Class 1: Describing people
Keywords: The verb ‘be’, linking verbs, descriptions, complements, present simple
Background
There are many situations in which you need to do the following:
1)State facts about yourself
2)Describe yourself to other peopleor describe other people
3)Ask questions about personal information
4)Answer questions about personal information
Discussion: In what situations do you need to do any of these things[e1]?
Write down the situations that you have experienced:
1
2
3
4
5
If you meet someone for the first time, or you are interviewing someone, you might ask the following questions:
What is your name?
What do you do?
Where do you come from?
How old are you?
What is your nationality?
These are called ‘WH’ questions.In each question, the tone goes down towards the end of the question.
e.g. How old are you?
Listen to me say the question and then say it yourself:
When answering such questions, you can answer by saying ‘I am…..’
What is your name?I am Steve Cannell. (My name is Steve Cannell.)
What do you do?I am a teacher.
What is your nationality? I am English/I am from England. (I come from England).
How tall are you?I am 1 metre 75 centimetres tall
How old are you?I am 52 years old.
‘I am’ can be contracted. That means it can be shortened by joining ‘I’ and ‘am’ together to make ‘I’m…:
I’m Steve. I’m a teacher. I’m from England. I’m 1metre75 centimetres tall. I’m 52 years old.
How about you?
………………………………………………………………………………………………..[e2]
Nationality
Country (noun) / Nationality (adjective)England/UK / English
France / French
America / American
Germany / German
Japan / Japanese
Vietnam / Vietnamese
Cambodia / Cambodian
Thailand / Thai
Lao / Laotian
Myanmar / Burmese
Cameroon / Cameroonian
Korea / Korean
Indonesia / Indonesian
The Philippines / Pilipino
Malaysia / Malaysian
Bhutan / Bhutanese
India / Indian
Singapore / Singaporean
Russia / Russian
Sweden / Swedish
Taiwan / Taiwanese
Speaking Practice
Choose a country and then take turns asking your partner the following question:
Question: What is a boy/girl from ______called[e3]?
Answer: He / She is[e4] ______
Work with your partner or friend and ask and then answer the following questions:
When you have finished, change roles and answer your partner’s questions.
What is your name?‘I’m ……………’ (or‘My name is…’)
What do you do?‘I’m a…………………’
Where do you come from?‘I’m from……………..’ (or ‘I come from…..’)
How old are you?‘I’m……………..’
How tall are you?‘I’m……………..’
What is your nationality? ‘I’m……………..’
Grammar Note:The verb ‘be’ in the sentences we have been using is known as a LINKING VERB.
It is called a linking verb because it links the subject of the sentence, for example ‘I’, with a description of the subject (a complement), for example ‘English’.
Subject Linking Verb Description (a complement)
I am English
I am a teacher
I am 52 years old
We use the present simple tense because these facts are true at the present time.
Third person verbs
When you describe another person using the present tense, you use ‘third person’ verbs.
The first person is you, the speaker (I am…).
The second person is the person you are talking to. (You are… Are you…?)
The third person is a person or thing that you are talking about
(He is… She is… It is… Is he…? Is she…? Is it…?)
For example:
My partner is called Somchai, and he is a boy. He is 18 years old.
He is Thai, and he is from Buriram. He is a good student. He is…….
Write some sentences below about the girl in the picture:
She’s …………………………………………….
She’s…………………………………………….
She’s …………………………………………….
She’s …………………………………………….
She’s …………………………………………….
She’s[e5] …………………………………………….
Here are some descriptions that might help you
Thai / Cambodian / Chinese / a superstar / Taiwanesea boy / a girl / a teenager / a student / a sportsman
happy / lazy / gay / 18 years old / a bad student
1 m. 55 cm. tall / slim / beautiful / average height / from Thailand
tired / bored / excited / hard-working / a good student
handsome / chubby / sad / clever / stupid
Asking questions
When asking questions you have to reverse the subject and the verb:
Subject Verb Description
I am Japanese = a statement
Verb Subject Description
Are you Japanese? = a question
Write down 5 questions using descriptions (a complement) of your choice and then ask your partner the questions.
1 Are you[e6]………………………………?2 Are you……………………………....?
3 Are you.……………………………...?
4 Are you………………………………?
5 Are you………………………………?
These questions give a yes or no answer, so the tone goes up e.g. Are you happy?
Your partner will either say: ‘Yes. I am.’ or ‘No. I’m not.’
When you have asked the questions and decided what information you are going to include, you are now ready to describe your partner.
Task: Describe your partner or another student in the class[e7].
______
Describing things
We also use the third person to describe singular things:
For example: a house, a car, a pet, or a product
My house is: modern/old/traditional/large/small/ beautiful
My car is: fast / slow / old / new / Japanese / a Toyota / in the car park
My cat is: female / young / playful / always hungry / black and white
My telephone is: a Samsung / a tablet / expensive / very modern / very useful
We also use the pronoun ‘ít’ to represent something
For example: “My car is Japanese. It is a Toyota Vios.”
Try to describe something of your choice using the verb ‘be’ using ‘it’ where necessary[e8]:
______
Describing groups of people
We are students at DPUIC
They are military cadets.
You are students in my class.
(In this case ‘you’ is plural)
Exercise: Use the verb ‘be’ (present tense) in each gap to match the subject
1: Ploy...... a student[e9], and she...... 18 years old..
2: Somchai...... Thai.
3: Ploy and Somchai...... students[e10].
CLICK HERE TO DO THIS EXERCISE ONLINE4: Ploy...... a girl, but Somchai ...... a boy.
5: My car ...... a Toyota.
6: My house...... in Bangkok
7: My brother and sister...... English.
8: My dog...... very fat.
9: My dog and my cat ...... friends.
10: We ...... at Dhurakij Pundit University now.
11: They ...... in the library.
12: You ...... a good girl, and he...... a good boy..
13: The government...... elected by the people.
14: The shop near my house...... very convenient.
15: The shops near my house...... very small.
16: The sea water ...... very cold.
17: The food...... delicious.
18: The animals ...... hungry.
19: He...... handsome.
20: She ...... very intelligent.
21: My sister...... quite selfish.
22: Your mother ...... very nice, but you...... very talkative.
23: His mother and father...... government officials.
24: Air pollution ...... bad for your health[e11].
25: Cycling ...... good for your health[e12].
26: My house and garden...... very large.
Adjective list from the most frequently-used 2000 words in English
Homework Task: Highlight the words you know: Google the words you don’t know and create a list/file of new words. Try to use any new words when speaking and writing.
academic / able[S13] / active / actual / additional / afraidalternative / alone / ancient / annual / apparent / appropriate
attractive / available / average / aware[S14] / bad / basic
beautiful / bloody[S15] / black / big / blue / brief
bright / broad / busy / capable / careful / central
certain / cheap / chief / civil / clean / clear
close / cold / commercial / common / complete / complex
concerned / conservative / considerable / constant / corporate / correct
criminal / critical / cultural / current / dangerous / dark
dead / deep / democratic / detailed / different / difficult
direct / domestic / double / dry / due / early
eastern / easy / economic[S16] / educational / effective / either
elderly / empty / entire / environmental / equal / essential
excellent / existing / expensive / external / extra[S17] / fair
familiar / famous[S18] / far / fast / female / final
financial / fine / first / following / foreign / formal
free / fresh / front / full / funny[S19] / future
general / good / great / green / grey / growing
happy / heavy / historical / hot / huge / human
immediate / important / impossible / increased / independent / individual
industrial / initial / interested[S20] / interesting[S21] / international / internal
liberal / joint / large / leading / legal / local
lovely / low / limited / main / major / male
married / medical / mental / military / modern / narrow
national / natural / necessary / new / nice / normal
northern / nuclear / obvious / odd / old / ordinary
original / overall / particular / perfect / permanent / personal
physical / political / poor / popular[S22] / positive / possible
powerful / practical / pretty / previous / previously / primary
prime / private / professional / proper / quick / quiet
rare / ready / real / reasonable / recent / red
regional / regular / relative / relevant / religious / responsible
rich / right / royal / rural / safe / scientific
secondary / senior / separate[S23] / serious[S24] / severe / sexual
short / significant / similar / simple / single / slow
small / social / soft / sorry / southern[S25] / special
specific / standard / strong / strange / substantial / successful
sufficient / suitable / sure / tall / technical / terrible
tiny / thin / top / total / traditional / true
typical / united / unable / upper / urban / useful
usual / various / vast / very / vital / young
warm / weak / western / white / wide / wild
wonderful / working / wrong
If you want to hear these words spoken by a native speaker, open the link below and cut and paste the word into the box.
[e1]
Applying for a job
Enrolling at school/university
Filling in application forms
Writing a CV and covering letters
Introducing yourself to others (making friends)
Meeting people (customers/suppliers) at work
Job interviews
Academic purposes (essays/speaking practice)
In public offices for administrative purposes e.g. tax, passport, ID card
As a witness of a crime
As a journalist
As a writer
Making friends
Meeting new people at university
[e2]For example: I am Thai/ I am a student/ I am 19 years old/ I am quite tall/ I am happy/ I am 1 metre 65 cm tall
[e3]What is a girl from France called?
[e4]She is French
[e5]She’s a student / She is pretty/ She’s Thai / She is happy/ She is 1 metre 67cm tall
[e6]Are you a student? / Are you Cambodian? / Are you angry? / Are you hungry? / Are you at the university?
[e7]My partner is Japanese. He is from Tokyo. He is 21 years old. He is 1 metre 74 cm tall, and he weighs 65 kg. He has short, black hair. He has dark, narrow eyes and fair skin. He is a student at Dhurakij Pundit University International College.
[e8]My car is Japanese. It is a Toyota Vios. It is 8 years old. It is painted gold. It has four seats and four doors. It has a 1500cc engine. It is quite comfortable.
[e9]Singular subject = singular verb
[e10]Plural subject = plural verb
[e11]Uncountable subject = singular
[e12]A gerund as a subject = singular
[S13]Usually ‘be able to’ (which is used as a semi modal phrase followed by a main verb.) e.g. I am able to go...
[S14]Usually ‘to be aware of + noun’
[S15]Usually an impolite intensifier, but also used in its literal sense.
[S16]Note the difference in pronunciation and meaning of ‘economic’ (adj) and ‘economics’ (noun)
[S17]Pronunciation tip: think of ex- as EKS. Extra (EKS-TRA) Expensive (EKS-PEN-SIF) External (EKS-TER-NAL)
[S18]Don’t confuse ‘famous’ with ‘popular’. Famous means ‘known by many people’; ‘Popular’ means liked by many people
[S19]Funny means something that makes you laugh, like a joke. “It was funny”= I laughed / “It was fun”= I enjoyed it. For example “Playing football on the beach was fun.” (But not ‘funny’!)
[S20]The -ed adjectives derive from passive verbs, so they indicate the effect of something else on you.
For example, “I am interested by/in art history”- describes the effect of art history on you i.e. ‘It interests you’.
The focus of the sentence is on the person. For example:
“I felt bored” “She was excited” “We were amazed”
[S21]In contrast, -ing adjectives make a judgment about something else.
“Art history is interesting” does not specify who in particular is ‘interested’
The focus of the sentence is on a noun phrase (not a person).
For example, “The movie was boring” “The match was exciting” “The view was amazing”
[S22]Don’t confuse ‘popular’ with ‘famous’ “popular’ means liked by many people; ‘famous’ means known by many people.
[S23]The pronunciation of ‘separate’ adjective (SEP-ER-UT) is different from ‘separate’ the verb (SEP-ER-RAYT)
[S24]Don’t confuse ‘serious’ with ‘worried’. ‘Serious’ often collocates with a noun i.e. a serious problem, a serious illness or as a predicate after a linking verb i.e. ‘the problems were serious’.
“I felt worried about the exams’ indicates your nervous state of mind.
[S25]Pronunciation: SU-THERN
Rhymes with mother MU-THER
NOT ‘SOW-THERN’