Your five words
Read out the five descriptive words you noted from Modern Love. Not what the person did — what they were like.
Then say which of the five you could not have produced yourself, only recognised.
Seven adjectives. Match each to what it actually describes — several of these are commonly used wrongly.
Two people, described
Nuno, on his grandmother
She was a small, round, very determined woman. Not tall — my shoulder, at most. She had short grey hair that she cut herself, badly, with kitchen scissors.
She was generous in a way that was slightly aggressive. If you admired something in her house you left with it, whether you wanted it or not. And she was completely stubborn. I think she changed her mind about three times in eighty years.
She could be difficult, honestly. She did not like my mother much and never really hid it.
Sara, on a colleague
He is a tall, quiet, quite serious man in his forties. Dark hair, going grey at the sides. He always wears the same blue jacket.
He is much more organised than I am, and far more patient. He is also better at saying no, which I envy. He seems shy at first, but it turns out he is just careful — he does not say anything until he has decided what he thinks.
He is not as friendly as some people in the office. But he is more reliable than any of them.
Both texts do the same three things. Answer from the evidence on the page.
1. Find a small, round, very determined woman and a tall, quiet, quite serious man. Where do the adjectives sit?
2. Sara writes much more organised than I am and far more patient. What are much and far doing?
3. She also writes He is not as friendly as some people. What does that structure mean?
4. Nuno writes She could be difficult, honestly and I think she changed her mind three times. Why not just say she was difficult?
Adjectives go in front, and in an order
The order English uses without thinking about it
| Slot | Type | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opinion | lovely · difficult · serious · determined |
| 2 | Size | small · tall · huge |
| 3 | Age | young · old · new |
| 4 | Colour | grey · dark · blue |
| 5 | The noun | woman · man · jacket |
You will never need more than three. A lovely little old grey cat is a grammar-book sentence, not a thing anyone says. Two adjectives is normal; three is a lot.
What matters is the relative order: opinion first, then physical facts, ending with colour. A grey lovely cat is what sounds wrong, and it sounds wrong to a native speaker who has never heard of the rule.
Put the four words in the order English demands, ending with the noun.
Four sentences, four errors, all about where the adjective goes. Rewrite each in full.
1. She is a woman tall.
2. He has hair grey short.
3. It is a jacket blue old.
4. She is a serious quite person.
Build the descriptions
Appearance
Tap each. Note the stress on the two-syllable words — first syllable in almost all of these.
One word per gap. Build the descriptions — adjectives in the right places, in the right order.
My aunt is a , determined woman in her sixties. She has grey hair, which she has cut every three weeks without fail. She is very dressed — I have never seen her in anything scruffy. She is with money and completely about politics: nobody has changed her mind in forty years. She can be , honestly, but she is the most person I know — if she says she will be there at six, she is there at six.
Six adjectives. Match each to the near-synonym that means roughly the same thing but sounds different about the person.
Who is this?
Task card · Speaking · Diagnostic
A photograph of somebody you have never met.
Ninety seconds. What they look like, then what you think they are like, then what makes you think it. Your teacher counts your adjectives.
- Start with appearance — age, build, hair, clothes.
- Then guess at personality, and say what in the photo made you guess it.
- Then swap: your teacher describes a different photo and you ask five questions about the person.
Two decisions.
1. You want to say he is a tall man with dark hair. Which?
2. You think she looks unfriendly. What is the more careful way to say it?
How many did you have
Your teacher counted your distinct adjectives. Answer before you hear the number.
1. How many different adjectives did you use in ninety seconds?
2. How many did you use more than once?
3. Which ran out first — appearance words or personality words?
Before Lesson 2
One question.
1. Which is right?
Informal input, before Lesson 2. One episode of Ted Lasso with English subtitles. Every time a character describes another character, pause and copy the sentence exactly.
Five sentences. Whole sentences, not single adjectives — next lesson we look at how the description is built around them.