When you see something, you are aware of it through your eyes, or you notice it. We saw black smoke coming from the building. I waved, but nobody saw me. See see 2. 'look at' When you look at something, you direct your eyes towards it. He looked at the food on his plate. ...
Sit by an open window and mum will warn you that you might get a chill. This is as heartfelt as it is deluded, but it is also a polite way of expressing her own anxiety that she might somehow perish here, like a snowman on Venus. Meanwhile out on the molten driveway, salamanders ...