10 Describing appearance

A Describing beauty
Your appearance is the way you look, and we sometimes use different words to talk about beauty in
men and women.
WOMEN can be attractive or good-looking [nice to look at], and we often use pretty [attractive] to
describe a girl. We use beautiful or gorgeous for women who are very attractive.
MEN can be attractive and good-looking, but also handsome. If men are very attractive, we can say
they are gorgeous or very good-looking, but not usually beautiful.
Liam has become quite handsome. Bella looks gorgeous in that dress.
Olivia was very pretty when she was younger. They’re a very good-looking couple.
Language help
The opposite of beautiful is ugly, but it is not very polite to describe someone as ugly; ordinary
[not special or different] is more polite. It also isn’t polite to say that someone is fat; overweight is
more polite.

B Size
We can talk about a person’s height [how tall or short they are] and their weight [how heavy they
are], e.g. I’m roughly [about; syn approximately] one metre eighty (tall), and I weigh just under eighty
kilograms. If someone is not tall or short, you can describe them as medium height. If a person is
very similar to most other people in height and weight, you can say they are average.
A: How tall is Hannah? A: Is Marco quite big?
B: Medium height, I’d say. B: No, about average.

C Hair

blonde fair brown dark black

(or blond)
Common mistakes
Remember that ‘hair’ is uncountable,
e.g. She’s got straight hair. (NOT She’s got
straight hairs.)
Also: She’s got long black hair. (NOT She’s
straight wavy curly got a long black hair.)

D Talking about someone’s appearance

A: What does Sophia’s boyfriend look like? [Can you describe his appearance?]
B: He’s blond, and quite good-looking.
A: Is he tall?
B: Er, tallish [quite tall], but he’s got broad shoulders [wide; opp narrow]. He looks very
athletic [strong, healthy and often good at sports]. I think he does a lot of sport.
A: Is he quite smart [clean, tidy and stylish]?
B: Yeah, he dresses quite well [the clothes he wears are quite nice].

Language help
We can use the suffix -ish at the end of some adjectives to mean ‘quite’, e.g. She’s got longish hair,
and at the end of some numbers to mean ‘more or less’, e.g. He’s twentyish.

26 English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and intermediate

 Exercises

10.1 Complete the sentences.

1 She’s got straight hair .
2. Isabella is very good- .
3 Beata’s got blonde .
4 Her brother’s got very broad .
5 That’s a nice suit: Jack’s very today.
6 I would say he was medium .
7 Charlotte’s hair is fair but her brother’s is quite .
10.2 Find six more pairs of words in the box. Why are they pairs?

attractive height average good-looking weight narrow roughly

tall curly approximately medium wavy broad weigh
Attractive and good- looking are similar in meaning.

10.3 Complete the dialogues using words that are similar to the underlined words.
1 A: She’s good-looking.
B: Yes, very attractive .
2 A: María José looked beautiful last night.
B: Yes, absolutely .
3 A: Her boyfriend’s quite good-looking.
B: Yes, he is rather .
4 A: Andreas looks very strong and healthy.
B: Yes, I think he’s very .
5 A: That little girl is attractive, isn’t she?
B: Yes, she’s very .
6 A: Ethan’s getting fat.
B: Yes, he is a bit .
7 A: Did you think he was a bit ugly?
B: Yes, he was quite .
8 A: Is she about 25?
B: Yes, .
9 A: He’s just above average height.
B: Yes, he is , isn’t he?

10.4 Over to you

Answer the questions.
1 How tall are you?
2 What’s your hair like?
3 Think about one of your best friends. What does he/she look like?

English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and intermediate 27

11 Describing character
A What are you like?

1
Describe your character
Choose the number that describes you. For example, in the first line
1 = very positive, 3 = not very positive or negative, 5 = very negative.
1 2 3 4 5
I think I’m very positive2. I’m quite a negative person.
I’m usually reliable3. I’m quite unreliable.
I’m quite confident4. I’m quite shy5.
I’m hard-working6. I’m quite lazy.
I have a good sense of humour7. I’m usually quite serious8.
I’m usually quite patient9. I’m quite impatient.
1 2 3 4 5

1
what you are like as a person
2 believe that good things will happen Common mistakes
3 can be trusted to do what people expect you to do
4
A: What’s he like? (NOT How
feeling sure about yourself and your abilities is he like?)
5
not confident, especially about meeting or talking to new people B: He’s very nice. (NOT He’s
6
putting a lot of effort into your work and spending a lot of time on it like very nice.)
7
the ability to laugh and understand when something is funny
8
a serious person is quiet and doesn’t laugh very much
9
able to stay calm and not get angry, especially when things take a lot of time

B Opposites
positive negative
generous [happy to give more money or help than is usual] mean
honest [an honest person tells the truth] dishonest
clever, intelligent [able to learn and understand things quickly] stupid
calm [relaxed and not worried or frightened] nervous, anxious

Language help
We use kind to describe someone who wants to help people a lot, and nice, friendly
or pleasant for someone who is happy to talk to people. The opposites are unkind,
unfriendly and unpleasant.

C Describing a friend
The first thing I would say about my best friend is that she’s very sensible1. I’ve never
known Emilia to do anything silly2, and I know I can always trust3 her. She’s also very
creative4; shemakesthings,andshe’savery talented5 artist. I wish6 I had her talent.
1 5
practical; doesn’t do stupid things has a natural ability
2 6
not sensible, a bit stupid I would like to have her
3
be sure that she is honest talent but I haven’t got it.
4
good at thinking of new ideas
and using her imagination
28 English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate
 Exercises

11.1 Find five pairs of opposites and put them into the correct columns.

nice mean sensible lazy calm generous

unpleasant hard-working silly nervous

positive negative
nice

11.2 Write the opposites using the correct prefix.

1 un kind 3 pleasant 5 honest
2 friendly 4 patient 6 reliable
11.3 Describe the person in the sentences, in one word.
1 My brother is in the office from 8 am to 6 pm every day. hard-working
2 He has never bought me a drink in ten years.
3 She often promises to do things but sometimes she forgets.
4 My teacher explains things again and never gets angry.
5 Emma finds it difficult to meet people and talk to strangers.
6 Noah is practical and doesn’t do anything stupid.
7 Our teacher is nice, but he’s quiet and he doesn’t laugh a lot.
8 Danya is very relaxed and doesn’t seem to worry about things.
9 My boss is really good at using his imagination to think of new ideas.
10 Ava can play several musical instruments.
11.4 Complete the sentences.
1 My sister can’t wait for anything; she’s so impatient .
2 I get very before exams; I need to try and relax a bit more.
3 I I could paint as well as your brother; he’s so creative.
4 Adeline hasn’t done a thing since she’s been here. Honestly, she’s so .
5 I always have a laugh with my cousin – he’s got a great sense of .
6 My younger sister is able to understand new ideas so quickly; she’s very .
7 If Sarah says she’ll do it, then she’ll do it. I her completely.
8 He’d like to be relaxed and confident, but it’s just not part of his .
9 He failed his exams, but he isn’t . He just didn’t do any work.
10 Aurora helped me bake some cakes last week; she’s very .

11.5 Over to you

Complete the quiz on the opposite page for yourself. From all the words on the opposite
page, which one would you most like to be, and which is the one you would hate to be?
If possible, compare your answers with someone else.

English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate 29