Learning English begins with an introduction to the basics of grammar and basic vocabulary. If with grammar consolidation everything is clear (various exercises are performed), then how is vocabulary fixed? Very simple. The teacher and student communicate on various topics, arrange dialogues on various production situations. One of the topics that is touched upon at the very beginning of teaching English is portraiture - 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 make 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 start the study.
Why 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, undoubtedly, can be useful in the future, especially when the time comes to discuss topics related to diseases and visits to the doctor. Or, perhaps, you will have to not only discuss these topics, but also find yourself in such a situation, who knows?
But why know all the other features of an 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 is often encountered in exam assignments. And examiners will appreciate if this description is interesting, because they hear the same type of stories from year to year. So, for starters, we will draw up a plan for describing the appearance of a person.
What is a plan for?
Why do you need to make a plan?
When the topic of describing a person’s appearance in English is already well understood, a plan will probably not be needed anymore. But in the first stages it will be extremely useful. Firstly, he will help create a certain system so that later, when asked to describe a person, he doesn’t have to get lost: “Where do I start?” Secondly, the plan will be a kind of basis on which thematic vocabulary will then be located, which can be changed for a change. Having well mastered the plan of the story, the students then more easily navigate the description. They have a certain structure, which is then easy to follow when composing the text.
Possible plan option
It is worth noting that this plan is for reference only. In order for the topic to be well understood, it is very useful to draw up your own plan, which will be worked out in detail. So it will be much easier to remember. You can make a description of a person in appearance and character. In this case, it will be more diverse 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 a person is fond of sports, this 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, you can say about clothes and favorite style
- Description of character and personality traits
And now, following this plan, we will try to make a verbal description of the appearance of a person.
Point one
The most important thing to remember when creating a description is that you don’t need to focus on a real person. There is complete freedom of imagination. It is useful to compose a variety of images. Therefore, you can safely come up with. 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 she is a student.
At will, of course, this item can be expanded by indicating the name of the person, or by saying exactly where he / she is studying. But in the example we dwell on this.
Point two
Describing the physique, it would be great to mention any sports hobbies, because they often affect the characteristics 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 lithe.
Ira is very elegant and has a good posture. Her hands are a little thin. She is average in height. Ira is fond of ballet, so she is very flexible.
What words can still be used? About growth we can say tall (high) and short (small). On the legs, we can say that they are long (long), beautiful (beautiful), strong (strong), muscled (muscular), etc. Palms / hands can be delicate (tender), clumsy (clumsy), etc.
At this point, you can even say about the features of gait. Someone has it, maybe flying, while someone limps on one leg.
The following words can be used to describe a gait: awkward (awkward), firm (firm, confident), quick (fast, energetic), slow (slow), walk with a drag (drag your leg when walking), etc.
Point three
If desired, you can mention the color and condition of the skin. This may indicate nationality or what kind of lifestyle a person leads. For example, you can say that someone is very often on the beach, so he has tanned skin.
Or, conversely, someone spends a lot of time indoors, so he has 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 color), pale (pale), rosy (pink), tanned (tanned), etc. For starters, it is best to learn about 6 adjectives with which you can describe the condition of the skin. Over time, vocabulary can be replenished.
Point four
A detailed description can be quite voluminous. Anything can be said here. And about the shape of the face, and about the color of the eyes, and about the shape of the ears / nose / chin - insert the desired one. You can say about a radiant smile, about wrinkles in the corners of the eyes, and a scar on the hand from falling from a bicycle. In general, a detailed description of a person’s appearance has not just been 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 glasz. 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 multi-colored. Ira has expressive eyebrows and long eyelashes. Her chin is pointed. Ira's cheeks are pink (ruddy) and with dimples. She also has full lips. The hair is thick.
This is by far the simplest example. Suggestions can be made more common and more details can be added. To say, for example, about moles or freckles, about jewelry, etc.
What other words can I use? You can describe the forehead. It can be high (high), low (low), furrowed (wrinkled, wrinkled), wide (wide), small (small), etc.
Of course, do not forget about the little things. We can say about crow's feet (the so-called "crow's feet", small wrinkles), scar (scar), mole / with a mole (mole or mole), dimple / with a dimple in the chin (dimples / with a dimple on the chin) etc. With such trifles, the description will look more lively and realistic.
Fifth point
The description of the person’s appearance in English should also include the features of the external image and clothes, since we all dress differently and prefer different styles of clothing.
Examples:
She wears dress shirts, pipestem trousers and jackets.
She wears classic-style shirts, pipe trousers, and cardigans.
You can also mention the style of clothing and the most beloved images. Even jeans are said in completely different ways. For example, we can say that someone wears rinser jeans (dark jeans) or stright / regular fit (straight, classic jeans), etc.
Point six
Since we draw up a description of a person by appearance and character, it should be said about the latter. The description will be much more interesting if we mention the most striking traits of a person’s character. Someone may be sociable, someone 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 remains calm and can solve complex 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 a friend he is, loves communication alone or prefers noisy companies, etc. etc.
What else do you need to know
When compiling a description of a person’s appearance, one should not limit oneself to just a few epithets. In order for the description to be vivid and varied, it is better to learn 5-6 words denoting different signs, so that when speaking about lips, you could say not only that they are full, but also describe their shape, say whether they were painted on or not.
When asked to describe hair, many only say that they are long or short. This option will sound boring too. It will be much more interesting if you say about the color of the hair (blond, dark, light, brown, gray, etc.), about whether they are straight or wavy, or maybe very curly and naughty. Speaking about the skin, we can say what color it is, not limited to simple “light” and “dark”. It can be said that it is radiant or transparent, and maybe pale or olive.
Pay special attention to the description of the appearance of a man. You can say about a mustache, beard or whiskers.
It can be a bristle 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 larger the lexical stock, the more interesting the story will be.
Speaking of shoulders, we can say that they are fragile, or, conversely, massive, bony or wide. In general, making a plan, do not get hung up on the same words. It is better to introduce new ones. Then there will be more chances to make an interesting, atypical story, which teachers or examiners will appreciate. Or it will just sound beautiful.
Character description
Separate attention can be paid to the description of the character. To make the description interesting, it is worth introducing into the speech more epithets indicating the individual qualities of a person. He can be not only sociable and friendly. This is a fairly common description that is used by many who study English. 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 this.
When people say about a person that he is inquisitive, attentive, interested in everything around him, and also wise, much more interesting than just “he is a good person”.
Using common offers
A large role is played by the constructions that are used in the description. For beginners, the option to use to be and have / has got is suitable. Examples:
She has got blue eyes.
She has blue eyes.
She is a wise person.
She is a wise man.
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 focusing only on the essence of each item. 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 physical activity.
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 is such an energetic person, so she really likes physical activity.
She spends a lot of time training, therefore, prefers sportswear.
The second option against the background of the first looks more detailed and detailed. The listener will receive more information from the story, as well as form some idea of ​​the narrator himself. Therefore, if you have been studying English for more than a year, it is better to try to complicate the grammatical constructions that are used in speech a little. At first it can be difficult, but then it will become a habit.
So, we examined how to create a description of a person’s appearance using examples. These examples were simple enough and serve to simply form an idea of ​​how the description is created. To make the description interesting, it is better to treat it as a creative process. You do not have 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 about matching the description and the “original”. Secondly, such a training will help to work out as much vocabulary as possible. Not everyone has acquaintances with whiskers or a twisted mustache, and it would be useful to know the translation of these words. No such friend? You can come up with it.