, but I wanted to tell you the story about the Teacher so that you know that even we (the Teaches) don’t always agree on how similar words are different.
Keep asking questions even if the answers you get are not always satisfying. Wanting to know will help you to learn. See you next time. Bye!
First, I want to give you a little back ground. I was talking with another teacher, and he told me that one of his students told him in class that he, the student had gone to a park and seen a family having a picnic. There was a mother, a father and two children who were playing happily on Sunday afternoon, The student said, “it was a touching scene.” the teacher correct her, “it was a touching sight.” Naturally the student wanted to know what the difference was, but the teacher had a difficult time explaining it. He said “it was just a feeling,” and then later he asks me which one I would choose. I thought either one was OK. However If I had to choose one, “scene” would be my choice. The reason is the activity, “the children playing”. I think there’s movement, there’s action in scenes. Movies are made up of scenes. “Scene” can also refer to a place, like the scene of crime. But even then, it’s a place where something happened. It’s the place where the crime was committed.
If you take a trip, sightseeing is probably something you do. Here is an example. “They went to London and saw the sights.” They went to places worth seeing. I think that a “sight” is something like a photograph, but that a “scene” is more like a movie picture. I don’t know if this will help you to understand the difference between them, but I wanted to tell you the story about the Teacher so that you know that even we (the Teaches) don’t always agree on how similar words are different.
Keep asking questions even if the answers you get are not always satisfying. Wanting to know will help you to learn. See you next time. Bye!