Wednesday 30 December 2015

phrases - draw my attention/ catches my eye/ attracts my attention


Can I use the three phrases in the title interchangeably? For example:



The woman in the tight black dress definitely draws my attention/
catches my eye/ attracts my attention.




One of the most neglected aspects of English and one of the most important is context. Without context they are not interchangeable.



A.
She draws my attention == My attention is drawn to her.



B.
She attracts my attention == My attention is attracted to her.



or



She attracts my attention == She signals to me that she wants to communicate—typically by waving.



C.
She catches my eye == I like the look of her.



or



She catches my eye == She maintains eye contact with me in order to initiate communication.



However



In your comment you add some context: You say, "But what if I say the example sentence to a friend while we are looking at a group of beautiful women at a party. Would the phrases be interchangeable in that particular context?"



In that case you have forced the expressions to mean the same thing so they become interchangeable.



Then you have to ask, are they idiomatic in this context? That depends on a number of factors including your own mode of speaking, how formal the conversation is and whether or not each expression is customarily used in the context of commenting on people's beauty.

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