Descriptions of People - Appearance

This lesson focuses on vocabulary used to describe people's physical appearance and presentation. You'll learn common adjectives and collocations for hair, body type, facial hair, skin tone, and clothing — useful for professional descriptions in emails, CVs, interviews, and workplace conversations.

• Learn adjectives for physical features (hair, eyes, height, build).
• Learn words for clothing and overall presentation (well-groomed, smartly dressed).
• Practice common collocations (long curly hair, athletic build, business attire).

Key patterns you will use often:

• Use 'have' + noun for features: have + hair / beard / eyes — She has blue eyes.
• Use 'be' + adjective for general descriptions: He is tall, She is slim.
• Use adjective + noun collocations for hair/body: long curly hair, athletic build.
• Use adverb + adjective for clothing/presentation: smartly dressed, well-groomed.

For hair and facial features use 'have'. For overall presentation use 'be' or adverb + adjective.

Watch out for these universal errors:

• Using wrong verb with body parts: use 'have' for hair/eyes/beard, not 'be' (incorrect: 'He is blue eyes').
• Incorrect adjective order in collocations — prefer logical order (length before texture: 'long curly hair').
• Confusing dress words: 'well-groomed' and 'smartly dressed' are formal; 'casual' or 'messy' are informal or negative.
• Using comparative structures incorrectly: use 'taller than' not 'taller then'.
• Turning adjectives into nouns incorrectly (avoid 'a tall' — you need 'a tall man').

Focus on verb choice (have/be), adjective order, and register when describing appearance.