keep an eye on — watch carefully
collocationB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to watch someone or something closely, usually to make sure they are safe or nothing goes wrong.
Say it like a native
Textbook Please maintain visual supervision of the children.
Native Can you keep an eye on the kids?
'Keep an eye on' is the everyday phrase; 'maintain visual supervision' is robotic.
Pattern: keep an eye on + noun/pronoun
In use
- Can you keep an eye on my bag while I go to the restroom?daily life
- During my part-time job at the library, I had to keep an eye on the reading room to make sure everyone followed the rules.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ Can you keep an eye to the bags?
✓ Can you keep an eye on the bags?
It's 'keep an eye ON something', not 'to'.
Common collocations
keep an eye on— on, the kids, things, your bag
Don't confuse it
Different from 'look at,' which just means to see something. 'Keep an eye on' means to watch carefully, often for a reason.