Summary of Role Models, Virtues, and Descriptive Language

## Introduction Describing people is a useful skill for everyday conversation, writing, and exams. This guide breaks down how to talk about someone’s appearance and personality clearly and correctly. It includes vocabulary, word order, examples, and practice tips for high school students. > Definition: "Describing people" means giving information about someone’s appearance, distinguishing features, and character so others can form a clear picture of them. ## 1. Basic categories to describe - **General appearance**: age group, overall attractiveness, and impression (e.g., attractive, plain, sporty) - **Height and build**: tall, short, average, slim, stocky, muscular, plump - **Hair**: length, type/style, colour (ordered as Length + Type/Style + Colour) - **Eyes**: size, colour, special features (e.g., big blue eyes, narrow eyes) - **Face features**: freckles, beard, moustache, dimples, beauty spot, pointed chin - **Clothing and accessories**: glasses, jewellery, hat (helps complete a description) - **Personality**: character traits and compound adjectives (e.g., outgoing, laid-back, two-faced) ### Did you know facts Did you know that people tend to remember faces better than names, so including distinctive features makes descriptions easier to picture? ## 2. Height and build - Height: tall, short, average/normal, tallish (quite tall), shortish (quite short) - Build: slim, slender, skinny, stocky, muscular, frail, overweight, beer belly Examples: - He isn’t very slim; he has a beer belly. - She is slender and medium height. ## 3. How to describe hair (order and examples) > Tip: Always put **length** first, then **type/style**, then **colour**. Length: short, shoulder-length, medium length, long Type/Style: straight, wavy, curly, spiky, dyed, plaits, ponytail, bun, dreadlocks Colour: blond (blonde), brown, black, red, fair, grey, white Examples: - She has shoulder-length straight blond hair. - He has short spiky brown hair. - She has long wavy brown hair. She has a ponytail. He wears his hair in a bun. Table: Example combinations | Length | Type/Style | Colour | Example sentence | |---|---|---|---| | Shoulder-length | straight | blond | She has shoulder-length straight blond hair. | | Short | spiky | brown | He has short spiky brown hair. | | Long | wavy | black | She has long wavy black hair. | ## 4. Eyes and face features - Eyes: big, large, small, bright, blue, green, brown, with long eyelashes - Face features (distinguishing): freckles, beard, goatee, beauty spot, dimples, moustache, pointed chin, full lips, turn-up nose Examples: - She has big blue eyes with long eyelashes. - He has a beard and a beauty spot on his chin. ## 5. Personality vocabulary - Single-word traits: outgoing, shy, polite, rude, patient, impatient, friendly, unfriendly, generous, selfish, honest, dishonest, calm, nervous, lively, lazy, hard-working - Compound adjectives (use a hyphen): open-minded, closed-minded, laid-back, hard-working, cool-headed, hot-headed, absent-minded, two-faced, self-conscious > Definition: A compound adjective joins two words with a hyphen to act as one adjective, for example, “laid-back” or “open-minded.” Examples and meanings: - Open-minded: willing to try new things. - Closed-minded: not open to change. - Laid-back: relaxed and calm. - Two-faced: talks badly about others behind their backs. ## 6. Questions to ask when describing someone - What does she look like? - How tall is she? - What is her build? - What colour and style is her hair? - What are her distinguishing features? - What is she like? (personality) ## 7. Putting it all together — sample descriptions 1) Short description: - She is a friendly, medium-height woman with long curly brown hair and big green eyes. She has dimples and often smiles. 2) Longer description: - He is a tall, muscular man in his 40s. He has short spiky black hair, a goatee, and dark eyes. He is hard-working but a little absent-minded; he is also very generous with friends.