UNIT 5

Describing Job Responsibility and

Physical Appearance

General Objective : To describe nature of jobs and physical appearance

Specific Objectives : To use expressions related to job responsibilities and job
conditions
To use expressions related to physical appearance and feelings
toward it
Grammar Points : Present Tense and Past Tense

A. Expressions that are related to job responsibilities and job conditions:

I’m a secretary/a CEO (chief Executive Officer)

I work part time in a grocery store
I have my own business
I make furniture
I have been a teacher for quite some time (focusing on time spent to do the job)

Common sentence patterns used:

Subject + Be + Complement Subject + Action Verb + (Object)
I am a secretary I make furniture
I teach English

B. Information about company

What does your company do? We produce marketing materials.

What is your specialty?
What do you specialize in? We specialize in art and design.
What is your main line of business?

What are your major products? We produce office machines.

What services do you provide? We design software.
We provide technical support.

Read the text about Joan Henderson and answer the questions below.

Joan Henderson (MBA, Southern Cal, 1986) is a management consultant who spends
most of her time advising corporate and governmental clients on how best to implement
environmental management systems. “Any company that is seriously committed to the
environment should adopt management systems which combine consideration for the
environment with the day-to-day running of the company,” she argues.
She has just completed a project, financed by the Environmental Protection Agency, to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the Pittsburgh area. Before that, her consulting firm
carried out a study for the Endal Corporation of Dallas to assess the economic costs of
reducing CFC emissions from their plants in Texas. Henderson is soon to begin work on a
similar project in California.

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a. What kind of clients do Joan Henderson mainly work with?
b. What does she spend most of her time doing?
c. What was her most recent job?
d. Where is her next project?
e. When did she get her MBA?

C. Specific Conditions refer to jobs :

I travel a lot. I have to wear a uniform.

I deal with clients. I work long hours.
I don’t earn much. I get fringe benefits.
I get good salary. I have to communicate in English.
I work in shifts. I sometimes work out…

D. Feelings toward jobs:

Sometimes I have to deal with nasty people
I like my job very much
I enjoy the travels
I am sometimes tired of doing the same
things at work.
I wish I earned more/I wish I got a better
salary.
There isn’t enough space for us to work in.
There is a good café inside the building.
The people I work with are very helpful.
Questions asked to get the answers
above:
How do you feel about your job?
How do you like your job?
What is it like to be an executive secretary?
Do you like your job?

E. Expressions related to someone’s physical appearance:

He isn’t very tall. He’s less than medium
height.
He has thick fair hair, and intense blue eyes.
He usually wears jeans and rarely shaved.
He always looks smart in his suit.
He wears/doesn’t wear glasses.
He looks younger than his age. He’s
actually in his 40s.
He’s always formally dressed.
He likes to look casual.
He has a big moustache/a beard.

Questions asked to get the answers above:

How does she/he look? What sort of hair has he got?

How is she/he like? What sort of person is she/he?

F. Physical Appearance

❖ Face Shape • Round

• Square • Triangular
• Oval • Heart-shaped

❖ Skin/Face/Complexion (Complexion is the natural appearance and color of the skin,

especially of the face; e.g. Mary has a soft, creamy complexion.
• Freckled: sprinkled or covered with • Rosy: pink-cheeked; fair
light brown spots complexion that glows with a hint of
pink

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 • Ruddy: skin that has a healthy
reddish tint; may have the
appearance of sunburn
• Tanned: skin with a healthy golden-
brown tint
• Wrinkled: full of or covered with
lines or loose folds of skin; often
associated with age
❖ Eyes
General
• Brown-eyed mother, bright-eyed sister,
wide-eyed child
Eye expressions:
• Adj. eyes: piercing, mesmerizing,
sad, sorrowful, tear-filled, gentle,
❖ Mouth/Lips
• Thin lips, full lips, pouting lips,
pursed lips (puckered up, like when
someone is concentrating)
❖ Hair
Texture/Appearance
• wavy, curly, straight, spiky, stiff,
buzzed, shaved, parted, neatly-combed,
tamed, long, short, cropped
Hair Styles
• braids, ponytail, pigtails, bun, twist,
bob, ringlets, flip, bangs, buzz
• layered, feathered, chopped, gelled,
spiked, slicked down
Lots of hair
• thick, full, lustrous, bushy, coarse, wiry
(stiff)
❖ Facial Hair
• Beard, goatee, moustache, sideburns
• Five o’clock shadow: new beard
growth, shadowy in appearance, that
can be seen late in the day on the jaw,
Adjectives order for hair :
Length – type of hair – colour – noun
Example :
long curly brown hair
G. Clothing
• Fabric: denim, twill, wool, cotton,
tweed, polyester, corduroy, fleece,
spandex, leather
• Bottoms: jeans, cargo pants, flat-
front pants, pleated pants, slacks,
• Other skin-related adjectives: pale,
spotless, silky, smooth, creamy,
baby-soft, glowing, paper-thin or
translucent (as with a very old
person); rough, callused, dry
sympathetic, warm, compassionate,
expressive, twinkling, lively, dancing,
laughing
Eye Shape and Size
• Large, small, almond-shaped, round,
slanted, squinty, crinkly
• Laugh, smile, beam, grin, frown,
grimace, scowl
Little hair
• thin, scraggly, fine, baby-fine, wispy,
limp, flat, balding, bald, bald spot,
receding hairline (gradual loss of hair at
the front of the head)
Treated hair
• permed, dyed, bleached, highlighted,
weaved
Hair colors
• black, brunette, brown, chestnut-brown,
honey-blond, blond, golden-blond, ash-
blond, auburn, red, strawberry-blond,
gray, silver, white, salt-and-pepper
chin, or cheek area (also known as
stubble)
• Adjectives: bearded, unshaven, clean-
shaven, trimmed, neatly-trimmed
trousers, overalls, sweatpants, crop
pants, skirt, culottes, shorts, board
shorts
• Tops: sport shirt, dress shirt, polo
shirt, button-down shirt, tank top,
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 blouse, long-sleeve, short-sleeve,
sleeveless, collared, T-shirt,
sweatshirt, pullover, sweater,
cardigan
• Other clothing: dress, uniform,
costume, pajamas, bathrobe, robe,
vest, jacket, blazer, coat, socks,
stockings, gloves, hat, cap, shoes,
boots, slippers, sandals, flip-flops,
heels, pumps

Kim Kautzer and Debbie Oldar (2004)

Adjectives orders for clothes :

To make your description of
clothing and accessories interesting, you
need to be able to "paint a picture with
words". A picture can be painted by a
string of adjectives. The following word
order is recommended for arranging
adjectives before a noun. Other
descriptions may use a different order,
but you will always be safe if you follow
this pattern.

Put OPINIONS before FACTS

For example:
OPINION FACT NOUN
a lovely blue dress
a stylish silk tie
"Lovely" and "stylish" are OPINION adjectives.

FACT adjectives give objective information about size, shape, colour, etc.
If more than two or more FACT adjectives are used, the normal word order follows this
pattern. Other descriptions may use a different order. But you will always be safe if you
follow this pattern.

1 Size a long
2 Shape form-fitting
3 Colour blue
4 Pattern checked
5 Origin Thai
6 Fabric linen
7 Noun gown
Vocabulary study
When we describe people, we usually concentrate on certain characteristics or qualities,
such as these (1-6). Now study this list below. Which of the characteristics or qualities
above (1-6) do you think each word or phrase refers to?

• Attractive • Generous
• Aggressive • Handsome
• Bald • Jealous
• Beautiful • Long
• Casually-dressed • Of medium-height
• Curly • Overweight
• Dark • Pale
• Dyed • Pretty
• Elegant • Reserved
• Fair • Rude
• Friendly • Shabby

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 • Short • Tall
• Shy • Tight-fisted
• Slim • Ugly
• Snobbish • Well-dressed

1. Hair

2. Eyes, face
etc
3. General
appearance
4. Attitude to
others

5. Clothes
6. Body image
and size

Lara Logan (CBS Journalist)- McClung’s Magazine, February 17, 2011 by Emily Shelton

H. Comments on someone’s look:

She looks horrible in those tight jeans.

I hate moustaches and beards.
I can’t stand women with heavy makeup.
I feel disgusted by his look.
I never like fair skinned men.
I’m not used to dealing with funky looks.

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