attentive

Klonk the caveman was attentive or paying close attention as he watched Grog show him how to start a fire. Grog told Klonk to be attentive to or focused on the lesson about moving away quickly after the flames started so that he would not get burned. When Klonk tried on his own, he was attentive to or very aware of what was happening in every step he had learned. Once the fire got going, however, he suddenly realized that he should have been more attentive to or watchful about how to put the fire out!

Quiz: Try again! What is happening if you are being attentive to something?

• You are thinking about it and also a number of other things.
• You are keeping your mind on it in order to focus on it.
• You are staying aware of it, taking a break, and then thinking about it again.

• Father was especially attentive to Miss Allison, I noticed; he smiled at me when I very carefully served her wedding cake and hurried away to bring her fresh coffee. — Up a Road Slowly
• He had been listening attentively through all the talk; he had followed back and forth the give-and-take of conversation, the balancing of argument, the gestures, the decisions, even though his eyes had seemed but half open. — The Trumpeter of Krakow