Describing a picture in English 1) Introduction The photo/picture shows ... It was taken by/in ... It's a black-and-white/coloure black-and-white/coloured d photo. 2) What is where? In the foreground/background foreground/background you can see ... In the foreground/background foreground/background there is ... In the middle/centre there are ... At the top/At the bottom there is ... On the left/right there are ... Behind/In front of ... you can see ... Between ... there is ... 3) Who is doing what? Here you decribe the persons in the picture or you say what is happening just now. Use the Present Progressive. 4) What I think about the picture It seems as if ... The lady seems to ... Maybe ... I think ... ... might be a symbol of ... The atmosphere is peaceful/depressing peaceful/depressing ... I (don't) like the picture because ... It makes me think of ... Structure and Content It's not easy to follow a picture description description if the writer jumps randomly randomly from one point to another. Therefore, make sure that your picture description is logically structured, for example: from left to right (or from right to left) from the background to the foreground foreground (or from the foreground to the background) from the middle to the sides (or from the sides to the middle) from details to general impressions (or from general impressions impressions to details) Which structure you finally choose depends depends on your taste and the t he picture you want to describe. Pictures in General short description of the scene (e. g. place, event) details (who / what can you see) background background information (if necessary) on place, important persons or event Paintings name of artist and picture, year of origin (if known) short description of the scene (e. g. place, event)
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details (who / what can you see) impression on the viewer artist's intention perspective, perspective, colours, forms, proportions etc. Important Tenses Simple Present Present Progressive both tenses also in Passive Voice Tips If you want to practise describing paintings, check out the websites websites of some galleries and write down expresssions that might be useful for your descriptions. On the website of the National Gallery in London for example you'll find lots of interesting interesting paintings with descriptions. The website of the Metropolitan Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) provides a detailled detailled description of a painting with interesting background background information, e. g. how to use colours, how to give the impression of movement or perspective perspective etc. An English glossary on art can be found on the website of the Tate Gallery London. Word Lists Useful Words for Picture Descriptions Useful Phrases for Picture Descriptions
People’s descriptions What does he/she like/look like? Height tall, tallish, short, shortish, medium height Build frail, stocky, slim, thin, plump, fat, skinny, well-built Age young, elderly, middle-aged, middle-aged, teenager, in 20s, 30s, 40s Face Eyes Hair Clothes round round,, oval, oval, squa square re,, with with scar scares es,, wrink wrinkles les,, freckl freckles, es, sun sun-ta -tann nned, ed, pal pale e Eyes blue eyes, large, small, bright, narrow Hair bald, straight, curly, spiky, wavy Clothes casual, scruffy, shabby, smart, tidy, messy
big round round
Describing Describing Character - What's he like? Is she nice? careful, hard-working hard-working,, worried, cheerful, broadminded, active, curious, secretive aggressive, aggressive, tough, careless, practical, sensible, sensible, independent, independent, strong-minded, strong-minded, stupid dull, boring, boring, imaginative, imaginative, ambitious, ambitious, crafty, crafty, sensitive, sensitive, gentle, naive naive
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