seems to be vs seems | WordReference Forums

Most of the times there is no difference in meaning between seem to be and seem, but seem to be is preferred when we mean something that appears ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. seemstobevsseems Threadstarter monster123 Startdate Jun3,2017 M monster123 SeniorMember St.Petersburg,RU Russian Hieveryone, Iwouldliketoaskaboutthedifference(ifitis)betweenthefollowingsentences: e.g Heseemstobehappy. Heseemshappy. AsIunderstand,"Heseemstobehappy"isthesameas"Itseemsheishappy",whereas"Heseemshappy"iscloseto"Heis/lookshappy". Havingmadesomeresearch,Igotambiguousresults: 1.Thesentencesareinterchangeable; 2.Thefirstismentioninganobjectivefact,whilethesecond,mysubjectiveidea. Please,yourthoughts.   B Barque Banned Tamil Withoutfurthercontext, monster123said: Heseemstobehappy. Clicktoexpand... I'dunderstandthisas:Heseemstobehappyingeneral.Onthe,heseemsfairlyhappy. and monster123said: Heseemshappy. Clicktoexpand... thisas:Helookshappyatthemoment.Atthismoment,heseemstobehappy.Howeverthiscouldalsomeanthesameasthefirst.   Lasteditedbyamoderator:Jun9,2017 dojibear SeniorMember FresnoCA USEnglish Thesentencesmeanthesame.Sincemeaningisnotprecise,thereissomerangeofmeaningsforbothsentences. Itispossiblethatinsomesentences(somecontexts)thetwosentenceshavedifferentmeanings.Butmorelikely,thedifferenceworkstheotherway:toexpressonespecificmeaning,peopleuseonesentencemorethantheother.   M monster123 SeniorMember St.Petersburg,RU Russian Unfortunately,thesubjectisstillnotclear. Whatdoes"tobe"addtothesentence? Orarethesedifferentstylestosaythesame?Ifso,whichoneismorecommon?   dojibear SeniorMember FresnoCA USEnglish monster123said: Orarethesedifferentstylestosaythesame?Ifso,whichoneismorecommon? Clicktoexpand... "Seems"isastativeverb-averbusedwithameaninglike"tobe".So: "Heseemshappy"means"heishappy(Ithink)". "Heseemstobehappy"meansthesamething. "Helookshappy"meansthesame,usinganotherstativeverb. "Heishappy"meansthesame(butimplies"Iamsure"insteadof"Ithink"). Allofthesearecommon.Noneis"morecommon".   M monster123 SeniorMember St.Petersburg,RU Russian Itremainsonlytofindoutwhat"tobe"addstothesentence.   dojibear SeniorMember FresnoCA USEnglish Whymustit"add"something?Thereareoftenseveralwaystosaythesamething.Englishwasnotdesignedorplanned.   M monster123 SeniorMember St.Petersburg,RU Russian Iagreewithyouabout"severalways",buttheyhavetobeexactly"ways". Imycase: "Heseemshappy"and"Heseemstobehappy"meanthesamething. Theonlydifferencebetweensentencesis"tobe",andturnsoutthatthis"tobe"isjustredundant. Sowhatisthesenseofaddingthis"tobe"tothesentence? Iassumed"Heseemstobehappy"-->>"Itseemsheishappy"likeintheexample: e.g. Heisbelievedtoberesponsible.-->>Itisbelievedheisresponsible. ButIdidn'treceiveanyconfirmationofit. Inaddition,Ilookedthroughotherresourcesandfoundonly"littleornodifference",whichiswhyIaskedmyquestion.   V Vovan SeniorMember Russian monster123said: Inaddition,Ilookedthroughotherresourcesandfoundonly"littleornodifference",whichiswhyIaskedmyquestion Clicktoexpand... Here'sonepossibleexplanationfromStackexchange: Mostofthetimesthereisnodifferenceinmeaningbetweenseemtobeandseem,butseemtobeispreferredwhenwemeansomethingthatappearstobedefinitelytrue(objectivefacts).Ontheotherhandseemwithouttobeispreferredwhenit'sbasedonpersonalfeeling(subjectiveimpression). Forexample- Thedoctorshavedoneallthetests,andhedefinitelyseemstobeinsane. Itseemsinsane,butIthinkI'minlovewiththepostman.[NOTItseemstobeinsane] Whenis"seemstobe"usedinsteadof"seems"? Clicktoexpand...   M monster123 SeniorMember St.Petersburg,RU Russian Yes,Isawthis.   V Vovan SeniorMember Russian monster123 In"AdvancedGrammarinUse"byMartinHewings,theauthorsaysmoreorlessthesame: Seem(tobe) Beforeanounweincludetobewhenthenountellsuswhatthesubjectis,butoftenleaveitoutwhenwegiveouropinionofthepersonorthinginthesubject. Hewalkedintowhatseemedtobeacave. Sheseems(tobe)averyefficientsalesperson.​ Clicktoexpand...   Lastedited:Jun8,2017 Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top