You're learning with nine to five English business English for the workplace
Hi Tim here with another
nine-to-five English lesson
Today we're going to learn how to describe people and their characteristics in English
Listen in on any office conversation or a meeting and
You'll hear a lot of talk about people who?
we like
Who we don't like who's right for a team who should get a promotion?
Who is going on vacation? The list of topics goes on and on and
One aspect of people we often discuss is their appearance or how they look
To do that we use adjectives like tall or short or
Well-dressed or heavy or thin?
when we describe people, we also talk about the color of their hair and
Here's a couple of special hair words for you
brunette means someone with brown hair and
blond
refers to someone with light or yellow hair
Let's try describing people's appearance using some of this language
Listen to each example then repeat it for yourself ready. Let's get started
Gary is a tall red-haired guy who usually wears glasses
Bob looks a little bit like Dave our former manager
Jordan is really well-dressed and always smiling
Tina has long brown hair and green eyes
Now did you notice that expression
looks a little bit like
the basic expression there is
Looks like as in Nancy looks like Tina
in other words, they appear similar a
couple more similar expressions for comparing people are
sounds like and
acts like
When we say someone acts like another person
we're talking about their behavior or what they do just
Like appearance. We often describe behavior
with adjectives
for example, we might say
someone is
eager or
Enthusiastic
we might also talk about how they do things like works hard or
treats people with respect
Let's try some examples of describing people's behavior
Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them
Charlie is always eager and ready to help
I tend to work harder when I'm under pressure
Kendra is the most enthusiastic person in the office
Joe treats everyone with a lot of respect
As you heard it's not only other people that we describe
Sometimes we describe ourselves
Especially in situations like job interviews and
Not only do we describe behavior
We also describe
character
Character is about what type of person someone is
It might include behavior, but it also includes
someone's overall personality
To talk about character we rely once again on
Adjectives and the more adjectives, you know, the better you can describe people's character
some people are serious while others are
fun-loving
Some people are hardworking
While others are lazy
some people are shy
While others are outgoing
Let's practice some of these adjectives for describing character once again
Repeat the examples after you hear them
Nancy seems pretty serious, but she's always fair
The right candidates should be hardworking and flexible
I would describe myself as a good learner and resourceful
Daisy can be quite shy but she's very smart
You probably know most of those adjectives
but
Resourceful might be a new word
If someone is resourceful, it means they are good at finding ways to solve problems
That's a great way to describe yourself in a job interview
Okay, so we've practiced
Describing people with some examples, but how does this sound in the conversation?
let's listen to a short dialogue between Kent and
Paula
They're talking about a person who has applied for a job at their company. Let's listen
Remind me again, which candidate was Jason
Jason was the tall guy with blond hair. Oh
Right, and how was his interview? Well, he seemed smart, but I wonder how flexible he is
That's not too difficult, right
when Kent asks Paula to describe Jason, she says that he's tall and
has blond hair and
When Kent asks how Jason's interview went she says he seems smart
but she wonders if he's
flexible
Now it's your turn to practice
Will repeat the dialogue but this time we're going to be about the second speakers words
You will have to say those parts yourself
Remember to describe Jason as
tall
with blond hair and
say he's smart, but
you wonder if he's
flexible
Remind me again, which candidate was Jason
Oh, right, and how is his interview
Alright
That's it for this lesson
We've learned some great ways to describe people's appearance
behavior and character
We'll be back soon with some more
useful English
expressions
until then
so long and
Happy learning