Look back means to turn round and look behind you, or to think about the past and return to it in your mind. In the sense of remembering, “look back” is followed by “on” or “at”: look back on my student years. “Looking back” at the start of a sentence means “now that I think about the past”: Looking back, I should have chosen a different course.
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look back (= turn to see behind you); look back on/at + period/event; Looking back, + clause
- Halfway up the hill, I looked back and saw the whole town below us.
- Many people look back on their university years as the best time of their lives.
- Looking back, I should have asked my manager for help much earlier.
What changed
First versionMy grandmother often looks back her years in Odessa.
RevisionMy grandmother often looks back on her years in Odessa.
Unlike “remember”, “look back” cannot take the thing you remember directly. It needs “on” or “at” first: “looks back on her years”. Here “on” was added.
“Remember” simply means to keep a fact in your mind or to recall it: I remember his phone number. “Look back on” means to return in your thoughts to a whole period and form a view of it: I look back on those years with a smile.
Your turn
I didn't enjoy my first job, but when I ___ on it now, I see how much it taught me.
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look back — The speaker is thinking back to a past job, so “look back” is right. “Look forward” means to wait for something with pleasure and is about the future; besides, it is followed by “to”, not “on”.
Think of a decision you made a few years ago: a move, a choice of career or a course. Write how you see it now.
When I look back on my move to Kazan five years ago, I see it as the best decision I've ever made.
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