HOW TO DESCRIBE A PICTURE

 

 

POSITION LANGUAGE

 

 

 

 Remember you should include information about...

• The location, what the place or scenery is like.
• What the people are doing; talk about the people's appearance, emotional states, clothes and relationships.
• Speculate about the scene to add further details to your description (what has happened? what is the weather like? what do you think will happen next?)

USEFUL LANGUAGE

• This picture shows...
• I can´t quite make it out but perhaps...
• They seem to be + ing (holding a party)
• They might be + ing (celebrating something)
• It might depict a scene of...
• I guess it is...
• It looks as if/though + sentence (it was going to rain)
• He looks + adjective/adverb/age (exhausted)
• He looks like + noun/pronoun (his father)
• I don't know the word for it but its a sort of.../like a.../used to

Listen to a man describing the picture and try to answer the following questions:

1. What are the people in the photo doing?
2. How do we know they are in France?
3. What is there on the bridge?
4. What do those people do?
5. What is the man at the bottom left doing?
6. What is the woman on the boat doing?
7. Where are the people on the boat going? why?
8. Why didn´t people like the picture?
9. What did the artist achieve with it?

 

Physical Description

Hair

He is going bald /bɔːld/. His hair is receding. He has got a receding hairline.
She wears her hair in a ponytail. She has got a ponytail.
He has got a beard/a moustache/ a goatee/some stubble/ dreadlocks/ sideburns
He has got cropped hair
He has got a crew cut
She wears her hair in a plait /plæt/ /a braid /breɪd// a French plait/a French braid/pigtails/ a bun/cornrows
She has got a plait/braid/ a French plait/a French braid/pigtails/ a bun/cornrows
She has got layered/ permed hair. Her hair is permed/layered
She wears her hair in a bob.
She has got ginger hair (ginger: a light brownish-orange colour)
She has got curly/ straight/ wavy/ thick/ thin /dyed hair
He has got greasy, unkempt hair. (Unkempt: /ˌʌnˈkempt/ not well cared for; not neat or tidy)
She has got a fringe
She has highlights in her hair

Height and Weight

He is rather tall/ fairly short/medium height.
He is quite plump/stout/ slim/skinny/bony/wiry/strong/hefty
Plump: having a soft, round body; slightly fat. E.g. a short, plump woman. A plump face.
Stout: /staʊt/  rather fat, plump.
Bony: /ˈbəʊni/ very thin so that the bones can be seen under the skin. E.g. a bony hand. a tall bony man.
Wiry: /ˈwaɪəri/ thin but strong. Sinewy /ˈsɪnjuːi/ E.g. a wiry little man.
Hefty: big and heavy. E.g. Her brothers were both hefty men in their forties.
 
Clothes

 

 

He is wearing a pair of polka-dot pyjamas
He is wearing a striped /straɪpt// check(ed) shirt
He is wearing a pinstriped suit/ a business suit/ a two-piece suit/a three-piece suit (with waistcoat/vest)
Pinstriped:

He is wearing a jogging suit/ tracksuit/ a sweatsuit/ a sweatshirt/ sweatpants
He is wearing a baggy/loose/tight/ a tight-fitting T-shirt
She is wearing high-heeled shoes/ flat shoes/ high heels

 

He is wearing trainers/ wellingtons/ lace-ups/ loafers/ slippers/ flip-flops/cowboy boots
He looks a little scruffy. He is wearing a scruffy pair of jeans.
Scruffy: /ˈskrʌfi/ dirty or untidy. Shabby.
She is wearing shabby old jeans and a T-shirt.
A wrinkled suit. The suit has wrinkles.
Unkempt: not well cared for; not neat or tidy
He looked tired and dishevelled /dɪˈʃevld/ (very untidy)
She is wearing a sober /ˈsəʊbə(r)//bright dress
A bleached/stonewashed pair of jeans.
Bleach: to become white or pale.
Stonewashed: washed in a special way so that the cloth loses some colour and looks older

He is wearing a polo neck/turtleneck/ V-neck/ crew neck sweater
A polo shirt
He is wearing tapering/ tapered/flared jeans
Taper: /ˈteɪpə(r)/ to become gradually narrower
Flared: /fleəd/ wider at the bottom 
Swimsuit (also swimming costume /bathing suit) (worn by women)
Trunks/ swimming trunks (worn by men)
A short-sleeved shirt/ a long-sleeved shirt
a dress with short / long sleeves. He rolled up his sleeves
To judge from the clothes he is wearing…