seem

1、seem 和 same（同一个）是远亲，原义"合得上、相称"：两件事看着对得上，就是"看起来像"。它那份"得体"的老意思还活在 seemly（合乎礼仪的）里。
2、句型只有两种：seem + to do（He seems to know. 他好像知道）、It seems that…（好像…）。别说 seem me happy，也别写被动 It is seemed。后接形容词：You seem tired. 你看上去累了。
3、三个"看上去"：look 看外表（look like his father）、appear 给人表面印象（较正式）、seem 带自己判断的味道。拼写 seem 里两个 e，别写成 seams（seam 是接缝，多个 s 意思差远）。读 /siːm/，和 steam（蒸汽）只差开头。

seem 看来，似乎，好像

来自中古英语 semen,使合适，使匹配，使合乎举止，来自 Proto-Germanic*somiz,合适的，标 致的，来自 PIE*sem,一，整体，词源同 same,assemble.引申词义外表，表面，后词义抽象化 为看来，似乎，好像等。原词义见 seemly,得体的，合乎礼仪的。

seem

seem: [12] Originally, seem meant ‘be suitable’ (a meaning preserved in the derived seemly [13]). It was borrowed from the Old Norse verb soema ‘conform to, honour’. This was derived from the adjective soemr ‘fitting’, a descendant of the prehistoric base *sōm- (to which English same is distantly related). The sense ‘appear to be’ emerged in the early 13th century.
=> same, seemly, soft

seem (v.)

c. 1200, "to appear to be;" c. 1300, "to be fitting, be appropriate, be suitable," though the more recent sense in English is the etymological one; from Old Norse soema "to honor; to put up with; to conform to (the world, etc.)," verb derived from adjective soemr "fitting," from Proto-Germanic *somi- (cognates: Old English som "agreement, reconciliation," seman "to conciliate," source of Middle English semen "to settle a dispute," literally "to make one;" Old Danish some "to be proper or seemly"), from PIE *som-i-, from root *sem- "one, as one" (see same). Related: Seemed; seeming.

1. Victorian houses can seem cold with their lofty ceilings and rambling rooms.

维多利亚式房屋屋顶高耸，房间布局凌乱，因此可能会显得较为阴冷。

2. I seem to fritter my time away at coffee mornings.

我似乎把时间全都浪费在咖啡早茶会上了。

3. He rubbed and rubbed but couldn't seem to get clean.

他擦了又擦，可就是擦不干净。

4. The idea of spending two weeks with him may seem heavenly.

和他一起度过两周的想法听起来似乎十分美好。

5. T-shirts now seem almost de rigueur in the West End.

T恤衫现在几乎成了伦敦西区时尚人士的必备之物。

【look, appear, seem】
look: 指从外表上看, look like his father
appear: 指给人以表面的印象 appear wise,
seem: 指内心的判断,