Appearance

Vocabulary notes

Resemble – Remind of

resemble: to be like; to look like; to be similar to; to be of the same appearance.

e.g. The boy resembles his father.

remind of: to bring to the mind; to cause smb to remember.

e.g. He reminds me of his brother (makes me think of his brother as he resembles him).

Beautiful – handsome –pretty

beautiful: giving pleasure or delight to the mind or senses. This word is applied both to the human face or figure and to other objects.

e.g. She was not beautiful, her figure was too small and thin.

handsome: having good proportions; well-formed; good-looking (of a man)

e.g. Jack is a handsome fellow.

pretty: attractive, pleasing, charming, but less than beautiful. It implies delicacy.

e.g. My sister is a very pretty girl.

Face – Countenance

face: the front of the head.

e.g. He was ashamed to show his face.

countenance: the expression of the face.

e.g. I made a countenance as if I would eat him alive.

Thin – Lean – Slender – Slim

thin: having little flesh. It implies weariness or disproportion.

e.g. How thin you have grown! What’s the matter?

lean: The difference between lean and thin is that lean more often than thin suggests a natural state.

e.g. He looked lean but healthy after his summer vacation.

slender: When applied to the human body slender implies a generally attractive and pleasing thinness, delicacy, gracefulness.

e.g. Rebecca resumed her work and the needles were quivering under her white slender fingers.

slim: slender, thin, of small thickness. Slim differs very little from slender. The opposite to slim is stout.

e.g. It was nice to be slim, and yet perhaps his cheeks were too thin.

Rough – Coarse

rough: means not smooth or polished, of uneven or irregular surface.

e.g. The dog gave me a lick with the rough side of his tongue.

His rough manners frightened the children.

coarse: means not refined, not delicate.

e.g. I never heard a coarse word from him.

Both rough and coarse may be applied to the word manners. Coarse manners implies lack of culture, fineness whereas rough manners implies that a person may have fine manners, though at some moments his manners may become not gentle, not smooth.

Stout – Fat

stout: strongly built. Stoutness is more often the natural state of the body.

e.g. Her father is a stout elderly little man.

fat: covered with fat of having a great quantity of fat; well-fed.

e.g. She is a short fat woman with a round good-natured face.

Behaviour – Conduct

behaviour: a way of acting; manners. The word is used when we speak about our manner of acting either in the presence of others or towards others.

e.g. His behaviour towards me shows his hatred for me.

conduct: the actions of a person considered with reference to morality. The word is used when we mean the general character of our actions in more serious events of life, especially when the idea of the moral aspect of the action is important.

e.g. You are old enough to know the rules of conduct.

Sayings and Proverbs to Discuss

Appearances are deceitful.

The face is the index of the mind.

A good face is a letter of recommendation.

A fair face may hide a foul heart.

The hunchback does not see his own hump, but sees his companion’s.

Long hair and short wit.

Better one-eyed than stone-blind.

A little body often harbours a great soul.

Prettiness makes no pottage.

The looking glass is not to blame if your own face is plain. = You must not blame the mirror for showing a crooked face.

First impressions are most lasting.

A good dress is a card of invitation, a good mind is a letter of recommendation.