とみえる・にみえる vs そう・みたい

Introduction

It seems we have yet another observational grammar point to cover, heh heh... Are you sick of that joke? Me too. >:( Let's just move on.

If you're trembling in fear of the reading time for this lesson, you're not alone! There's a bunch of important stuff to learn here, but as always, feel free to take a break every now and again if you need it. Maru and I are in no rush! (The pizza delivery guy is running late after all.) With that said, let's get to comparing!

The みえる duo: "It looks like..."

First, we'll cover two similar, yet slightly different grammar points: ～とみえる and ～にみえる. It may be tempting to treat these as the same thing and move on, but the subtle difference between them is pretty significant. What's more, we can use an analysis of their differences to deepen our understanding of the と and に particles! Woot! Well, then, shall we start with ～にみえる?