EXERCISES (ADJECTIVE ORDER AND DEGREES OF COMPARISON)
Before doing the exercises, read the following:
Using too many adjectives before a noun is unnatural in English, but if you do need to use several adjectives when describing somebody, follow the following order in your description:
1) height, 2) build, 3) age, 4) hair, 5) eyes, 6) face, 7) complexion, 8) extra features, 9) dress.
When we describe people’s eyes, we normally start with their size, followed by shape and colour:
1) size, 2) shape, 3) colour. Example: She has got big round blue eyes.
When we describe people’s hair, we normally give length first followed by colour and style:
1) length, 2) colour, 3) style. Example: He has got short black curly hair.
When we use common adjectives like ‘short’ and ‘tall’, we can modify them by adding -ish. She is tallish means she is fairly but not very tall. We do this in spoken English.
Exercises (attach the link to your google doc to this page below)
1. Watch the video ADJECTIVES: WORD ORDER and write out the order of adjectives given in the video.
2. Write comparative sentences using the given speech patterns and the words below. (Read ‘Degrees of Comparison’ in the grammar section of the book.)
large, cute, hard, generous, warm-hearted, outspoken
3. Fill the gaps with the words and phrases from the list.
small, shabby, tallish, beard, round, wavy, glasses, brown, friendly-looking
My cousin, Paul, is a 1) … man in his mid-thirties. He is a bit plump and has got long 2)… 3)… hair. He has a 4)… 5)… face and 6)… brown eyes. He has got a little scar on his cheek from an accident he had when he was a child. He wears 7)… and has got a 8)… . He isn’t very smart and tends to wear 9)… clothes.
4. Put the following words into the correct order.
Susan has got brown / large / round / eyes. 2. Klaus has got blue / bright / eyes / small. 3. Mary has eyes green / large. 4. Mariko has / almond-shaped / large / dark brown / eyes. 5. Mary has smooth / long / auburn / hair. 6. She has got golden / frizzy / short / hair. 7. He has got cropped / sticky / blond / hair. 8. Linda has chestnut / shoulder-length / straight / hair.
6. Think of other adjectives that can be modifiedwith -ish and make sentences with the modified adjectives.
7. Read and say what elements are missing from each description.
height build age hair eyes face complexion
1) My sister Jane is a pretty girl of twenty. She is rather tall and thin, and she looks like a teenager. She’s fair-skinned and she’s got dark brown eyes and brown hair. Her face is round. She looks very much like her mother.
2) My grandmother is an elderly person. She is over seventy but she doesn’t look it. She has aged quite well. She’s got grey hair and blue eyes. She is rather stout. She’s got a kind smile.
3) My cousin John is twenty-two. He is a handsome fellow with an oval face, fair hair and grey eyes. He is tall and slim. Girls think a lot of him.
4) My mother is in her early forties. I must say, she looks young for her age. She is not very tall. She has a good figure and beautiful wavy hair. I like her brown eyes, her soft voice and the way she smiles. We are very alike.
8. Watch the video ‘HOW TO DESCRIBE APPEARANCES’ and write out the phrases mentioned in the video.
9. Read through the following descriptions of Janet, Donna, Colin and Robert and complete the table below.
Janet
She’s sophisticated. Well-dressed, expensive hairstyle and so on. I’d say she was in her late thirties or early forties, but she looks younger. She’s about average height and very slim. Her hair’s very blonde, dyed, I think, but I’m not sure about that. It’s always very neat, not long. She’s got pale grey eyes with thin eyebrows. Her face is always sunburned and very well made up. It’s an attractive face … not really beautiful, but very attractive, you know what I mean. High cheekbones, small chin … oh and yes, there’s a beauty spot on her left cheek. She’s a very calm and reliable sort of person, very sociable and always very, very polite.
Donna
Well, she’s quite a lively, talkative person in her… in her late teens. She’s fairly tall with a good figure. She’s got a heart-shaped face with a small, sort of turned-up nose. It’s very attractive really. She’s got long, black wavy hair and blue eyes with very long eyelashes. Her complexion is … well, she’s olive-skinned. Her lips are very full … and she’s got dimples … dimples in her cheeks.
Colin
He’s a very big guy, you know, well-built with very broad shoulders. Not fat, really, really … just well-built. He’s in his early thirties. He’s got a long face with thin lips. Oh, and a small scar on his chin. He’s got very short, fair hair but with long sideburns and a moustache. Eyes … I haven’t really noticed the colour, he wears glasses. He’s got thick eyebrows and a kind of a long, straight nose. He’s fairly reserved, thoughtful, sometimes even moody.
Robert
Robert’s a wonderful person really. He’s elderly but not old … still very lively and amusing. He’s probably in his early seventies. He’s got white hair, receding a bit, and a nail white beard. He’s of medium build, a little overweight perhaps. He’s got very nice, large, brown eyes and he always seems to be smiling … lots of wrinkles round the ayes, laughter lines I think you call them. He’s got a very high, lined forehead which makes him look very intelligent, which he is, of course.
Name Donna Colin Janet Robert
Height late teens
Build good figure
Age fairly tall
Hair colour black
Hair style long, wavy
Eyes heart-shaped, tumed-up nose, full lips
Face blue, long eyelashes
Complexion olive-skinned
Distinguishing features dimples
Dress —-
Personality lively, talkative
B. Now write if any of the descriptions reminds you of somebody you know (write 5-8 sentences).
C. Pick out all the useful expressions. Use them in the sentences of your own (use no fewer than 10 phrases describing appearance in your sentences).
8. Read the paragraph. In this paragraph the reader can not only tell what Mary looks like but also what the author’s attitude about her outer appearance is. Write a similar paragraph describing someone’s appearance in a way that your attitude towards the person (either positive or negative) could be identified.
Mary is as beautiful as a Hollywood star. Her thick, wavy, long black hair gracefully falls down to her shoulders and encircles her diamond-shaped face. A golden suntan usually brings out her smooth, clear complexion and high cheek bones. Her slightly arched chestnut brown eyebrows highlight her emotions by moving up and down as she reacts to the world around her. Her large deep blue eyes, remind me of a lake on a stormy day. Her curved nose gives her a little girl look that makes me want to smile when she talks. And her mouth is a small mouth outlined by puffy lips that she often accentuates with glossy pink lipstick. When she smiles, which is often, her well formed and even, white teeth brighten up her whole face. I guess you can tell that I am head over heals in love with Mary.
10. Using the vocabulary under study and following the rules of the adjective word order, make some lists of adjectives to describe the appearance of
a) a celebrity you’d like to meet;
b) a famous hictorical or literary figure.
11. Write one of the descriptions from the previous exercise in about 100-150 words.