Learning English starts with basic grammar and basic vocabulary. If everything is clear with the consolidation of grammar (various exercises are performed), then how is the vocabulary fixed? Very simple. The teacher and the student communicate on various topics, arrange dialogues on various staged situations. One of the topics that is touched upon at the very beginning of teaching English is a portrait - a description of a person's appearance. What it is? This is a rather difficult task, the purpose of which is a detailed description of the appearance. It is necessary not only to say whether a person is attractive or not, a pleasant person or not, but to describe in detail his external features and outstanding character traits. In addition, to compose such an oral portrait, a sufficiently large vocabulary is needed. This article will provide examples of describing a person's appearance in English with translation. So let's get started.
Why do you need to know the rules for describing a person's appearance
Firstly, when studying this topic, students get acquainted with the names of body parts, which, of course, can be useful in the future,especially when it comes time to discuss topics related to diseases and visits to the doctor. Or maybe you will not only have to discuss these topics, but also find yourself in such a situation, who knows?
But why know all the other features of the artistic description of a person's appearance? Well, at least in order to use this knowledge in exams. After all, this is a classic topic that occurs in exam tasks quite often. And the examiners will appreciate if this description is interesting, because they hear the same type of stories from year to year. So, for starters, let's make a plan for describing a person's appearance.
What a plan is for
Why do you even need to plan?
When the topic of describing a person's appearance in English is already well understood, the plan may no longer be needed. But in the early stages, it will be extremely useful. Firstly, it will help to create a certain system, so that later, when asked to describe a person, you don’t have to get lost: “Where do I start?”. Secondly, the plan will be a kind of basis on which the thematic vocabulary will then be located, which can be changed for a change. Having mastered the plan of the story well, students then find it easier to navigate in the description. They have a certain structure, which is then easy to follow when composing the text.
Possible plan
Note that this plan is for illustration purposes only. In order for the topic to be well understood, it is veryit is useful to draw up your own plan, which will be worked out in detail. This will make it much easier to remember. You can make a description of a person in appearance and character. In this case, it will be more varied and interesting.
- You can say a few words about the person you want to describe (gender, age, occupation, etc.)
- The following is a detailed description of the physique and figure. If the person is into sports, that can also be mentioned.
- You can also mention the color and condition of the skin.
- The following is a more detailed description: face, hair, eye color, scars, etc.
- In the end, we can talk about clothes and favorite style
- Description of character and personality traits
And now, following this plan, let's try to make a verbal description of a person's appearance.
Item one
The most important thing to remember when creating a description is not necessarily to focus on a real person. There is complete freedom of imagination. It is useful to make a variety of images. Therefore, you can safely invent. Let's try to make a description of the appearance of a Russian person.
Ira is my neighbor. She is 20 years old and she is a student.
Ira is my neighbor. She is twenty years old and a student.
If desired, of course, this item can be expanded by indicating the person's last name, or by saying exactly where he / she studies. But in the example, let's stop there.
Second point
When describing the physique, it would be great to mention any sports hobbies, because. they often affect the features of the physical form.
Ira is really slight and she bears herself well. Her arms are a little bit lanky. She is of average height. Ira is keen on ballet that's why she is really life.
Ira is very graceful and has good posture. Her arms are a little thin. She is of medium height. Ira is fond of ballet, so she is very flexible.
What other words can be used? About height, you can say tall (high) and short (small). It can be said about the legs that they are long (long), beautiful (beautiful), strong (strong), muscled (muscular), etc. Palms/hands can be delicate (gentle), clumsy (clumsy), etc.
At this point, you can even talk about the features of gait. For some, it may be flying, and someone limps on one leg.
The following words can be used to describe the gait: awkward (clumsy), firm (firm, confident), quick (fast, energetic), slow (slow), walk with a drag (drag your leg when walking), etc. e.
Third point
If desired, you can mention the color and condition of the skin. This may indicate nationality or the way of life a person leads. For example, you could say that someone goes to the beach a lot, so they have tanned skin.
Or, conversely, someone spends a lot of time indoors, so they have very fair skin.
Her skin is glowing and fair.
Her skin is radiant and fair.
Also, when describing the skin, you can use the following words: olive(olive), pale (pale), rosy (pink), tanned (tanned), etc. It would be best to start by learning about 6 adjectives that can be used to describe the condition of the skin. Over time, vocabulary can be replenished.
Fourth point
Detailed description can be quite voluminous. Here you can say anything. And about the shape of the face, and about the color of the eyes, and about the shape of the ears / nose / chin - insert what you need. You can say about a radiant smile, about wrinkles in the corners of the eyes, and a scar on his arm from a fall from a bicycle. In general, a detailed description of a person's appearance is not just called detailed. You can talk about anything. In fact, this is a portrait-description of a person's appearance.
It allows you to more clearly, as detailed as possible to present the image.
She has got oval face shape. Her eyes are big and glaz. Ira has got well-marked eyebrows and long eyelashes. Her chin is pointed. Ira has got rosy cheeks with dimples. Also she has got full lips. And she's got abundant hair.
She has an oval face shape. Her eyes are large and colorful. Ira has expressive eyebrows and long eyelashes. Her chin is pointed. Ira's cheeks are pink (ruddy) and dimpled. She also has full lips. The hair is thick.
Certainly, this is the simplest example. Offers can be made more general and more detailed. Say things like moles or freckles, jewelry, etc.
What other words can be used? You can describe the forehead. It can be high (high), low(low), furrowed (pitted with wrinkles, furrowed with wrinkles), wide (wide), small (small), etc.
Of course, do not forget about the little things. You can say about crow's feet (the so-called "crow's feet", small wrinkles), scar (scar), mole / with a mole (mole or with a mole), dimple / with a dimple in the chin (dimples / with a dimple on the chin) etc. With such little things, the description will look more alive and realistic.
Item five
A description of a person's appearance in English should also include features of appearance and clothing, since we all dress differently and prefer different styles of clothing.
Examples:
She wears dress shirts, pipestem trousers and jackets.
She wears regular shirts, piping trousers and jackets.
You can also mention the style of clothing and your favorite looks. Even jeans are spoken of in completely different ways. For example, you can say that someone is wearing rinser jeans (dark jeans) or straight/regular fit (straight, classic jeans), etc.
Item six
Since we are describing a person by appearance and character, we should also say about the latter. The description will be much more interesting if we mention the most striking features of a person’s character. Someone can be sociable, someone is thoughtful, another always flies in the clouds or a very romantic nature, etc.
Ira is an optimistic person. She always keeps calm and she can solve difficult problems. Also she is really responsible.
Ira is a very optimistic (cheerful) person. She always keeps calm and can solve difficult problems. She is also really responsible.
It can also be said about whether a person easily finds a common language with strangers, what kind of friend he / she is, likes to communicate alone or prefers noisy companies, etc. etc.
What else you need to know
Compiling a description of a person's appearance, you should not limit yourself to just a few epithets. To make the description vivid and varied, it is better to learn 5-6 words denoting different signs, so that speaking about lips, you can say not only that they are full, but also describe their shape, say whether they are made up or not.
Many people, when asked to describe their hair, only say that it is long or short. This option will also sound quite boring. It will be much more interesting if you say about the color of the hair (light brown, dark, blond, chestnut, gray, etc.), about whether they are straight or wavy, or maybe very curly and naughty. Speaking of skin, you can say what color it is, not limited to simple "light" and "dark". It can be said that it is radiant or transparent, or maybe pale or olive.
Pay special attention to the description of the man's appearance. You can say about the mustache, beard or sideburns.
It can be stubble or a long beard, or maybe it's a curled mustache or a horseshoe mustache. In a word, the choice is simply huge, and the more vocabulary, the more interesting the story will be.
Talkingabout the shoulders, we can say that they are fragile, or, conversely, massive, bony or wide. In general, having made a plan, you should not get hung up on the same words. It is better to introduce new ones. Then there will be more chances to compose an interesting, atypical story that will be appreciated by teachers or examiners. Or it will just sound nice.
Character Description
Separate attention can be paid to the description of the character. To make the description interesting, it is worth introducing more epithets into speech that indicate the individual qualities of a person. He can be not only sociable and friendly. This is a fairly common description used by many English learners. It is better to learn several epithets denoting character traits plus 4-6 synonyms for each of them. Then the description will look more natural and natural, and the examiners will definitely notice it.
When a person is said to be inquisitive, attentive, interested in everything around, and also wise, it is much more interesting than just “he is a good person.”
Using common sentences
The constructions that are used in the description play a big role. For beginners, use to be and have/has got. Examples:
She has got blue eyes.
She has blue eyes.
She is a wise person.
She is a wise person.
Such simple sentences help to learn and work out new vocabulary, as well as remember the plan for constructing a description, without focusing on complex grammar and concentratingonly on the essence of each point. But for a spectacular and impressive story, this may not be enough.
Compare offers:
1. She likes physical activities.
And she wears comfortable clothing.
She loves to be physically active.
And she wears comfortable clothes.
2. She is so spirited person that’s why she is really keen on different physical activities.
She spends much time getting her workout so she prefers wearing sports clothes.
She's such an energetic person, so she really enjoys being physically active.
She spends a lot of time exercising, so she prefers sportswear.
The second version looks more detailed and detailed compared to the first one. The listener will get more information from the story, and also get some idea about the narrator himself. Therefore, if you have been studying English for more than a year, then it is better to try to complicate the grammatical constructions that are used in speech a little. It may be difficult at first, but then it will become a habit.
So, we have figured out how to create a description of a person's appearance using examples. These examples have been fairly simple and just serve to give you an idea of how a description is created. To make the description interesting, it is better to treat it as a creative process. It is not necessary to try to describe your friend or relative. You can come up with a variety of and unexpected images. Firstly, it will greatly facilitate the task. No need to worry aboutaccordance with the description and the "original". Secondly, such training will help to work out as much vocabulary as possible. Not everyone has friends with sideburns or curled mustaches, and it would be useful to know the translation of these words. There is no such acquaintance? You can invent it.
