Phrases you should use

Useful phrases for describing a picture

GIVE A GENERAL INTRODUCTION (the scene)

• The picture shows ... (place, person, scene) from a distance.
• This is a picture of ...
• In this picture I can see
• The picture was taken in ... (place).
• The photo was taken at ... (party).
• The picture describes ... (scene).

TALK ABOUT PLACES

• They’re driving in the country/in a city/in the mountains
• I can see a street market/old building/square/street/restaurant/beach ....
• She’s sitting inside/outside a cafè

DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S AGE

• He’s about 50 years old.
• She’s a teenager/a young child/a middle-aged woman
• They’re in their twenties

DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S CLOTHES

• She’s wearing a pair of shorts and a red T-shirt
• He’s wearing a uniform shirt
• They’re wearing quite casual/smart clothes

DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S ACTIONS

• He’s sitting at a desk
• They’re having a meal
• She’s standing in a queue
• Some people are sunbathing and others are swimming in the sea

DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S ROLES IN A PICTURE

• He’s probably a shop assistant and she’s a customer
• The man serving the drinks is a waiter
• This person on the left seems to be a tourist guide he’s pointing to a building

DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S FEELINGS IN A PICTURE

• You can tell they are enjoying themselves because they are smiling.
• She looks very interested in this activity – she’s concentrating very hard.
• He seems a bit frightened. Maybe this is the first time he’s tried this.

PARAPHRASE (use these phrases to describe words you don’t know)

• It’s something you fry food in (frying pan)
• It’s a cupboard for keeping clothes in (a wardrobe)
• It’s a kind of container for flowers (a vase)

MAKE GUESSES

• It might be summer because some people are wearing sunglasses
• This picture could be in Northern Europe because of the buildings
• It’s probably in the country, because ...
• I think / believe / am sure that ...
• It seems / appears to me that ...
• Perhaps they are celebrating something because ...
• Maybe the reason they look so serious is because ...
• She might be a busy working mother ...

DESCRIBE POSITION

• In the middle of the picture there is a group of people, probably tourists because ...
• There’s a bookshelf next to/near/behind/ in front of the door.
• In the background there is a church.