UNIT 2: DESCRIBING PEOPLE AND THINGS

The main objective of this unit is in to enable students to verbally describe people and things
using appropriate or relevant descriptive language structures. This is to prepare the students for
the first speaking assignment (i.e., Show and Tell)
Pre-Speaking Activity
Instruction: In pairs, list as many words as you can to help you describe the facial features of
the woman in the picture below:

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY 1
Instruction: Now, try match the descriptive words in the right-hand column below to their
respective facial and physical features in the left-hand column. The first one is done
for you as an example:
FACIAL FEATURE
eye1
2

brow
s

eyeSkin/complexion
lashe
Faces

skin

eyes
Eyes
Eye-brows

lips
5

Eye-lashes

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DESCRIPTIVE WORD

face

chubby/ hollow/ wide

chee

small/ big/ short/ long/ sharp/ straight/

k
broad/ hooked
sharp/ pointed/ square/ double/ round/
protruding/ clean-shaven
thin/ thick/ large/ round/ full/ wellnose
formed
big/ small/round/narrow/ slanting/ dark
brown/ blue/ hazel / almond-shaped
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chin

Nose

round/ thin/ narrow/ oval-shaped /

heart-shaped/ square-shaped/

Lips

thick/ heavy/ bushy/ dark/ plucked/

unkempt

Cheek

fair /pale/ white/ dark/ brown/ olive/

tanned/ black

Chin
OTHER PHYSICAL
FEATURES

thick/ thin/ long/ short/ straight/ curly

10. General looks

slim, thin, skinny, plump, fat, obese,

storky, heavy, well-built, stout, smart,
elegant, well-dressed, scruffy, untidylooking, messy-looking, unattractive,
petite

11.

tall, short, medium height

Hair

12. Build

13. Height
14. Age

good looking, handsome, beautiful,

pretty, ugly, haggard looking,
masculine, feminine

young, old, teenager, adolescent,

middle-aged, in 20s/30s/40s,
bald, receding hair, wavy, curly, spiky,
straight, blonde, black, grey, brown

From the Pre-speaking Activity and Activity 1 above, it is hoped that you have observed that we
can effectively describe someone or something that we see if we know what words to use to
describe it. To enable our listeners to understand and share what ideas we have in our mind, we
must clearly express the ideas so that our listeners can vividly see in their minds our descriptions.
As you can see in the chart above, all of the listed descriptive words are actually adjectives. In
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this unit, we will look how adjectives, adverbs , other relevant language structures can be used to
describe people and things.

I.

DESCRIBING A PERSON (talking about a persons facial and physical features)

Do you know who the woman in the picture given in the previous pre-speaking activity is? She is
Aishwarya Rai, a Bollywood actress. If someone asks you how Aishwarya Rai looks like, how
would you describe her to that person? Well, you can describe her by following these two steps:
1.

Provide a general description of her first (i.e., her looks in general)

2.

Use relevant specific information which will support the general description you have
given.

For example, you may ask yourself this question:

Question: Is Aishwarya Rai beautiful (in general)?
If your answer is yes, you need to state your reasons for saying so.

You may want to use the following questions to prepare youre a detailed description of
Aishwarya Rai:
1.

Why do you consider Aishwarya Rai as a beautiful woman?

2.

What are her physical characteristics that attract you?

a. Do you consider her beautiful because of her skin complexion?
i.
What is it about her skin that adds to her beauty?
b. What is unique about her face?
i.
List her attractive facial features and state how each feature contributes to
her beauty.

- For example her eyes:

- What kind of eyes do you consider beautiful?
The size and colour of her eyes?

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What about her hair ?

What kind of hair does she have?
The colour and style of her hair?

Describe her lips:

What kind of lips does she have?
The shape & thickness of her lips?

thin lips

sharp
nose

big eyes

She is
a
beautif
ul
woman
.

fair skin

thick
and
wavy
hair

Activity 2
Instruction: Read the following description of Aishwarya Rai and underline the words
(especially the adjectives) that are used to describe her. Identify the two sentence
patterns used in the description.
Aishwarya Rai, the famous Bollywood actress, is indeed a very beautiful woman. She has
all the facial and physical characteristics of a beautiful woman. Her skin is fair and her hair
is thick and wavy. She has a balanced face shape which is a combination of oval and round
shapes. She also has big hazel eyes with thick curly eye-lashes and well-formed eye-brows.
Her lips are beautifully formed. Her nose and chin are sharp. Like other beautiful women,
she has high cheek bones. Her tall and slim body make her attractive to many people.
Although Aishwarya Rai, is already in her 40s, she is still very popular because of her
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Noor
Durrah Farahi / ELC-UMT 2016
Page 4
beauty&and
talent.

LANGUAGE NOTES
The following sentence patterns can be used in describing a person:
Pattern I
SUBJECT

PREDICATE

Noun/Pronoun

VERB
DETERMINER

1.

2.

Aishwarya Rai

is

She

has

NOUN PHRASE
ADVERB
ADJECTIVE(S)
beautiful

NOUN

very

woman.

*balanced face

shape.

*big hazel

eyes.

*high cheek

bones.

multi-talented.

* Notice that adjectives can be used to describe a noun and that you can have more than one
adjective to describe a particular noun. However, to avoid weakening your description and
confusing your listeners, you are advised not to use more than three adjectives before a noun.

Pattern II
SUBJECT
Noun/Pronoun

1
.

Possessive
Adjective

PREDICATE
Noun

Verb

Adverb

Adjective

is

very

beautiful.

Aishwarya Rai / She

Her

skin

is

fair.

Her

lips

are

beautifully

formed.

2
.
3

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.
-

Her

nose and chin

are

sharp.

4
.

Adjectives

Adjectives are words which are used to describe nouns such as people, things, places, and even
ideas. Adjectives can be used to provide information about quantity, our opinion, appearance
(such as as, size, age, shape/length, condition, and colour), origin or nationality, material, and
kind/use/ purpose of the noun that we would like to describe. Do take note that when you
accumulate (or stack) adjectives to describe a particular noun, these adjectives must follow a
specific order. Since adjectives help us provide more information about the nouns we choose to
use, they can help make our spoken ideas much more specific, and a whole lot more interesting.
Therefore, it is important for us to enrich our vocabulary involving adjectives so that we are able
to describe things around us better and be able to also improve our speaking ability.
Language Notes: Positions of an Adjective in a Sentence (Word Order)
In a sentence, we can place an adjective/adjectives in the following positions:

before a noun
after a be verb and a linking verb

Adjectives before noun

In the following examples, you will notice that the adjectives are placed before the nouns.
Ahmad owns a huge estate in Sarawak.
adjective

huge describes the noun estate

huge comes before the noun estate

noun
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Amina ate fried chicken last night.

fried describes the noun chicken

Adjective

fried comes before the noun chicken

Noun
Dian met a loving and handsome guy.
adjectiv

loving and handsome describe the noun guy

loving and handsome come before noun guy

noun
adjecti

Adjectives after a to-be verb and a linking verb

Adjectives can also be placed after:

be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, been, being)

linking verbs (smell, feel, taste, look, sound, seem, appear, etc.

SUBJECT

VERB TO BE

(ADVERB
optional)

ADJECTIVE

She
The men

is
are

(very)
(very)

beautiful
tall, dark and handsome.

Fasha

is

(undoubtedly)

slim and pretty.

SUBJECT

LINKING VERB

ADJECTIVE

NOTES

The weather

seems

gloomy.

Dr. Omaima

sounded

sad.

gloomy describes the

noun weather
sad describes how Dr.
Omaima felt.

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Order of adjectives

By now it should be clear to you that you can use several adjectives in front of a noun that you
want to describe. Whenever you plan to use more than one adjective to describe a particular
noun, you need to put them in a specific order as shown in the table that follows.
Determiner

Types of Adjectives

Noun

Quantity
or
Number

Opinion
( e.g.,
cheap,
amazing,
beautiful,
lovely)

Appearance
(size, age,
shape/length,
condition,
colour)

Origin or
Nationality

Material

Kind,
use or
purpose

Many

beautiful

Asian

women

Three

lovely

middle-aged,
single
young

Indian

couples

The

poor

little, hungry,
white

Siamese

cat

A
-

Five

interesting

big, old
young

Malaysian

wooden
-

house
students

An

expensive

Italian

leather

handbag

colourful

woollen

sweater

Cheap

plastic

reading

glasses

Several

amazing

hiking

An

old

shoe

equipment
store

ACTIVITY 3
Instruction:
Work in pairs. Look at your partners facial and physical features. You need to describe his or
her four features. Think of two or three suitable adjectives to describe each of the features.
Complete the table below to help you compose your description. You may refer to the language
notes and images given. You have 8 minutes to complete the table. Once done, take turn to tell
each other what are the four features that have attracted your attention. You may begin by saying:
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I have noticed that you have four interesting features. You have / Your eyes are
Determiner

Types of Adjectives
Quantity
or
Number

Opinion
( e.g.,
cheap,
amazing,
beautiful,
lovely)

Appearance
(size, age,
shape/length,
condition,
colour)

Origin or
Nationality

Noun
Material

Kind,
use or
purpose

\
Source: http://4vector.com/free-vector/closed-captioned-71957

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Source: http://vanessamissylove.com/sites/default/files/different_face_shapes.jpg

https://www.pinterest.com/aghziel/anisa-gizela-eye-shape/

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Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/380343131006402779/

ACTIVITY 4
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Instruction: In a group of four, take turn to describe the facial features of the individuals below:
NOUN PHRASE
determiner adverb adjective adjective noun

determiner

NOUN PHRASE
adverb adjective
adjective

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noun

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determiner

NOUN PHRASE
adverb adjective
adjective

noun

determiner

NOUN PHRASE
adverb adjective
adjective

noun

Policeman: Sir, please tell us in details on what happened that day?

Bridegroom: Yesterday was supposed to be my wedding day. But my beautiful bride didnt
SUPPLEMENTARY/
1 (Pairwhy
Work)
show up. Its been aEXTRA
day sinceACTIVITY
yesterday. Thats
Im here reporting this.
Instruction:
Policeman: Im really sorry about that. We will try our best to find her. Can you give me a
Thedescription
dialogue below
is between
policeman and a bridegroom who files a report on his missing
of how
she looksa like.
bride.
1. Work withShes
a partner
andyears
conduct
real reporting
session
where
onearound
person53
willand
takehas
thea
Bridegroom:
twenty
old.aShes
very pretty
woman.
Shes
thehas
policeman
onright
duty cheek,
when the
report
wasdreamy
made and
other
person,
fair role
skin.ofShe
a small who
molewas
under
a pair
of big
eyesthe
and
a sharp
the bridegroom.
pointed nose. And oh she also possesses a chubby figure.
2. At the end of this activity, the student who takes the role of the policeman is going to
draw a photofit
of the
in the
Policeman:
What was
shemissing
wearingbride
the last
timebox
sheprovided.
was seen?
Bridegroom: According to her family, she was wearing a white lacey wedding outfit. To be
more specific, she also was wearing a golden tiara over her white headscarf.
Policeman: I want to ask to ask you this. How was her condition the night before wedding?
You dont have to answer it if you dont have the answer.
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& Noor Durrah
Farahi
/ ELC-UMT
2016
Page 13
Bridegroom:
[pause] Her
family
said that she
had second thoughts about the weddingand

she actually wanted to call it a quit but it was too late to cancel it off[start to sob]
Policeman: Sir, we will try our best to find her. I think we can stop here for now.

SUPPLEMENTARY/ EXTRA ACTIVITY 2 (Pair Work)

Instruction: With a partner, read the dialogue in the Supplementary Activity 1 once again and
complete the following chart:

Type of Adjective

Example(s) from the dialogue

1. Quantity

2. Opinion/qualities/
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personal traits

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Appearance:
Size
Age
Shape/length
Condition
Colour

9. Origin / Nationality
10. Material
11. Kind/use/purpose

SUPPLEMENTARY/ EXTRA ACTIVITY 3 (Pair Work)

Instruction: Work in pairs. Using the chart provided here, brainstorm for ideas and be ready to
provide a description of the Malaysian artist in the picture given below the chart.
How does the artist /he look like?
1
.
2
.
3
.

FEATURES
General looks

DESCRIPTION

Build
Height

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4
.
5
.
6
.
7
.

Age
Complexion
Hair
Facial features

Description of a Malaysian artist, Zul Ariffin:

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTARY/ EXTRA ACTIVITY 4 (Pair Work)

Instruction:
1. Work in a group of four.
2. Everyone must choose one person in the group to describe.
3. List some adjectives that will help you describe the person (facial and other physical
features).
4. Remember to use the sentence structures provided in this unit.
5. Make notes. After 5 minutes of preparation, take turn to describe the person you have chosen
and make you group members guess who the person is.

build

skin

hair

face
should
er

eyes

lips

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nose

Page 16

genera
l lloks

II.

DESCRIBING A PERSONS/ CHARACTERS PERSONALITY TRAITS

In addition to being able to describe a persons facial and physical features, it is also important to
be able to describe his or her character traits so that we can provide a more informative and
meaningful description. To be able to give a description on ones personality or personal
characteristics, you need to brainstorm for ideas. The following questions can guide you to
generate relevant ideas:
1. Who is he person that you plan to describe?
2. What is the persons personality trait that you want to describe?
3. What is the most suitable adjective for you to use to describe the trait?
4. What kind of information will you use to help your readers understand the persons
personality trait?
-

What has the person done (i.e., ACTIONS)

What did the person say or think (WORDS & THOUGHTS)
Does the person has a goal?
Is the person motivated?

Lets brainstorm for ideas so that we can use them in describing a persons personality traits.

Aishwarya Rai
a very energetic and talented actress
(WHAT EVIDENCE DO WE HAVE FOR
THIS?)
1. She acted in several action
movies like ...
2. She was also actively
involved in charity works
raising money for the needy.
For instance, ...

1. She won many film awards

such as..........
2. She can act and dance well.
For example,..

ACTIVITY 1
Instruction: Work in pairs. Think of one character. He or she can be your friend or a celebrity
that you are familiar with or admire. Think of one (1) appropriate adjective to describe the
personality trait of the character. List evidence or justification that can be used to describe the
characters trait. Be ready to describe the character of your choice to your partner or someone in
your class.
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Character : __________

Trait: _____________
(WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE FOR THIS?)

SOME ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING CHARACTER TRAITS

Active
Caring
Compassionate
Committed
Courageous
Dependable
Dedicated
Energetic
Enthusiastic
Generous

High-spirited
Humble
Inspirational
Kind
Kind-hearted
Modest
Noble
Innovative
Passionate
Patient

Persistent
Persevering
Protective
Open-minded
Optimistic
Respectful
Resilient
Skillful
Supportive
Self-sacrificing
Talented

III.DESCRIBING A CHARACTERS PHYSICAL FEATURES AND PERSONALITY

TRAITS.
Example:
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CHARACTER:
Garfield

DESCRIPTION:
1. Fat
2. Lazy

WHAT I LIKE
ABOUT IT:
1. He is a funny
looking cat.

WHAT I DISLIKE (personality trait):

1. He is a rather irresponsible cat
2. He is self-centred too.

Talking about Garfield:

One of the most popular cartoon characters that I like is Garfield. He is a lazy, fat and
cynical orange cat with stripes. He is fat because he loves to eat a lot and is very lazy to
exercise or do any work. Most of his favourite foods are fattening foods like pizza,
lasagna and ice-cream. Garfield can be considered as a very self-centred creature
because all that he cares about is making sure he will never starve and be able to sleep
for many hours without anything or anyone disturbing him. His self -centredness has
many times turned him into an irresponsible character.
ACTIVITY 1 (pair/ group work)
Instruction:
Refer to your notes which you have used for Activity 1 under the topic of describing a
personality trait of a character of your choice. Think of several facial and other physical features
of the same character. Combine this information with the one you have already prepared on the
characters personality trait. Be ready to describe the characters personality trait and appearance
(facial & physical features) to your partner/ group.

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Facial features

character:
Other physical
features ----------

Personality trait:.................
(WHAT EVIDENCE DO WE HAVE FOR
THIS?)

IV.

DESCRIBING A THING OR AN OBJECT

Pre-speaking Activity
Instruction: With a partner brainstorm and list the criteria that both of you will use for choosing
an object to be presented in a Show & Tell session. A few criteria are listed in the chart below.
Add more information to the chart based on your discussion. Be ready to share your information
with the whole class.
What kind of objects will you choose & why?
CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING AN OBJECT
1. Novelty
/Uniqueness
Why do you
consider it as
unique?
- Is it new?
- Is it unusual?
- Is it interesting?

2. Practicality
In what way(s)
having or
buying the
object is
considered
practical?

3. Benefits /
usefulness
How will one
benefit from
the object?
What kinds of
benefit?
How useful is
it?

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4.

5.

Page 20

ACTIVITY 1 (Pair work)

Instruction: Work with a partner. Look at the pictures of an object below. Read all information
given about it. Then answer all questions about the object.

White Kenwood Sandwich

Maker SM650.

Toast
Grill
Griddle a variety of
foods.

Simple to use

Removable cooking plates

triangle
sandwich plates
waffle plates
grill / griddle plates
all plates
- non-stick coated
- handles on each
side

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remains closed when in

use as a sandwich
toaster

opens flat when in

use as a griddle

Page 21

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
Miscellaneous

General specifications
Colour: white

Cool touch handles

Warranty: 1 year

Easy clean
Interlock handle

Size (cm):11H x 23W x 26D

Wattage: 700W
Weight:2.8kg

Non-slip feet
Non-stick plates
Removable plates
Power on and ready
indicators

Adapted from: http://www.kenwoodworld.com/en-int/products/cooking-baking/sandwichmakers/sm650-sandwich-maker

1.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OBJECT

What is the function or use of the object as a
whole/complete item?
How many components or parts does it have?
a. Does each part has its own special
function?
b. Is each part connected to another part
or other parts?
What the objects observable features or
characteristics?
a. What is it made of (the material used)
b. What is its shape?
c. What about dimensions such as its
length, width, height, thickness, etc?
d. Does it have any special quality or
property such as fragile, hollow, etc.
e. Is there any evidence of its versatility
and simplicity or practicality?
f. What colour is it?

YOUR ANSWERS

Activity 2 (Practice speaking)

Instruction: Now use your answers in the chart given in Activity 1 and take turn to describe the
object to your partner. If necessary, you may refer to the related language notes given for
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describing an object. You may use the following information framework to structure your turn
taking role in describing the object:
1. The function of the object as a whole
2. The components or parts
3. The use of each component or part
Activity 3 (Composing your own final description)
Instruction: Using the information you already have about Kenwood Sandwich Maker
SM650, write your description of the object which you will later present to a group of
students. You may begin this way:
Im going to show and tell you about an amazing product which students like us should
have. It is Kenwood Sandwich Maker, model SM650.
_______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
LANGUAGE NOTES
A. Describing the function or use of an object
Pattern I
Subject

Verb be + Past participle

Prepositio
n

A food mixer

Gerund (Verb+ing )
mixing food.

is used

for

A vacuum cleaner

cleaning houses and offices.

Pattern II
Subject
A food mixer

Verb be + Past participle

is used

Preposition

Infinitive (Base verb )

mix food.

to

A vacuum cleaner

clean houses and offices.

B. Describing the components or parts of an object

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Pattern I
Subject

Verb

A vacuum cleaner

Noun
Phrase

has

Colo
n

five
component
s

Details about the components or parts

a trigger, a rechargeable battery, a
motor, an axial fan, and a filter bag.

Pattern II
Subject

Verb/ verb be +
past participle

A vacuum cleaner

Preposition/
particle

Details about the

components or parts

consists

of

a trigger, a rechargeable
battery, a motor, an axial
fan, and a filter bag.

is made

up of

C. Describing the materials used to make an object

Pattern I
Subject

Verb be + Past participle

The house

is made

The ring

Prepositio
n
of

from

Gerund (Verb+ing )

wood.

gold

Pattern II
SUBJECT
Pronoun
It

Verb be
Is

PREDICATE
Noun Phrase
Determiner
Adjective
a
wooden
gold

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Noun
house.
ring.
Page 24

D. Describing the shape of an object

Pattern I
SUBJECT
The object

VERB
is

ADJECTIVE
rectangular
circular
triangular
pyramidal

PREPOSITION
in

NOUN
shape.

Pattern II
SUBJECT

VERB

The object

Has

DETERMINE
R

ADJECTIVE

NOUN

rectangular
circular
triangular
pyramidal

shape.

Pattern III
SUBJECT

The object

VERB BE +
PAST
PARTICIPLE
is shaped

PREPOSITIO
N / ADVERB
like

NOUN PHRASE
Determiner
Noun
a

rectangle.
circle.
triangle.
pyramid.

Activity 4: Can you guess what object Im thinking about? (Group activity)
Instruction:
1. Work in a group of five or six.
2. Each student is given 5 minutes to think of an object which can be found in the
classroom and write on a piece of paper a description of the object focusing on its use
(e.g., This object that Im thinking about has many uses), main components, features or
characteristics such as its material, shape, size, and colour.
3. Each student must make at least three (3) sentences about the object by using preferably
more than 2 types of adjectives (e.g., It is a heavy black object).
4. For sentence effectiveness, each sentence made should not contain more than three
adjectives
5. Each student must take turn to describe his or her object without telling his or her group
the name of the object is.
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Page 25

6. Other members of the group have to guess what the object is based on the description
given.
7. .Members of the group are allowed to ask questions about the object ( but not the name of
the object) .
8. The member of the group who guesses the correct name of the object will get the next
turn to ask the group to guess the object he or she is thinking about.

Activity 5: Supplementary /extra activity (Group work)

1)
2)
3)
4)

Kimberly: Fatima, youre looking very glumly today. What is going on? I thought you had
aForm
greatatime
lastofnight
your sisters
wedding!
group
5 or 6atmembers
per group
(depends on the instructor to decide).
On a piece of paper, each group needs to write an object (any object to describe).
Fatima:
Oh hiisKimberly!
so much
sadthe
actually,
its just
thatgroup.
Im feeling
When object
chosen, theNot
group
needsoftofeeling
exchange
paper with
other
tired.
wedding
went a bitneeds
chaotically
it startedtolast
night. the object. Five
Each The
of the
group members
to writebefore
one adjective
describe

5)
6)
7)

minutes is given
write the But
adjectives.
Kimberly:
What to
happened?
first of all, Im sorry I didnt attend the wedding. It just
When
the
time
is
up,
the
group
needs
to return
the paper
to the respective
group.
happened on the same day and time with
my mothers
birthday
party. Weve
been seriously
Once the group receives back the paper, they need to write a poem about the object.
planning on it since three months ago.
Each group is going to recite the poem in front of the class.

Fatima: Its okay, Kim! I totally understand.

(Adapted from: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/middle-school-english-lessons/49634Kimberly: Tell me about the chaotic part of the wedding.
adjective-activities-and-games/)
Fatima: The wedding went well. But the chaos happened right before the solemnization!
My sister forgot where she put the ring for the bridegroom! Everyone in the house was
frantically looking for the ring. We tried to look everywhere; the toilet, living room,
bedrooms, kitchen and every corner of the house in fact! We were already hurriedly
V.
DESCRIBING A SITUATION / AN OCCASION
cleaning up the house but we had no choice but to help her too in finding the ring. Its really
funny1to: think
about the situation again.
Activity
Pair work
Kimberly:Read
OH aloud
MY GOD!
So, did you
finallywith
findathe
ring?carefully and take note of the
Instruction:
the following
dialogue
partner
words that have been highlighted. Be ready to answer some questions based on the dialogue.
Fatima: Yeah. The ring was actually with the bridegroom! My sister thought she had
brought it home with her! What a drama, right?
Kimberly: Yeah! You guys overly worked yourselves up for nothing. Seriously
Fatima: Even though we couldnt hear the end of it from my mother but it was fun! A night
to remember, Kim. Hahaha.
Kimberly: Hahaha! Yeah, indeed!
Fatima: So now tell me about your moms birthday party!
Kimberly: The party was amazing. Everyone had fun. We chose the all of my moms
favourite songs and we played them loudly. We invited most of her close friends and
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everyone
chatting
happily.
Im pretty
sure they were excitedly catching up
with26
the old
and latest stories of their lives!
Fatima: Aww, that sounds wonderfully fun! I wish I was there too!

You would have noticed by now that all the highlighted words tell us or describe to us how
certain actions were done at a wedding. They add extra information to the verbs concerned.
These highlighted words are called adverbs. Now, visualise the following scenes based on
the descriptions given by Fatima and Kimberly in the dialogue.

Fatimas sisters wedding

Kimberlys mothers birthday party

You can easily visualise these scenes because adverbs are used to describe how the various
actions were carried out. Answer the following questions by filling in the blanks with
appropriate adverbs from the dialogue:
Fatimas sisters wedding
i)
ii)
iii)

How was the situation/ wedding before the solemnization started? __________
How did everyone react/ behave/ feel when looking for the ring? __________
In what manner/ how did the people clean the house? __________

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Kimberlys mothers birthday party

i)
ii)
iii)

In what manner/ how were her mothers favourite songs played? __________
In what manner/ how were the guests chatting? _________
How did the guests feel when they were catching up with the latest news?
__________

Language Notes
Adverbs

Adverbs of manner
When we need to describe the way a certain action or event occurs, we use adverbs of manner.
Most adverbs of manner answer the question of How? and they are normally placed in one of
the following positions:

before the verb

after the verb
after the object

Positions of adverbs of manner

Before the verb

Examples
Zainal confidently jumped out of the window.
adverb

verb

Question: How did Zainal jump out of the

window?
Answer: confidently
After the verb

Lee sang proudly at his solo concert.

verb

adverb

Question: How did Lee sing at his solo

concert?
Answer: proudly
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After the object

Liyana and Lily treated their patients

passionately.
object

adverb

Question: How did Liyana and Lily treat their

patients?
Answer: passionately

We normally form adverbs of manner by adding ly to an adjective.

Examples:
Adjectives

Adverbs

quick

Quick + ly

polite

polite + ly

extreme

extreme + ly

passive

passive + ly

common

common + ly

Sometimes, when an adverb is formed from an adjective an additional change in spelling occur.
Refer to the table below for examples.
Adjectives

Change in spelling

Adverbs

specific

ic ically

specifically

happy

y ily

happily

simple

le ly

simply

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Sometimes, adverbs of manner can be used to describe and express feelings.

Examples:
i)
ii)

Lola sadly announced the shocking news to her colleagues.

The children did not finish their homework. Therefore, they unwillingly went to
school.

Words used as adjectives and adverbs

There are some words which can function as both adjectives and adverbs. The following are
some examples:
straight

first

high

late

long

half

last

low

fast

hard

Examples:
Word

Used as an adjective

Used as an adverb

half

Amin has half ownership in the property.

She was half laughing, half crying.

straight

Dont expect straight answer from him!

He went straight home.

late

The meeting is scheduled for late evening.

He arrived late.

Remember:
A) Adjectives give extra information about nouns or pronouns.
B) Adverbs give intra information about verbs.
Activity 2 : Act It Out! (Class activity)
Instruction:
1) You will be given a pile of notecards with adverbs and verbs separately.
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2) The instructor will randomly pick any name to pick a notecard from
each pile.
3) The student who gets to pick the notecards will have to act out the
action that the cards show. For example, of the cards are walk for
verb and stealthily for adverb, the student might tiptoe carefully
around the room, looking around to make sure he/she is not being
followed.
4) The rest of the class has to guess the verb and adverb that were
chosen and the notecards will be revealed once the students guess
correctly.
(Adapted from: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-1-2/50403-fun-grammar-activities-forteaching-adverbs/ )

Activity 3: Extra Activity (Group work -using adjectives and descriptive adverbs)
Instruction:
1. Work in a group of five.
2. Your group will compete with other groups to create a story using information given by
your instructor.
3. The group leader needs to sit far away from his or her group.
4. Each group is required to form eight sentences which creates a short story (describing a
situation / occasion).
5. The instructor will pass an envelop containing pieces of paper, each of which has a word
printed on it.
6. The group need to arrange all words (printed on the pieces of papers) in the correct order
to form a sentence.
7. Once the sentence is correctly formed, one member of the group must go the group
leader and read it out loud to him or her who needs to write it down.
8. The same procedure needs to be followed for the second till the eight sentence.
9. The group that successfully put the entire story in order wins the race.
END OF UNIT 2

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