PHYSICAL APPEREANCE

DESCRIPTION

UNIT 12 - STYLE
By David Buckley
 DESCRIBE THE BODY

The first thing to talk about is the body of the person. That
means you describe two things — the person’s height and their
body shape/size.

In English, we have to be careful about how we talk about

someone’s body. If we use language that is too direct it can be
considered offensive or impolite to some people. It is always a
good idea to take care when describing someone’s body shape or
size
 DESCRIBE HEIGHT
When describing someone’s height there are only three
ways we can do it.
We can either say a person is tall, medium-height or
short.
There are exceptions when someone is very tall so we
would say exactly that: very tall. The same if someone is
very short — although we have to be careful of saying
that to someone’s face. No one wants to be described as
very short.

Here we might say one of the following:

He is not very tall
He is a little on the short side
She is not that tall
She is kind of petite
Petite is a French word that means ‘small’. We use this word
in English to describe a woman, especially a young woman if
she is short and of a small build.
If someone is very tall we might say the following:

He is a giant
He towers over other people
Again be careful when using these terms. We might describe
a man as a giant but only in a very friendly, humorous way.

And we should not use these expressions to describe a very tall

woman. Often a very tall woman is conscious of being too tall and
may not like people to make direct expressions about her height.
So essentially you can say three things to describe someone’s
height:

He is tall
She is medium-height/He is average height
He is short

And the exceptions might be:

He is very tall
She is very short
DESCRIBE BUILD
This is where we have to be careful. In some cultures,
people are very direct when describing other people’s
bodies. Maybe it is acceptable to say that someone is fat
in some countries but in an English-speaking country,
it is not.
Use sensitive and polite terms and you should have no
problems.

Big/Small
The first thing we can say is whether a person is big or
small. We might say “He is a big guy”. This could mean
a man who is tall and very strong. But it could also
mean a man that is overweight.
Using the word ‘big’ is a replacement word for ‘fat’
these days. You might describe someone as fat when
you are describing him to someone else but you should
never say it to their face.
If we describe a woman as big, it usually means she is overweight.
We might describe a man as small. This could mean that he is short but maybe also quite thin.
A small woman may just be short in height.
Fat/Thin
This is where you have to be very careful when describing someone.
Both the words fat and thin can be seen as being a little insensitive if used in the wrong context.
So you need to use these words with great care.
Rather than say he is fat, we can say:
He is a big guy
He is overweight
He is kind of big
If the person is a close friend or family member, we might say:
He is overweight
He needs to lose weight
He is obese
But generally speaking, we should avoid using this word to describe someone.
The same goes for thin. This word can also have a negative meaning. People rarely use it to
describe others as it may imply that they are unhealthy.
Instead, we might say:
She is slim
If you do describe someone as thin, it means they are very thin and possibly unhealthy.
 Muscular

You can use the word muscular to describe

someone who regularly goes to the gym and has
big muscles.
A woman rarely wishes to be referred to as muscular.
Unless she also regularly goes to the gym and works
out with weights.
Ex.
John goes to the gym almost every day, so he is
very muscular. He looks like an iron man!
 Athletic
A person you describe as athletic is someone
who is slim and has very little fat on their body.
You could describe someone who goes running
as athletic.
Do not use the word strong to describe this kind
of person. Fit is more appropriate.

Ex.
He goes running every day, so he has a very
athletic figure. He looks great!
After we talk about someone’s body — and their
height and body shape we can then talk about their
head and face
 DESCRIBE HAIR
Hair can come in many different colours:
 
Brown
Blonde
Red
Grey or White
Many people from Asia or Africa have black hair. It is very simple
to describe.
He has black hair.
But in many other places, people have different coloured hair.
 
Brown Hair
Brown hair is very common.
But we can say the different shades of it:
She has light-brown hair
He has dark-brown hair
Mousy-brown hair is a kind of boring light-brown colour found in
Europe or America. Women might describe their own hair colour as
being mousy-brown. It is a negative comment but one that is seen as a
little joke.
Blonde Hair
Students often describe this colour as ‘golden’. But we
should say blonde.

Red Hair
This is a very rare hair colour, but it does exist.
He has red hair.
Sometimes people might describe someone as a ‘redhead’
— this means someone with red hair.
Do not use the word ‘ginger’ as this is seen as negative.
 
Grey/White Hair
If someone is old or they are just losing their hair colour,
then we can say this:
She has grey hair
His hair is almost white
 .

H
DESCRIBE FACE
 
General Details
After we describe someone’s general appearance in
terms of their body, we then begin to describe their
face.
 
Positive/Negative
We usually refer to whether or not someone is
attractive.
We can describe a man as handsome or good-looking.
A woman we describe as beautiful or good-looking.
Sometimes people use the word beautiful to describe a
man if he has more feminine features.

Ex.
He is a really handsome guy. Many girls look at him in
the street.
She is so beautiful.
People always comment to each other how
attractive she is.
They are both very good-looking. They look
good together.

Sometimes people are ugly but it is rude to say this

to someone’s face.
People might use the following terms instead:

He is not very good-looking

He is not so handsome
He is not blessed with good looks

For someone that is neither good-looking or ugly,

we might say ordinary looking.
 DESCRIBE EYES
After you talk generally about someone’s face and comment
whether they are beautiful, handsome or pretty we can look at
more details about their face. The first thing we usually notice
about someone is their eyes. So that might be the next thing you
describe.

We can use the following phrases to describe someone’s eyes:

She has beautiful eyes
He has deep-set eyes (this is to describe a person who has eyes that
seem to be deeper in their face)
She has big eyes
He has clear eyes
She is doe-eyed (we use this term to describe someone who has big,
child-like eyes. Someone who is doe-eyes often has an innocent look
about them)
He has heavy eyes
She has lidded eyes (This is for someone who has heavy eyelids,
maybe they often look tired)
He has piggy eyes (Be careful when using this term — it means
someone had small eyes. It is largely considered an unattractive look)
 From top to bottom: She has very clear eyes, she has
deep-set eyes, she has big eyes, he is doe-eyed.

Beady-eyed — we use this to talk about someone

who has eyes that make someone look
untrustworthy!

Boss-eyed — if someone has eyes that look like

they are looking at two different things we use this
expression. It is a negative term.

Pop-eyed — to describe someone with prominent

eyes that appear to be popping out of their head!
Nor a positive term.
The colour of the eyes can be blue, green, grey,
black, brown or hazel.
 DESCRIBE NOSE
After describing someone’s eyes we then might talk about their nose.
Noses can be big, long or small.
She has a long nose
He has a big nose
She has a small nose
Sometimes people have a bump in the middle of their nose. In which case we say: He
has a bump in his nose.
 DESCRIBE MOUTH
Then we can talk about someone’s mouth.
Mouths can be big, sexy, beautiful, small or
wide.
We often use the word smile to describe
someone’s mouth because we use our mouth
to smile.

She has a big beautiful smile

 DESCRIBE TEETH
We often just describe someone’s teeth as being very white and beautiful.

She has really beautiful white teeth, she must brush them five times a day.

Or if someone has very bad, unattractive teeth.

He has terrible teeth, all discoloured and they look unhealthy. He should go to
the dentist.
DESCRIBE EARS

Ears can be big or small.

He has big ears
He has very small ears

Or the person’s ears might stick out from their head.

He has sticky-out ears
His ears stick out