DESCRIBING PEOPLE

Phase 1: Describing Appearance

Vocabulary

What does he/she look like?

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Age He/She is young / middle-aged / elderly / old.

a baby/ toddler / teenager.
in his/her 20s / 30s …

He/She is 165cm tall.

Height of average / medium height.
tall / very tall / rather tall.
short.
Build
He/She is fat / overweight / plump /chubby
skinny /thin / slim
well-built.
muscular.

Hair/face He/She has (got) black, straight hair.

a round / long / square face.

Clothes He/She is wearing a hat / earrings.

is in black.

Distinguishing Features He/She wears glasses / contacts / braces.

has (got) a tattoo / a piercing.
 2. Description Order

1) General characteristics: age, height, build and gender.

2) Details such as hair and any other distinguishing features, like the eyes or the
nose, a beard, a moustache, glasses, etc.
For example: This girl is quite young, she is in her twenties. She’s very tall and
thin. She has long brown and curly hair and beautiful blue eyes.

More vocabulary:

General beautiful, pretty, handsome, sexy, cute, good-looking

Face Shape square, oval, round, triangular
Skin freckled, fair complexion, tanned, wrinkled, baby-soft, glowing, dry,
rough, dark-skinned,
Eyes almond-shaped, big, small.
Lips thin/full lips
Hair texture wavy, curly, straight, spiky, shaved, neatly-combed,
Lots of hair: thick, bushy
Balding, bald, has receding hairline
Hair Styles : braids, ponytail, pigtail, spiky, permed, dyed, bleached

Facial hair beard, goatee, mustache, sideburns

bearded, unshaven, clean-shaven

Exercises
1. Look at the pictures and describe them using the vocabulary you’ve learnt.
 Phase 2: Describing Character

Vocabulary
1. what are the antonyms of the following words?
1) responsible ----
2) intelligent ---
3) optimistic ---
4) generous ---
5) humorous ---
6) polite ---
7) mature ---
8) hard-working ---
9) outgoing ---
10) reliable ---
9) sweet ---
10) polite ---
9) quiet ---
10) friendly ---

Use the words above to describe yourself, your best friend and someone you dislike.
For example,
My little sister is really sweet.
My friend Maria is very responsible and polite. My mum loves her.
Susan is not only intelligent, but also very hard-working.
Peter is quite shy and quiet, but he’s very friendly.

Practice

My Friend Lara

Let me describe my friend Lara Dang to you. She is twenty-two years old and
she studies English at AMES Surry Hills. She was born in Vietnam.
Lara is slim and very tall – about 180cm. I think she is the tallest of all my
friends. She’s got black straight hair down to her waist and pretty brown eyes. She is
very pretty, in fat; and boys are always asking her out.
Lara has an open personality and is a lot of fun. She is caring and kind and
loves animals. She also enjoys talking to people and sharing good moments with
them.

1. Conversation questions.
1) How old is Lara?
4) What does Lara look like?
5) Is she a nice person?
6) Do you want a friend like Lara? Why?
7) What kind of people do you usually get along well with?

2. Use the passage as a model. Talk about / Write on one of your friends/family
members. You can also add information such as marital status, clothes, abilities and
likes & dislikes.