AULA DE

AUTOAPRENDIZAJE

CURSO ACTIVIDAD SOPORTE FICHA Nº

3º INGLÉS

EXPRESIÓN

ESCRITA

14

DESCRIBING PEOPLE

Read the description of Aunt Emily below. Of all my relatives, I like my Aunt Emily the best. She’s my mother’s youngest sister. She has never married, and she lives alone in a small village near Bath. She’s in her late fifties, but she’s still quite young in spirit. She has a fair complexion, thick brown hair which she wears in a bun, and dark brown eyes. She has a kind face, and when you meet her, the first thing you notice is her lovely, warm smile. Her face is a little wrinkled now, but I think she’s still rather attractive. She is the sort of person you can always go to if you have a problem. She likes reading and gardening, and she goes for long walks over the hills with her dog, Buster. She’s a very active person. Either she’s making something, or mending something, or doing something to help others. She does the shopping for some of the old people in the village. She’s extremely generous, but not very tolerant with people who don’t agree with her. I hope that I am as happy and contented as she is when I’m her age. Go through the text again and underline like this the parts which describe her physical appearance _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _the parts which desribe her character the parts which describe her habits Turn the worksheet over to find out the answers to this activity.

Departamento de Educación y Ciencia

Escuela Oficial de Idiomas nº 2 de Zaragoza

Compositions in which students have to describe someone are fairly common in the English class. The activity above is a good summary of what these kinds of compositions should be like:

• Description of the person’s appearance. • Description of their character. • Description of their habits.

In general, we should allot one paragraph to each of the three main subjects above. However, we should also note the following:

• An introduction, giving some background information about the person –his/her name, age, marital status, occupation, place where he/she lives, relationship with you or when you met him/her- is necessary so as to help the reader understand the person better.

• The person’s appearance may well be supplemented with the clothes he/she usually wears.

• A description of the character will include both positive and negative characteristics. It is also a good idea to illustrate these characteristics with the person’s typical behaviour or with some remarks he/she usually makes.

• As far as habits are concerned, these may comprise both what the person likes and doesn’t like doing , and we should illustrate their habits with examples if we consider it convenient.

• Some kind of conclusion is essential. We can express our feelings towards this person or what our opinion of this person is or whether we would like this person to change.

• This kind of composition may present itself in different ways: Describe your best friend; describe your favourite relative; describe someone you admire; describe someone you don’t like; describe a teacher; describe a famous person. Depending on how well you know this person you may have to omit (or invent!) some of the stages described here and put more emphasis on those you really know.

ASSIGNMENT Write a description of someone in your family. Write about 200 words. KEY Of all my relatives, I like my Aunt Emily the best. She’s my mother’s youngest sister. She has never married, and she lives alone in a small village near Bath. She’s in her late fifties, but she’s still quite young in spirit. She has a fair complexion, thick brown hair which she wears in a bun, and dark brown eyes. She has a kind face, and when you meet her, the first thing you notice is her lovely, warm smile. Her face is a little wrinkled now, but I think she’s still rather attractive. She is the sort of person you can always go to if you have a problem. She likes reading and gardening, and she goes for long walks over the hills with her dog, Buster. She’s a very active person. Either she’s making something, or mending something, or doing something to help others. She does the shopping for some of the old people in the village. She’s extremely generous, but not very tolerant with people who don’t agree with her. I hope that I am as happy and contented as she is when I’m her age. Adapted from New Headway English Course Intermediate, student’s book, p. 23 © O.U.P. This material may only be used for individual study; multiple copying and distribution are prohibited.