Correctly describing appearance is far from an easy matter. Everything needs to be taken into account here anatomical features, step by step characterize each part of the body. Similar practices are often used in psychology, but the topic of creating a correct verbal portrait of a person is touched upon more deeply in criminology, where it is especially important.

Regardless of the type of activity, everyone should have basic skills in describing appearance. In order to master this as quickly and easily as possible, we offer step-by-step instructions.

Basic signs

First of all, you need to identify the initial signs. These include:

• Gender: male or female;
• Age. If you do not know the exact age, indicate it approximately within some range.
• Nationality. It can be determined visually. Thus, you need to indicate who you look like: European, Caucasian, Chinese, African, etc.;
• Height. To visually determine the approximate height, you need to compare it with the one standing next to you, whose parameters you know. According to the male classification, height up to 167 cm is considered low, height up to 175 cm is considered average, and height is correspondingly higher than this value. For women, these figures are 5 cm less each.

Body Features

The main types of human figure are considered to be thin, athletic, dense and obese. It is also necessary to pay attention to the presence of features in the form of humps, a curved spine, uneven shoulders, and so on.

Head size is also important. Compared with general view physique, the head can be small or large.

Facial features

Perhaps our face has the main distinguishing features.

It is its features that make us unique and inimitable. Therefore, it is extremely important to carefully describe all the details.

The first thing you need to determine is your face shape. It can be round, oval, rectangular, square and triangular. Next, skin color is described: pale, dark, red, yellow. It is also necessary to take into account some distinctive features, such as dimples, wrinkles, problem skin (acne and pimples), pigmentation and birthmarks, and so on.

• Brows. They are classified by length, thickness and density. Depending on their shape, they can be straight, arched or tortuous. As for women's eyebrows, they can be characterized as colored or tattooed.
• Eyes. It can be described in several ways at once. First of all, in shape, color (blue, green, gray, brown), cut and fit (low, protruding) and some other features (oblique, with a cataract, multi-colored, and so on).
• Nose. Features are determined by the width, profile shape (humped, straight, upturned, snub-nosed).
• Lips. It is necessary to accurately note their thickness, the position of the upper and lower lips, its height and elevation.
• Ears. Based on the size and shape of the auricle, they can be divided into round, oval and triangular. According to the position of the ears, they can be vertical or oblique. The degree of protrusion of the ears can be upper, lower or general.

Hair and hairstyle

There are many parameters by which they can be classified.

• First of all, it is the color (light, red, light brown, dark, etc.).
• They can be divided into medium, short and long, and according to density and shape - straight, wavy, curly.
• Women's ones have several more features: dyed, natural, the type of haircut and hairstyle is also taken into account.
• Possible mustaches, beards and sideburns in men are described in the same way.

We meet every day different people: kind, sad, strange, tall, obese, beautiful, cheerful... Every person with whom we have some kind of communication leaves a certain mark on our psyche. These "traces" are not complete without a verbal description of the subject's appearance. In our mind or in a conversation with a friend, we always rely on aspects of describing a person's appearance.

Description of a person's appearance: purpose

There are sciences that study the appearance of people, such as psychology, philology, criminology and some others. Doctors also encounter elements of appearance description when studying the patient’s medical history or psychotype. You cannot do without this process in business, especially show business. In modeling agencies, the appearance of a girl or guy plays a key role, therefore, when meeting the desired model in absentia, the investor or director first gets acquainted with the verbal portrait of the subject.

Describing appearance in everyday life broadens one’s horizons and contributes to the formation of people’s taste and appreciation. In addition, the interlocutor can easily form an image of the described person in his mind using certain adjectives.

In psychology, the description of appearance is also important. Entire theories of personality and its behavior are built on the external appearance of individuals. For example, Kretschmer's theory directly links a person's temperament, character and orientation with his physique. And he was not the only one who noted a certain relationship between external data and the internal mood of people. Over the years, our emotions and stress leave their mark on our appearance in the form of wrinkles, gait, and gestures.

There is a huge section in jurisprudence called criminology. This science also uses the scientific description of a person's appearance, defining criteria and rules for this process. Here, description is also an important process, since victims and witnesses remember criminals based on external data. In this science, attention is paid to every element of the face, torso, and limbs of a person. Along with this, they pay attention to clothing and other signs when looking for a missing person.

Types of appearance descriptions

There are many types of theories and rules that make it possible to describe a person externally as accurately as possible. But this process as a whole can be divided into two main types:

• arbitrary- which is characterized by the use of ordinary folk words, is not structured, so important points may be missed;
• systematized- used in scientific or special terms, compiled using the verbal portrait method.

What are the anatomical features of a person?

Describing a person's appearance is what many people encounter when communicating. There are times when you need to talk about a particular person, describing his appearance. School-age children may also encounter this, for example, if they were given the task of writing an essay: “Description of a person’s appearance.”

Anatomical features of a person include organs and parts of the body, such as the head, chin, forehead, face or torso.

Anatomical characteristics can be used to determine a person’s gender, age, height and build. You can also determine the anthropological features of a person’s appearance, the structure of his body and head, and also the element of his face. Since the face is considered a “cover” that characterizes a person’s appearance, special attention is paid to it.

What characteristics belong to the functional description?

A description of a person’s appearance cannot occur without determining his functional characteristics. The latter appear during human life. They characterize motor and physiological functions. A functional description of a person’s appearance reflects the characteristics of the manifestation of his life activity. Characteristics related to functional traits include posture, gestures, facial expressions, gait, and speech.

When creating a verbal portrait of a person, describing his appearance and determining his functional characteristics, first of all, many pay attention to posture. It can be traced by the position of the head - its relationship to the body. Posture is also determined by the position of the torso relative to the vertical. To characterize her, we can use the following adjectives: hunched, stooped, loose, straight and loose. For example, hands can be placed along the body, on the hips, behind the back or in pockets. And the head can be thrown back, tilted forward, or tilted to one side.

When a student writes a thematic essay: “Description of a person’s appearance,” he can use adjectives to characterize the gait of this person. It can be, for example, slow, shuffling, heavy, bouncing, wobbling, fast, mincing, waddling and waving its arms.

The verbal description of a person’s appearance based on functional characteristics can be continued for a long time, because, as mentioned above, this includes gestures, facial expressions, as well as speech functions.

Methods of verbal portrait

A verbal portrait is a forensic method of describing a person’s appearance using special terms. This method is carried out by a certain system for the purpose of criminal registration (for example, search and identification of living people or corpses).

Verbal portrait methods are used to identify a person. This can be done by presenting for identification, comparing appearance with a photograph, with a verbal portrait, as well as comparing a verbal portrait with a photograph.

Free description of appearance

Characteristics of a person and a description of his appearance can be made in any way. They are given by eyewitnesses in words and expressions used in everyday speech. These can be everyday terms, local dialects and the like.

Any person who saw the incident can give a free description. Moreover, he does this using words familiar to him, without using scientific terms. Such descriptions often help criminologists find the right person.

Systematization in describing a person’s appearance

A description using the verbal portrait method is called systematized. Basics of systematization in late XIX century was founded by Alphonse Bertillon. Such a description helps to uniformly characterize the elements of people’s appearance, their signs, and equally perceive the result of the description. There are also basic principles for describing appearance, through which uniformity is achieved. These are the principles:

• on the use of standardized terminology;
• about maintaining consistency in the description;
• about maximum completeness;
• about the description in full face and in the right profile;
• description, which is carried out in relation to the standard position of the head and state of appearance;
• about a description that highlights special features.

What are the rules in describing appearance?

There are also rules for describing a person’s appearance developed by criminologists, with the help of which they characterize a person using the method of verbal portrait. This includes the completeness of the description of appearance. After all, the speed of searching for a person primarily depends on this, because it is not known by what specific signs he can be found.

The next rule is the sequence of description. This includes general physical characteristics such as gender and age. Then an anatomical description occurs (for example, the figure as a whole, neck, shoulders, chest, back, head, including the face).

Then there is a description using special terminology. This is necessary in order to ensure a uniform understanding of the information received. But sources of information are divided into subjective and objective.

The use of adjectives in describing a person in a picture

At first glance, it may seem that making a description of a person’s appearance from a picture is not so difficult. But this will not be difficult if we know the person well, but if not, then we will have to make some efforts. The first thing you need is to have a good knowledge of adjectives with which you can make a description.

For example, looking at a painting, you can describe a person's head using adjectives that indicate its size: small, medium or large. You can characterize a person’s hair from a picture using the following criteria: abundance, length, type, color or frontal line. Hair can be thick, medium or thin. Length - short, medium or long. Hair type can be straight, wavy and curly. Color - light blond, blond, dark blond, black and red. And the frontal line can be straight, arched, wavy and broken.

Looking at the picture, you can use any adjectives to describe a person’s face as a whole, his forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, lips, teeth, chin, ear and neck. The same applies to shoulders, chest, back, arms and legs.

Characteristics of the appearance of a Russian person

Another mystery for ethnopsychologists, physiognomists, and philologists is the appearance of a Russian person. It is not very easy to describe it because it is a very vague concept. Many people say that a real Russian person should have blue eyes, blond hair and a flat, tall figure. But if we go deeper into this issue, it can be light or dark brown or blue eyes, as well as all colors and shades of green. The hair is light or dark brown and very thick, and the figure is slender and tall. There is no pattern in the shape of the nose and lips of a Russian person. They can be completely different. But Russians’ skin is often light and matte.

The relationship between a person’s characteristics and the description of his appearance

A few centuries ago, some scientists noticed a correspondence appearance and some character traits, personality characteristics. A fat person is characterized by addictions (for example, to food), that is, he has weak willpower. Such people are guided by the opinions of others, are friendly and love communication.

People with visual big head and shoulders, love risks, are prone to physical activities, but are not distinguished by mercy and compassion.

Thin people with a high forehead and narrow chest are characterized as sensitive, loving solitude, quiet, secretive, and inactive in communication.

There are theories that connect complexion, its asymmetry, and impulsiveness with the lifestyle that a person leads. The description of appearance in this case will be based on external characteristics and characteristics of human activity.

In addition, there is back side this process. You need to pay attention to who is making the description of a person’s appearance. Example: a person who tends to control everything will first describe the person’s leadership traits and his behavior in this regard. Subjects seeking to constantly enrich themselves will pay attention to the cost of watches, facial cosmetics and clothing, and so on.

When we talk about a person, what exactly? That he is good, kind, cheerful, tall or handsome? A person can be described in two senses - by qualities of character and appearance. We can say that a person is welcoming and carefree, or angry and gloomy, or we can describe him as a tall, blue-eyed blond or a short boy with green eyes. In any case, we are describing a person. And here you can’t do without specialized vocabulary. Let’s say right away that describing a person’s appearance in English is a huge section; to learn it, you will need several lessons.

But! The lessons will be very exciting and educational. You will learn how to say that a girl has green eyes, and a boy has red hair, that a man has thick and shaggy eyebrows, and a woman has well-groomed eyebrows, and much more. We will also tell you in what cases the words pretty, enough, quite etc are used. Forward for another portion of knowledge! And stock up on a pen and notepad: we recommend writing down interesting words and phrases and putting them into practice every day. How exactly? We will tell you about this and much more in more detail. Go!

Speech constructions and words pretty, enough, quite, rather, too, very

Talking about yourself is very good. A story about appearance in English is the first thing that is asked at an interview (if the job requires knowledge of English) or an exam. But to do this, you must first understand what you were asked. So, when you are asked to talk about your external data, you will hear:

• What do you look like?(What do you look like?) or
• How would you describe your physical appearance?(How would you describe your appearance?)

But! Do not forget that describing a person does not mean talking only about yourself, the one and only. You may be asked to describe another person or group of people, then you will hear:

• How does he/she look like?(What does he/she look like?) or
• How do they look like?(How do they look?)

But we can talk on this topic ad infinitum. Let's give examples with translation to find out how you can beautifully, colorfully and impeccably describe yourself or others. Let's start with the basics - speech structures, since it is very important for children to understand the construction of a sentence.

If we want to construct a primitive sentence ->to be +sign :

• I am slim - I am slim.
• She is tall - She is tall.
• He is fat - He is fat.
• The child is red-headed - The child is red-headed.

note that to be varies depending on the pronoun with which we use it. But you should have already covered this topic; it is basic. If you forgot something, we strongly recommend repeating it. Your speech must be correct!

Another speech structure is used, which is more suitable for a conversational style. But in any case, you need to know about it:

pronoun+to have got+adjective (attribute)

• She has got big green eyes - She has big green eyes.
• I have got dark hair - I have dark hair.
• You have got red hair - You have red hair.
• They have got long noses - They have long noses.

Please note that with he/she we use has got, not have got. And one more thing: do not translate the construction literally! The phrase must be translated as one whole so that the translation is beautiful and literate. You have got red hair - You have red hair; I have got dark hair - I have dark hair. Also note that red hair translated as Red hair , A not red.

Reference: Often characteristics of a person are described with words such as pretty, enough, quite, rather; too, very, which translates as enough (enough); too much.

Here are some examples:

• They are rather tall - They are quite tall.
• She is quite lanky - She is quite thin.
• She is rather delicate - She is of rather fragile build.
• They are quite fat - They are quite full (thick).
• You are pretty neat - You are quite slim.

Description of a person's appearance in English - Physique

Let's talk about the characteristics of a person's physique, and give examples:

• She is so small I doubt whether she is 15 - She is so small (small build) that I doubt she is 15.
• He is quite fat and our trainer will not take him in our group - He quite complete and our coach will not take him to our group.
• This girl is skinny but she really could be a model. But the problem is – she has got some problems with her skin. No one will be eager to take her in model agency – This girl thin , and she really could be a model. But the fact is that she has skin problems. No one will want to take her to a modeling agency.
• She is so graceful that she really could be an actress! - She's so graceful that she could really become an actress!
• Your children are quite chubby . Why don’t you give them at some dancing group? — Your children quite plump . Why don't you send them to some dance club?
• This man is so heavy I'm afraid even to come close to him - This man is so heavy that I'm afraid to even come close to him.
• This group is with those who are overweight . They are to be provided with special menu – no fat, fried meat, smoked food and cookies! — In this group there are people with overweight . They need to be offered a special menu - no fat, fried meat, smoked meats and cookies!
• This young man is really sturdy ! I’m not afraid to come home with him late at night - This young man really strong (hefty ) ! I'm not afraid to come home with him late at night.
• These athletes are well— built . I'm sure they will win. But… the other athletes are also muscular . So, good luck to everyone! — These athletes well built . I'm sure they will win. But... other athletes too muscular . Well, good luck to all of them!
• This boy is a little bit stocky … I don’t like him. I like tall boys - This guy is pretty stocky… I do not like him. I love tall guys.
• These guys are so funny! They are chubby ! - These guys are so funny! They potbellied !
• Your uncle is plump . It is not healthy - Your uncle full . It's not healthy.

From the examples you should notice that there are especially many synonyms for the word complete:

• fat - fat man, thick,
• plump - plump, plump, plump,
• chubby - chubby, chubby, chubby,
• overweight - excess weight,
• heavy - heavy, heavy,

Pay attention to similar words sturdyAndstocky, which mean strong, sturdy, stocky.

They also have synonyms:

• powerful - strong, strong, powerful,
• well— built - well built,
• strong - strong

There is also an adjective solid, which means dense. But the sign means wrong thick, How stocky, shot down. And in general, the English language is rich in synonyms. This allows you to make your speech colorful and varied.

To adjective thin You can also select several synonyms at once :

• underweight - with lack of weight,
• slim - thin, slender, thin, skinny, skinny,
• slender - slender, thin, slender, slender, thin, skinny, slender,
• skinny - skinny,
• and even anorexic, which means anorexic

There are similar words that mean elegant, graceful:

• slight - light, weak, thin, thin,
• graceful - graceful, graceful, elegant,
• neat - neat, tidy, clean, tidy, clean, tidy

We need to choose a word based on the situation, the age of the person we are describing, mood, etc.

Description of appearance - Eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows:

Eyebrows – Eyebrows

Now let's talk about eyebrows. Eyebrows mean a lot in a person's appearance, especially for girls. They make the face more expressive and attractive. Let's look at the main adjectives that are used to describe eyebrows:

• She wants to be beautiful. She likes attention and that is why her eyebrows are always pencilled with dark pencil - She wants to be beautiful. She loves attention and that's why her eyebrows are always let down dark pencil.
• I can't stand that girl! Her eyebrows are always mocking ! - I can't stand that girl! She always has mocking brows!
• When I looked at him his eyebrows were querying — When I looked at him, his eyebrows were raised questioningly .
• Children laugh at him because his eyebrows are thick and shaggy — The children laugh at him because he has thick And shaggy brows.
• She is so elegant and her eyebrows are always well-shaped — She is so elegant and her eyebrows are always Fine issued .

The remaining adjectives that can be applied to eyebrows are given in the table:

Remember also that eyebrows can be thin (thin), straight (straight), thick (bushy or thick), arched (arched) etc.

Eyelashes

• She is so funny. She wants to be like a doll, that is why she always wear false lashes - She's so funny. She wants to look like a doll, so she always wears invoices eyelashes.
• She is lucky one. Her lashes are long and thick from nature, she does not need any mascara - She is lucky. Her eyelashes long And thick naturally, so she doesn't need mascara.
• I have got rather short eyelashes so I need very good mascara to make my look more dramatic - I have quite short eyelashes, so I need a really good mascara to make my eyes pop.
• I want my lashes to be more curling . Give me please another mask. This gives no effect - I want my eyelashes to be more twisted . Please give me another mascara. This doesn't have any effect.

Eyes: describing the mirror of the soul

Any description of a person in English would be incomplete without talking about his eyes. The next category of adjectives to describe a person is the eyes. This subtopic is very voluminous, but we will give basic examples and try to reveal it as much as possible.

• Her eyes were so lustrous at first I thought she cried, but then I understood – she was shining with happiness - She had so much shiny eyes that at first I thought she was crying, but then I realized that she was glowing with happiness.
• He is really very angry. His eyes are blooshot - He is really very angry. His eyes bloodshot .
• Your sister is so pretty and her eyes are mesmerizing - Your sister is very pretty and she has fascinating eyes.
• He is quite strange man. He has got pale eyes - He is a rather strange person. Him colorless eyes.
• She is sick and her eyes become puffy and red— rimmed => She is sick and her eyes have become swollen And inflamed (flushed).
• That old lady has cold and piercing eyes - This old lady's eyes cold And shrill eyes.
• Your eyes are something bleary . And what? You have got piggy ones! - Your eyes are something cloudy . And what? But you piggy eyes!

Eyes can also be:

• bright - bright,
• mad - crazy,
• beady - beady eyes,
• sharp - sharp (this is about the look),
• enormous - huge,
• dry - dry,
• deep-set, downcast - deeply planted,
• slanted - slanted,
• soft - gentle,
• expressionless, hollow, vacant - empty,
• sad - sad,
• round - round,
• cruel - cruel,
• curious - curious,
• bbrilliant- shiny, etc.

Let's sum it up

Describing a person in English is an interesting and exciting activity. First, try to describe yourself in as much detail as possible. When describing yourself, use all possible characteristics to create the most detailed portrait possible. Then start describing others. To begin, take the images of your family and friends, and then begin to mentally describe people on the street. Expand your knowledge and constantly learn new things! The limits of your possibilities are endless!