I. Synonyms of the words usually confused by students Beautiful – Handsome – Pretty

Beautiful – giving pleasure or delight to the mind or senses. Beautiful is applied both to the human face or figure and to other objects.

f.e. She is not beautiful; her figure is too small and thin.

Handsome – having good proportions, well-formed; good-looking (of a man); having the kind of beauty that is associated with strength and dignity rather than with feminine charm (of a woman).

f.e. He is a handsome fellow of twenty-five.

Pretty – attractive, pleasing, charming, but less than beautiful. It implies delicacy. So a tall woman with masculine features cannot be pretty.

f.e. She is a pretty girl.

Note: Of all the synonyms beautiful is the strongest. Handsomeness and prettiness are to beauty as parts to a whole.

Face – Countenance - Complexion

Face – the front of the head.

f.e. The eyes, nose and the mouth are the parts of the face. Her round face was beaming with happiness.

Countenance – the expression or the appearance of the face.

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

Complexion – the natural colour and appearance of the skin, esp. the colour of the face.

f.e. a good / bad, dark / fair complexion

Thin – Lean – Slender – Slim

Thin – having little flesh; it implies weariness and disproportion

f.e. – She is rather thin in the face.

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

Lean – (of persons and animals) thin, not fat. The difference between thin and lean is that lean more often than thin suggests a natural state.

f.e. He looked lean but healthy after his summer vacations.

Slender – thin. When applied to the human body, slender implies a generally attractive and pleasing thinness, delicacy, gracefulness (and usually good proportions).

f.e. Rebecca resumed her work, and the green silk and the shining

II. Describing people

1. Physical appearance

The following words can be used to describe people. Write each word in the correct box. To help you there are some words already in the boxes.

above average height attractive below average height dark-haired dark-skinned fair-haired going bald good-looking	has a moustache in his/her early 20es in his/her mid thirties in his/her mid to late sixties just turned fifty plump pretty quite old	quite tall quite young shoulder length skinny straight muscular of medium build	swept back tanned thick, black with a fringe with a parting handsome has a beard
Age about 30 elderly old young
Height about 160 cm short of average height tall
Figure / Build has a good figure slim well-built fat
Hair curly long short grey wavy
Other words wears glasses well-dressed wearing (describe clothes)