Look for means to try to find a person or thing: I'm looking for my keys. Its second meaning is to want to see certain qualities in someone or something: What do employers look for in a CV?
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look for + person/thing; be looking for + job/flat/answer; search + place + for + thing
- I'm looking for a flat near the university, but rents are really high this year.
- Excuse me, I'm looking for the platform for trains to Oxford.
- Most employers look for people who can work well in a team.
What changed
First versionI've been looking my keys all morning.
RevisionI've been looking for my keys all morning.
For is easy to drop, but look on its own only means to direct your eyes somewhere, and it cannot take an object such as my keys. Searching needs look for, so the correction adds only for.
Look for is the process; find is the result: I looked for my wallet, but I didn't find it. So when something is missing, say I can't find my phone, not I can't look for my phone. Search usually takes the place you look in: She searched her bag for her phone, meaning she went through her bag to find it.
Your turn
I've ___ my passport everywhere, but it's still missing.
Show the answer
looked for — Searched without a preposition is followed by the place you go through: searched my bag, searched the flat. Here the passport is not a place being searched but the thing you want to find, so looked for is needed. Searched for my passport would also be correct, but that option has no for.
Write about something you are looking for now or looked for recently: a job, a flat, a present. Say exactly what you are looking for and give one main requirement.
I'm looking for a part-time job that I can do in the evenings after my classes.
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