Techniques For Describing A Person's Appearance

Speaking activities are part of every speaking classes particularly in the IELTS training. Students are given dozens of speaking exercises to practice their composition of responses in very limited time or at no preparation time at all. Also, speaking activities promote the development of one’s confidence in using the English language. The IELTS training for speaking has a great weight of importance for the test.

In the second part of the speaking test, sometimes, candidates are given a task to describe a person. Describing someone is easy if you know what to particularly describe regarding the person. Most of the time, we start describing the person through their appearance. How should we organize a response when we are asked about a person’s appearance?

When describing a person, you can use these following attributes:

• Facial features

Example:

I would like to describe my best friend, Ernie. Ernie has round face. He often looks pale because he is tired from his work. Ernie has short brown hair; it looks like coffee with cream when the sun hits his hair. Ernie has thick eyebrows and small round eyes. His nose is not that high and he has very thin lips. His teeth are pearly white, and he always wear a smile on his face.

• Physique

Example:

My friend Jacque is quite chubby. She was not that chubby when we were younger. Anyway, she has got these chubby arms and legs which I usually pinch to tease her. She stands at 164 cm making her look intimidating. Yet, despite her chubby physique, she can dance pretty well and can move her body with the music pretty well.

• Distinguishing actions

Example:

I have this friend who loves snapping her fingers when she speak. Every time Ellen speaks, you will see her fingers in the air continuously snapping. At first, I found it weird and annoying, but as time went by, it made her special. With her long black hair and the snapping of her fingers, she communicates very well.

• Other characteristics

Example:

Raymond is a friend of mine that I have known for a long time. He is chubby like me, yet what makes him different is that he is very forgetful. There are times that I would have to text him five to ten times a day reminding him of events that he needs to attend.

What makes describing someone even better is choosing the right adjectives in your response. Descriptive adjectives are commonly used to give a clear description to someone or something. Descriptive adjectives can be classified as the following:

Opinion:

kind, pretty, ugly, generous

Size:

tall, short, minute

Shape:

round, rectangular, triangular

Age:

new, young, old, ancient

Color:

red, blue, green, pink, orange, violet

Material:

wooden, wool, silk, satin, plastic, steel, glass

Purpose:

stirring, mixing, cutting

Using adjectives can make your responses clear and more vivid for the interviewer. In IELTS speaking, it is best to choose the right words to describe the appearance of the one you are describing. The detailed your responses are, the better score you get in your speaking test.

I am a proud contributor of Jrooz Review Center Inc., One of the best and affordable review center for IELTS and TOEFL tests in the Philippines (Manila, Makati, Cebu, Baguio, and Davao).